Keaton Beach Fishing Report April 17 - 18, 2015

Keaton Beach Fishing Report April 17 -18
Trout fishing was tough when they were off and Grand when they were on! Gulf Water temps hit 87 degrees Wednesday and that is so rare for April 8th?
Most folks had a hard time catching any keepers over the weekend and we worked hard on my One More Cast charters as well.
We had nine trout, three Spanish and one redfish Thursday, with a 25.5 inch trout (Mike) topping off the stringer for Jim, Doug and Mike Hardegree of up Atlanta way. We used live pinfish under Back Bays in 3 - 4 ft. to land these fish.
Friday, I had Danny and Tracy Jaramillo with their nine-year-old son Jude, on his first trip for trout in the Gulf. Yep, you know it.. he not only caught his first-ever red, a 25.5" beauty but landed a 28.5 inch trout for the largest trout of the 3 over 21" we took that day. It weighed in at 6.2 pounds! We brought in nine trout and two keeper reds. We threw back several short reds including one 16 incher with 17 spots. ( Jude) All our fish ate live pinfish under Back Bay Thunders from 2.5 -3.5 feet of water. Oh yeah, the Jaramillos are from Valdosta, Ga.
Saturday....? Well the fish took the day off mostly, at least the trout did for me, as we caught only 3 keepers and tossed back a half dozen short reds and a really nice 30" red for Tim Randall of Warner Robins, Ga.. Tim also caught the largest of our trout a 22" fish. We fished everywhere I knew to try and they just didn't want the pinfish as we used shrimp to land what we caught. We had 3 Spanish and a flounder with the three trout all rigged under Back Bay Thunders.
Here is a report from David Bosch of Tifton, Ga who fished Thursday through Sunday.
"Fished with David Stewart, Chris Norman, and Carter Norman of Tifton from 4/08 to 4/11. The bite was never exceptional, but we did manage to pick up some very quality fish. Chris topped our fish with a 24" trout, David picked up a 23", and I picked up a 22". Carter also contributed some quality keepers. Both Friday and Saturday we had our limit of 20+ inch fish. We had our best success in 4 - 4.5' of water. We fished plastics, plugs, pins, and shrimp. Most fish were picked up on pins under Cajuns, but we also had pretty good luck with shrimp when we had them. As I remember, water temps were creeping up into the mid 80's. We also picked up a couple of Spanish, and more puffer and sail cats than I care to deal with."

Don't Forget the Perry Optimist Club's 24th Annual Saltwater Fishing tournament is Saturday, May 2nd.
$50.00 per person entry fee gets you a chance to win a $3000.00 first place largest trout prize, a $1000.00 first place redfish or a $500 first place cobia.
Visit their website at www.optimistclubperryfl.com for complete details.