 Dr. "Red"riguez pulled in some nice Redfish, two of them being 25+ inches in mid-April. The waters around Cedar Key haver been steadily warming and the Trout and Redfish have been prowling the grass and oyster bar edges. Shrimp, Gulp, pinfish and cut Mullet are good bait choices. Suspending the bait just above or bouncing the bait over the oyster clumps or fishing the steeper bank edges are all good choices. The standard 1/4 or 3/8 oz. jig head is popular and some of us, myself included prefer a circle hook with no additional weight on a 20# leader under a popping cork or cajun thunder.  Walking the shell and oyster bars is a great way to cool off and sight fish.  Tips, Lessons learned:
>Fishing the rising and falling tides are preferable to a slack tide. >Fish the "cut's" between oyster bars and anywhere else water is moving. >Look for Trout over the grass flats, especially the spotty bottom.
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January 2019
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Repair notes:
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A marine grade filler was applied
Then sanding and multiple coats of cloth, resin and sanding
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Then a final light sanding and spay can / palmetto paint job
The first trip we put in near Cedar Key and worked our way up a couple creeks that would have been inaccessible in a larger boat. We found 15 or more Redfish and a couple nice trout.
Gear used:
- Old 1980’s Gheenoe, classic model purchased at a garage sale for $150.
- Trailer assembled from parts
- Yamaha 6 hp purchased new
- Gheenoe’s are excellent backwater boats. Their shallow draft, excellent stability and maneuvering are boats you can take just about anywhere in relatively protected waters. And you can pull, push or paddle them if needed.
- The Yamaha 6 hp 4 stroke is a good balance between weight, portability, economy and power. The engine is not yet fully broken in, so it hasn’t been run a full throttle but I’m guessing it will move the loaded Gheenoe between 10 and 15 mph. The 6 hp is not a speed demon but seems fast enough and in the rocky backwater creeks, speed is the last thing you need. Easy to tilt up, shallow draft, and easy pull start are more important to me. As far as fuel economy goes, I don’t know how many hours I can expect from the 3 gal. remote tank because after a two or three hours running time the gauge hadn’t budged from full.
- The ride of the Gheenoe is great in smooth water and fair in a chop. The boat and motor are sensitive to load distribution and the loads should be adjusted to be when heading into the wind and waves to keep the boat dry. I expected and did notice some hull cavitation when in rougher water. The hull could be strengthened in some areas but I doubt I will make many hull modifications.
Paul with a couple nice trout from the first trip