Churchill Bayou 16-Dec-2022

[deptrai]

Took the day off work. Slept in a bit then got down to the launch around 11:00. I knew it was a poor tide, but wanted to get out anyway. Went back into the marsh and didn’t get a single bite or see evidence of a single gamefish. No working birds. I accidentally left my stakeout pole at home so it made fishing a bit difficult. After a few hours, I gave up on the marsh and made my way back out to the main Churchill Bayou channel. I found a stretch of bank that gave up three short flounder and at 4:00, I caught my first keeper Speckled Sea Trout.

I had to put it in my fish compactor to make it 25”.

I’ve heard the shorter ones taste better, but this guy was delicious. Much easier to fillet than Reds.

Dave

[Rob R]

That's a big female. My favorites are 16 to 18 inches.

[karstopo]

Perfect. Beautiful. Congratulations. Had to be fun a trout like that. They are tough to get in with their “paper” mouth membranes.

[mwatson71]

Congrats on your first keeper speck. Having fished Churchill as much as I have, I could almost guess where you caught her. My preference in eating sized fish is 17-19” and usually release anything over 20” unless I think it won’t survive the release. And yes, trout are so much easier to clean than reds.

[deptrai]

I caught the trout and the flounder in this area. All on the DieZel Minnow.

Just a few feet from the bank, it drops off to about 7' depth.

[Rob R]

I caught the trout and the flounder in this area. All on the DieZel Minnow.
location.JPG

Just a few feet from the bank, it drops off to about 7' depth.

Next time you go there try these spots and report back:

[Ron Mc]

nice report and good eats there.

[Dandydon]

You get props for your persistence, Deptrai! Congrats on that solid speckled trout. Keep up the good work and don't go fishing this coming Christmas weekend.

It's gonna be Arctic front brutal out there.

Sent from my SM-G973U1 using Tapatalk

[karstopo]

I wonder if the impending freeze is going to give the trout any issues?

[Rob R]

I wonder if the impending freeze is going to give the trout any issues?

Highly unlikely. They'll retreat to deeper water.

[deptrai]

I caught the trout and the flounder in this area. All on the DieZel Minnow.
location.JPG

Just a few feet from the bank, it drops off to about 7' depth.

Next time you go there try these spots and report back:

Thanks. A bit further paddle, but I'll check it out.

Dave

[Kitsune]

Congratulations on that delicious food. If we are giving numbers, I like to keep trout anywhere up to 23 inches. They are tasty easy cleaning fish. I wish we could go back to a fishery with 10 fish limit, but I’m really just hoping they give us 5 back….

[karstopo]

Still five here. 15” or better.

[Kitsune]

Thank you for clarifying, I tend to think of the middle coast as the whole coast