Tide: Outgoing
Kelly and I met up at the Rally at 6:00am and decided to head out to Ft. Desoto. The wind was blowing over 10mph out of the north, and we were hoping that the unusual wind direction would not effect our new favorite fishing spot out at Mullet Key.
When we rolled up on Mullet Key it was still dark, so we had to get out of the car to check the wave action. The waves were down as we expected, but the wind was blowing onshore at such a rate that we knew it would be a tough day of fishing. We decided to drive back to our more sheltered launch by Tampa Bay Watch.
The launch was deserted when we arrived, and we were out on the water by about 6:45, about thirty minutes before sunup. With the wind at our backs, we made a quick paddle over to our favorite mangrove island and started throwing topwaters. I focused on the edges of a big pothole, and Kelly threw toward the mangroves.
His site selection was the better of the two, as he caught a trout and then a snook on back-to-back casts. The snook was a healthy 24” and put up a great fight.
It wasn’t until we went around the other side of the island that I picked up my first fish—a trout on a chartreuse jig head and rootbeer shrimp tail. I would catch another two out of the same spot and that would be the end of my catching for the day.
We spent most of the rest of our time trying to find tailing reds amongst all the tailing mullet. We tried everything from gulp shad tails to cut bait, but didn’t have any success. At one point I trolled a weedless gulp shad tail through some shallow water and had several hard hits, but I think the pinfish were the culprits.
It was good to get back on the water, and it was a fairly satisfying fishing session, considering the weather. Looking forward to getting back out there in a couple of weeks.
