Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Headed back to DTB's secret spot today for some additional snookin'. I launched at 10:30am, and after a good 30 minute paddle, was able to access the snook hole on a good high tide.

The conditions were generally unfavorable, mostly due to a 15 knot wind whipping across the water. In addition, it had rained heavily the night before, which made me think the fish would be uncooperative, and they were.

I was a good 100 casts in without a bite before I was able to get the skunk off with a topwater hook-up with a very angry jack crevalle. The location that was holding big schools of small snook on my last time out did not produce anything, so I went to the windy side of the hole and started throwing my big She Dog topwater at the shore. It was tough fishing. The chop on the water made it nearly impossible to walkt he dog.

About a dozen casts in, I had a huge blow up through the chop, and a sizable snook took hold of my lure. About five minutes later, I brought it to the yak. I don't have any photos of the beast, but it was my personal best snook, coming in at 29".  I've got video of the catch here.

A short time later I had another monster snook follow my lure up to the yak, only to turn back when it got sight of me.

I finished up fishing the area, picking up two more small snook and a nice trout on my Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow. On the paddle back I tried a few casts, and caught another trout on topwater. I also saw a big school of snook holding off one of the spoil islands, but they were uncooperative. Still it's good to see the snook making a nice comeback.

Thursday, December 6th, 2012

'Loaded up my gear and headed over the Skyway this morning to try out my friend DTB's secret spot on the south shore of Tampa Bay. I launched at Bishop's harbor and started the long paddle to the location. Along the way I threw my topwater spook and in a spot that was previously productive for me, got a nice hook-up. At first I thought it was a redfish, but as it got closer saw that it was a nice gator trout that measured in at 22".

I spent the next hour and a half consulting my google maps app and paddling around in complete frustration. I did, however, paddle through some really interesting water.

Eventually, I located DTB's secret spot and started casting, alternating between a Yozuri Crystal Minnow and a Flat Rap.

About 10 minutes in, the Flat Rap got a good solid take, and after a nice fight with some drag pulling, I brought a 23" redfish to hand.

At this point I knew it was inevitable that I would get a slam today, as the whole purpose of coming to DTB's secret spot was for the incredible snook bite. After a bit of fan casting, I located a school of small snook and in the next hour, caught 16 of them, with the largest coming in at a perfect 24".

Today's slam went: 22" trout, 23" red, and 24" snook, in that order. Pretty cool, and enough to win a lot of tournaments.

Here is what is left of the Flat Rap:

Thursday, November 29th

Got a late launch on the Cross Bayou today at 10:00am. Normally I fish the shoreline along the way upriver, but today I just paddled hard to the spot in the canal where Joe's Creek lets in.

It was one of our warmer days, and the sun was high enough to only be casting shadows on one side of the mangroves. I went straight to work on that side, casting my Yozuri shrimp as close to the mangroves as possible. In due time, I was rewarded with two small snook to the yak, and another two jumped.

With the skunk off, I paddled up to the fairgrounds, jumping another snook just past the cajun restaurant. The fairgrounds were unusually quiet -- no mullet in sight. I fished the whole north and east shore with just a ladyfish to show for it.

On the paddle back I stopped to throw the flat Rap a few times and caught another small snook at the mouth of Joe's Creek. For now, that seems to be the only spot producing any regular catches. I'm happy to see all the small snook, but am wondering where the bigger ones are. It's possible with our consistently cool weather that they haven't had a cold enough snap to jolt them out of their homes and send them upriver.

I stopped one more time on the way back and caught a dozen or so ladyfish on light drag just to hear the reel sing a bit.

Friday, November 16th

Launched at 62nd Avenue along Park Street for my first voyage of the season into the Cross Bayou Canal. 

Straight off the bat, I spooked a nice redfish that was mudding along in about 8 inches of water. Paddled on to the first mangrove line I like to fish and started throwing the Yo-zuri shrimp. No hits after a half-dozen casts, so I switched over to the Flat Rap. First cast with the Flat Rap I brought to hand a small snook, somewhere in the 12" range. Next cast to the same spot I hooked up with another small snook, but this one got the best of me and tossed the lure after a nice jump.

I paddled up to the Park Street bridge and fished the pilings for a bit -- too long, really, as nothing was biting. That's been a productive spot for me in the past, but it was dead today.

Continued up to where Joe's Creek lets in and fished the mouth of the creek for a good thirty minutes with nothing doing. Saw something busting bait, but it didn't like my offerings. From there I started fishing the north shore of the creek and caught another little snook on the Flat Rap, then followed that fish up with two back-to-back mangrove snapper out of the same spot.

Jumped two more snook up the shoreline, then the bite went dead. I switched over to the south shoreline and also switched over to the Yo-zuri shrimp. I went on to catch six more snook with that lure, including one I caught on a long cast back to the other shoreline.  All of of the snook were in the 12-15" range, with one around 20" (pictured below).

Despite their small size, those junior snook were hitting and fighting twice their size. They were a lot of fun to catch, and it was heartening to know that this young population of snook are thriving. Can't wait till they put on a few pounds...

On my paddle back out I jumped one more snook and caught a couple of hard-hitting ladyfish before wrapping it up for the day. Four hours on the water and eight snook -- that's a ratio I like.

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

I got out on the water late today after dropping the girls off at school. I launched around 9:00am, just thirty minutes before low tide. Despite the bad timing, the weather was ideal. Clean, glassy water, blue skies and 75 degrees.

I fished the channel right at the launch all the way down to Tampa Bay Watch, and after a good hour, had only one topwater blow-up to show for it. The bite was simply off. I did get visited by a manatee, which was cool.

Eventually, I would catch a couple of ladyfish and three lizardfish. I was so pissed at the third lizardfish that I brought him aboard and turned him into cut bait. By then the water had started to fill up the flat I chucked the cut bait out under a float and started to drift the flat. While drifting the flat and throwing the Spook Jr., I started to get blow-ups on nearly every cast, and soon brought to hand about 10 trout, ranging from 10" to 18".

By the time I hit the ATZ, the bite had died down again, and except for a lone catfish that took the cut bait, the bite was dead. Not the best day of catching, but a gorgeous day to fish.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Kelly and I met up at 6:30am at the Bunce's Pass launch at Ft. Desoto. I was surprised to see at least a dozen other kayakers loading up their gear to paddle out. I can only assume there was some sort of tournament. That said, Kelly and I were able to launch first, and headed straight back to Snook Island to catch the last of the high tide.

The air and water were crystal clear. You could see stars in the sky and bioluminescent plankton in the water. I took the photo below just as the sky was starting to lighten up. You can see the Skyway in the distance.

We tried a few casts at Carrabas on the way in, and though Kelly had a few blow-ups on topwater, there were not connections. (I should pause here to say that Kelly's topwater Skitterwalk out-fished my topwater efforts at least 6-0.)

Out past Snook Island, there was little going on. There was very little activity, and what activity I could see was masked by the waves on the water. We fished the Snook Island area for a good 45 minutes to an hour before giving up. I managed a trout on a jig head/rootbeer shrimp tail combo. Kelly, to this point, was skunked.

We paddled back out via Carrabas and began paddling toward a big school of mullet that was jumping out of the main flat. Once we reached the school, Kelly was able to land a trout on topwater. A short time later, I caught a 22" red on the same jig/tail combo. We continued our drift toward the ATZ (Angry Trout Zone), and Kelly continued to pick up a trout here and there while I managed just a pinfish (which I kept for later).

I did spook a small school of reds on my drift, and Kelly, on a different drift, was able to bring one to the yak with the Skitterwalk.

We continued to drift and anchor intermittently, with Kelly adding another few trout to his tally. I was struggling to get a good hit on anything. We tried the main flat adjacent to Bunce's pass, but the wind was making it difficult. We finally anchored up over by some potholes and Kelly chucked his topwater while I tossed out a half a pinfish under a cork.

A short time later I got a good hit and hook-up with a fish that was zig-zagging crazily across the flat. I called it a Spanish Mackerel, but as I got it to the yak I saw that it was actually a juvenile Barracuda at about 15". I didn't really want to boat him, and thankfully, he shook the hook just as I reached for the leader.

We paddled back a short time later, ready to get out of the wind. Considering the weak tide and windy conditions, we did fairly well on the day.

October 11th, 2012

Got out solo this morning, good and early. The sun was just clearing the mangroves as I launched. This photo shows the calmest the water was all day. 

I started out trying to throw topwater, and did finally manage to catch a very fat trout in the 20" range on my She Dog. It was far too choppy to throw the Badonkadonk today. I had a number of near-misses after that, including a big fish that hit my She Dog so hard it launched two feet in the air.

I switched over to a jig head with a Cotee grub tail in rootbeer (it was the default, after failing to restock my other tails). I caught two more trout on this combo, both just under the slot.

The wind had really picked up at that point, and I could see the mullet and other baitfish getting pushed up against the mangroves, so I paddled over and anchored up. As I did, a charter boat came and anchored up just out of casting distance from me. Rude.

Fortunately, I'd get the last laugh, hooking up with a nice 22" redfish right where the grass line met the sand.

 The wind was peaking at that point, and the tide was nearly at its highest, so I paddled over to Snook Island to try and complete my slam. Unfortunately, for the next two hours, I didn't catch a thing. Except  a buzz.

No more fish pictures, but here is some kayak porn.

 Later, that redfish made a nice meal at the hands of my dad.

October 7, 2012

Kelly and I loaded up and rode out to Ft. Desoto together, launching by 7:00am.

It was a gorgeous morning to be on the water.

Straight off the bat, we paddled back to Snook Island, hoping to get a red or snook on the early morning bite. We stopped briefly at Carrabas and had some good follows from redfish, but no takers. 

Snook Island and the surrounding waters were really quiet for the first hour or so, so quiet, in fact, that I  was starting to think we should cut our losses and move out. Right about that time, Kelly caught his first fish, a nice snook on a Spook Jr.

A short time later, he caught a trout, leaving him with only a redfish left to complete the slam.

Meanwhile, I had caught two trout on soft plastics, and was back to throwing my Badonkadonk. I had drifted right up to the edge of Shell Key preserve, so I anchored up and started fanning out casts. A short time later, I caught a nice 21" redfish.

After this red, I had three more blow-ups from reds, so I waved Kelly over and we started slaying 'em.

I caught another in the same size, and then Kelly got his red, also on the Spook Jr. By 8:30am, he had his slam:

We hung out in this spot for another twenty minutes, each of us losing out a a number of reds, but then the bite died and we paddled out.

From there we went out to the major flat adjacent to Bunce's Pass and chucked a variety of artificials. Kelly added another two to three trout, and I think I notched another as well. We each caught a couple of pinfish which we then cut up for sharking.

Our first shark, however, was not a shark. It was a big ass bull red on the end of Kelly's line:

We continued to soak baits, with each of us bringing two sharks to the boat, all of them bonnetheads. It was a drag screaming good time.

*We also added in a "trash can slam" each, catching a catfish, pinfish, and lizardfish. I actually caught a trash can grand slam, adding a needlefish to my list. 

October 4, 2012

Dropped the girls off at school this morning and headed out for a quick fish at Bunce's Pass. The tide was super low as I launched, with only one other guy out fishing from a red kayak. He was set up on the channel that runs from the pass, by Tampa Bay Watch, and on to the residential canals. The guy was chucking shrimp on a popping cork, and from what I could tell, catching fish after fish.

I paddled up about 50 yards past him on the channel and started throwing my topwater along the edge where the grass drops off into the sandy channel. Over about 45 minutes, I caught four upper-slot trout on my Badonkadonk topwater, and had countless other blow-ups.

I continued to work my way out to the pass, anchoring from time to time to work a particular spot. The topwater bite died down, so I switched over to throwing a 1/8 oz chartreuse jighead with a variety of tails. I caught six more under-slot trout in this fashion, and also caught a juvenile mangrove snapper.

Kelly showed up toward the end of my session and we compared notes, then I got off the water. Forgot my camera today, so no pictures, but it was another good session on the water.

Monday, October 1, 2012

I had to drop the girls off this morning, so I didn't get out until 9:30am. The only other guy out was a fellow who fly fishes from his silver canoe.

Since it was low tide, I paddled out to the southeast in search of deeper water along the channel. At some point I got into about three feet of water and anchored up. I started throwing topwater and had some good follows, but couldn't get anything to take the lure. It was 10-15 knots of wind the entire day, which made the topwater fishing pretty poor. Too much chop.

At some point I decided to put on a 1/8 chartreuse jig head with a DOA CAL shad tail, and immediately started catching below-the-slot trout. When the shad tail wore out, I put on a paddle tail. When the paddle tail wore out, I put on my rootbeer shrimp tail. In about an hour and a half, I caught 10 trout, only one in the slot. Still, it was good fishing.

My 11th fish hit really hard and fought like hell. I was super surprised to see a juvenile gag grouper on the other end of the line. (Sorry, couldn't get the photo to rotate.)

With just an hour left before I had to get off the water, I drifted back toward our angry trout spot, with a  popping cork and half a pinfish dragging behind. In the meantime, I threw the jighead/shrimp tail combo, which eventually rewarded me with a very nice redfish. 21-ish inches, and so bronzed up. Sexy redfish. I took it home for dinner.

Solid fishing for two and a half hours on the water. Nice to have it all to myself. If it had been a calm day, it might have been epic.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

I was paddling away from the launch at my favorite part of the day:

I turned to the north and started slowly working my way back to Snook Island. There were huge schools of mullet everywhere, so I was constantly stopping to make some casts. I had a early blow-up from a trout, but for the next three hours, I didn't get a single hit.

It was frustrating because I would see the occasional tailing red, and the conditions were ideal: light breeze, clear and weed-free water, overcast skies. The fish simply weren't biting.

By the time I got back to Snook Island, there wasn't really enough water to fish. I spent an hour trying to make the best of it, but blew my chance there by not getting to the sweet spot sooner.

I slowly paddled my way over toward the big body of water that runs near the little mangrove island that everyone fishes. I made casts every 50 yards or so, prospecting for fish.

At about 10:00am the sun came out and the bite started to suddenly heat up. Finally, I started to get some hits on my topwater, I figured they were little trout, lots of blow-ups but no  hook-up. Eventually I got one to take my Spook, but to my surprise, it was a big ass pinfish. I continued to catch pinfish in this spot for 15 minutes, just happy to get some action. I kept three of the big pins to use as cut bait tomorrow.

Seeing that there were so many pins around, I changed my topwater to the Badonkadonk, which looks like a pinfish. A few casts in, I caught my first trout, right in the 18" range. After I snapped a photo and released him, I threw back into the same spot and my lure got slammed by something big. I never got to find out what it was, as the hook pulled mid-way in to the fight. From the way it fought, I'm going to call it a big trout.

I continued to drift over the flat, catching trout here and there and getting plastered by angry pinfish. My biggest trout came in a 21", shown below.

The bite turned back off at 11:30am, so I paddled off the flat before the water got too low. I spooked a lot of reds on the way in. At the end of the day I had caught six trout, none smaller than 18", and six pinfish, three of which are in my freezer for tomorrow.

It was a weird day on the water, but a hell of a lot of fun. It was good to be back out there.

July 21, 2012

My dad and brother were looking to get their pier fix on, so we headed out around 6:30pm on Saturday and set up on the South pier. We were about 100 yards past the bait house, fishing an incoming tide. 

Early on, we set up some big rods with live pinfish, and those pinfish swam around happily untouched for the rest of the afternoon and evening. In the meantime, I sabiki-ed up some greenbacks and used them for cutbait. 

I chucked them under the old Skyway span in front of me, and over the course of the night, had good success catching snapper, with 5 keepers coming home with us. I also caught a nice trout on a live greenback, and dad rounded out the cooler with a big grey snapper. 

The next day dad did what he does best, which is to marinate, bread, and fry our catch in pure Crisco. There is nothing like fresh fish...southern style.

July 14th, 2012

This is my favorite part of every fishing trip:

After catching a slam last weekend, my hopes were high to repeat this weekend. Kelly and I wasted no time and paddled out to the same spot as last weekend. We had a more favorable tide than last weekend, but less favorable wind conditions.

Early on I caught a couple of trout on topwater to get the skunk off, then settled in near snook island to seek out some mullet schools. The mullet schools were difficult to find due to the chop on the water, but I eventually found one and went to work on it. There was a gamefish nearby working the school with me, but I wasn't able to hook up.

I glanced over to Kelly, who was fishing over by snook island. He waved me over and I paddled up in stealth mode. He whispered across that he had jumped a snook and that there was a lot of activity in the area. My first cast I had a small snook take a swipe at my topwater, but no hookup.

We continued to fish the area for about thirty minutes, with several topwater blow-ups each, but no connection. The likely culprits were undersized redfish.

After that we worked the east end of the area without a hook up. Kelly had a close-up experience with a large gamefish chasing mullet clear of the water, but no luck in catching him.

We doubled back to the point near snook island and worked a big mullet school. I was able to catch another trout and a barely legal redfish, and Kelly hooked up with another trout.

So far we had been fishing entirely alone, but at that point, another kayaker paddled up within 30-40 yards of us and anchored up. It seemed like a break in code to me -- there was miles of water out there with not a boat to be seen, and he essentially anchored up next to us. To add insult to injury, within 5 minutes he hooked up with a big redfish. Disgusted, Kelly and I moved back to the other side of snook island.

As I was paddling in, I made a cast and my topwater got crushed by a snook. My drag was too loose, so I went to tighten it down before he headed to the mangroves. The loose drag did me in when the snook made a nice jump and threw the hook. @%#$^!

Just missed that back-to-back slam.

A few minutes later a big blue crab swam by and I took a chop at him with my paddle and took off a claw. I used the claw meat to catch a few pinfish, and Kelly and I put the pinfish to work under a popping cork. A short time later Kelly caught a big ladyfish, and we cut up the ladyfish for some redfish bait and settled in. Kelly brought out a bottle of Stone Vertical Epic '04 to pass the time, and from then on out, all we caught was a buzz.

Sunday, July 8th, 2012

Kelly and I had an unusually smooth transition from pick-up to coffee to launch. We were on the water by 6:15am in anticipation of a 6:45am sunrise. We tried a couple of quick shots along the way, but mostly focused on paddling to our new spot, "Carrabas." 

We paddled until we found a few mullet schools, then started casting. I was throwing my SheDog early on, and after a few blow-ups, hooked up with a 20" trout. Kelly picked up a trout along the way as well.

We fished the mullet schools pretty hard until they dispersed into smaller groups, then started blind casting around the activity.  I worked a spot to the east while Kelly fished a spot to the west. I was able to hook up with a ladyfish on topwater, but the area I was in was too weedy, so I paddled over to Kelly's spot. He said he had caught a nice red in the area he was in, and was in the process of cutting up a big pinfish he had caught on his Spook.

I started pitching a gold spoon in the same area, and a few casts later got a big hit and hooked up with a nice red. He tried to drag me toward a piling out in the channel, but I tightened down my drag and used a free hand to paddle backwards away from the obstacle. Soon I had the red boatside.

A short time later, Kelly caught a big old stinky catfish on his cut bait. After freshening the bait, he got a big tug and had a solid fight on. A few minutes later he had a true slobberknocker of a redfish in his hands, a 28" behemoth.

At that point we decided to move, as we were running out of water at Carrabas. On our way to the channel I saw some commotion and threw my badonk-a-donk topwater toward it. The lure got slammed and a fish jumped out of the water. On the second jump I knew I had a snook on the line, and jumped out of my kayak to finish the fight. A few moments later I had the snook and hand and had completed my first every saltwater slam. It was a long time coming...

We finished the afternoon on Bunce's pass throwing everything we had at some bait schools. Kelly and I both picked up a trout or two and Kelly tried to pick up one of the bonnethead sharks cruising around, but by then it was 90 something degrees and it was time to get off the water.

We were due to have an epic day, and today proved to be the one. Great weather, wind, and a decent tide produced a good bite. I've the the fishing bug something fierce now.

June 16th, 2012

Kelly and I launched this morning from our Bunce's Pass Launch at 7:00am. As usual, it was windy as hell, but we had a great high tide topping out at 2.2 feet, so we were able to get pretty far back into the mangroves to get a break from the wind. 

Early on, we each had a few small blowups on our topwater plugs but no hookups. We eventually retired the topwater and started throwing gold spoons and jerkbaits. I had my first good chance at a fish on a gold spoon, with a nice red following it up to the boat and taking two good hits at it before turning away. 

A short time later, Kelly was doing some exploring and found a school of lower slot redfish. He pulled one out of the school on a spook. I came around the corner and took my shot, throwing a big She Dog topwater at the school. There was a red on it as soon as it hit the water. 

The school spooked at that point but we continued to fish the area, seeing a lot of action, but no further hookups.

Toward the end of the time we drifted out over a flat and started blind casting our spoons. Kelly was rewarded with a big pig of a redfish, a rod bending 24" beauty.

We chucked some bait toward the end of the day, but couldn't get anything going there, and finally got off the water after a little contest to see who could catch the first trout.

It was me.

June 3, 2012

I launched this afternoon from the east end of the bridge to Bay Pines into Long Bayou. It was hot and windy with a falling tide.

I started fishing the oyster bars around the bridge, alternating between a weedless shad tail and a flat rap. It looked really fishy, but I didn't get a single bite, so I paddled around to the mangroves below the Cross Bayou Canal and worked them over with the same combo of lures. Eventually I hooked up with a ladyfish, but the water was otherwise quiet back there.

I continued along the mangroves and up into the entrance of the Cross Bayou Canal, finally seeing some action as a gamefish was busting bait flowing out of the canal. I made a few good casts, but there was nothing doing.

I ventured 50 yards up the canal, casting at the mangroves, but it was dead, so I drifted back out and returned to the bridge to fish the now exposed oyster beds. I saw a big red tailing and made a few casts at it with my shad tail, but to no avail. I was wishing for a popping cork and a few dozen shrimp at that point. I finally hooked up with a trout a short time later on a shad tail.


I ended the day by paddling up into the canal toward John's Pass. I stopped at the narrow bird preserve there and threw my topwater over and over and over. I had three blow ups there, but nothing big enough to connect. At that point, a thunderstorm was bearing down on me, so I paddled back to the launch and called it a day.

May 27th, 2012

"The sea was angry that day, my friend."

Despite the steady 15 knot wind with gusts over 20, Kelly and I decided to give fishing a go today. We launched at the south pier of the Skyway Bridge around 2pm, fishing the Miguel Bay area. Some of the swells we encountered were a good three feet.

Needless to say, the fishing was terrible. I was able to ward off the skunk with one ladyfish to boatside, while Kelly took a full skunking. The wind was terrible, the water quality was nil, and the only person I saw catching anything was a guy chucking hundreds of threadfins into the water to net a trout and and a red.

We were determined to stick it out till sunset, but had an unfortunate near-miss where a boatful of drunkards came hauling full-throttle through the mangroves, and had I not paddled quickly out to of the way, I might be chum myself. I looked at Kelly after that and said, "That's it, let's head in."

May 22nd, 2012

I left work Tuesday afternoon and tried a quick hit at the mouth of Coffee Pot Bayou. I launched from the beach adjacent to the North Shore Pool parking lot. It was an easy paddle to the right depth of water.

The reason I wanted to fish this area is due to the multitudes of mullet that I usually see in the area. Today would be no different. I anchored up near an area where schools were moving through, and tossed my She Dog topwater around the edges.

Using this technique, I was able to catch two trout, both in the 15" range. I had another five blow-ups without a hook-up. The bite was slower than I expected, but I'll definitely return in the near future, especially considering that I went from my desk to casting in under a half hour.

May 11th, 2012

True to form, the wind was fierce today, 15-20mph out of the east. The sunrise was pretty much the highlight of the day.

We fished Fort Desoto at Bunce's Pass. After a windy paddle out, we got in behind an island and threw everything we had at a few schools of mullet. Kelly hooked up with a redfish about 30 minutes in, which would be his only fish of the day.

I eventually gave up on the mullet and drifted out to one of the channels where I bounced a gulp shrimp along the bottom. I was rewarded a few casts later with a 15" flounder. It self-released at boatside so I didn't get a photo. I was glad to get the skunk off, and even happier at the end of the day when it proved to be my only fish.

April 28, 2012

Kelly and I met up at the Rally at 6:00am and were launched at Mullet Key at Ft. Desoto by 7:00am. For the first time in months, the weather was epic. The wind was around 5mph at the start, and fell to a light breeze by the time we got off the water.

Though the weather cooperated, the fish didn't. 

Kelly and I both picked up a a trout on topwater on our first casts, then I followed up with another trout on my second cast, a 26" gator trout that was my biggest of all time. But the sun came up a few minutes later, and with it, the bite died. 

I finished with five trout and five ladyfish on the day, and Kelly didn't manage much better. I packed it in at 11:30am, but Kelly fished on at Bunce's Pass for a couple of hours and caught a nice redfish on a gold spoon just before quitting time.

March 31st, 2012

Kelly and I paddled out at 6:30am this morning, which was about an hour before dawn. Though the wind had been forecast at 5mph all week, as we launched it was a steady 10 with gusts to 15mph. I don't think we've had a day of wind below 10mph for the last three months.

Our disappointment was quickly forgotten as we paddled out to one of the spoil islands. Each time that our paddle hit the water, a trail of bioluminescent plankton would light up the water in a blue glow.

The sky started to lighten up right as we were ready to start casting:

The fishing for the day was average. The wind kept us restricted to a small area of water, but we made the best of it. Kelly and I caught a few small trout on topwater and later I added a keeper trout on a DOA shad tail. The best fish of the day I caught on my first cast with a big honkin' She Dog Topwater. The trout was a good 22" in length and super fat.

I picked up another trout or two and a handful of ladyfish to round out the day. Kelly tried his hand at chucking bait, but couldn't get anything but catfish.

It was really fishy out there today, but the conditions prevented us from taking advantage. I have to dial up mother nature for a glassy day on the flats.