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.

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

This morning I launched solo from the improvised ramp off Bishop's Harbor. Since Kelly was out of commission this weekend, I opted to do some scouting in a new spot. Don, my barber, had suggested trying out Bishop's Harbor, so on a whim I figured I'd give it a shot. With the tide flowing low to high, our usual spots would not have been great today anyway.

I paddled out at first light.

Bishop's Harbor is lined with mangroves, and from the start I had to choose whether to follow the shoreline on the north or south side. I chose the south. A few hundred yards up, I saw another boat on the north side, and they seemed to be having some luck pulling in some fish.

I decided to drift and throw the Spook to try my luck. First cast I had a big trout take three hits on my lure, but with no hook-up. The next cast I got a hit and hooked up right away, thinking I had caught the trout, but when I got the fish in close, saw that it was a 15" snook. I was pretty happy to have a snook to get the skunk off, and was optimistic that the day was going to be a good one.

That was the only fish I caught.

To be fair, I did a lot of paddling and scoping out different areas, instead of settling in to really fish an area. It sure was fishy out there: lots of varying depths of water, some good sea grass concentrations, clean water, good current and plenty of mullet jumping. It was fairly busy with boats out there, and they all seemed to be fishing the north side of the mangroves. Most boats I watched caught a least one fish.

I paddled on, all the way out of the harbor and into the bay. I could see the Skyway in the distance.

No catching for me in the bay either, but lots of pinfish and other bait out there, which is a good sign for the future.

Overall, it was a good, relaxing trip, a beautiful day to be on the water, and I definitely like Bishop's Harbor as a good low tide spot.

Tuesday, March 7th, 2012

Took a half day at work and met Kelly out at 4th Street for a little afternoon fishing. True to form, the wind was 15-20 knots. We decided to give it the old college try anyway, and paddled out with our beer and bait buckets.

Despite the wind, it was gorgeous out.

We spent most of our time like this:

We hit a half-dozen spots before Kelly finally hooked up with a trout just outside Steve's Hole. We anchored up and caught a good half-dozen fish each before calling it a day around 5:30pm.

Sure beat sitting at my desk.