Ladies are leader shy

The A/C was broken at work today, so I took my sweaty self outside and drove back to St. Pete to cool off by the gentle breezes of Coffee Pot Bayou.

Oh, and I brought along my fishing gear.

To avoid future breakoffs from overzealous ladyfish, I tied on a 12" monofilament coated wire leader to my line, and then clipped my Gotcha lure to the end. I sent out about a dozen casts before switching to the Yo-zuri. A dozen more casts were launched into the bayou. Not a bite.

I was at a crossroads. Were the fish not biting because of the leader, or were the fish just not there? There was only one way to find out.

I clipped off the leader and tied the Gotcha lure directly to the 10lb braided line, then cast out. Fish on. I pulled in a 12" ladyfish, tossed her back in, and cast out again. I caught two more ladies after the first, all in succession, and was getting a fairly consistent bite, but for some reason, decided to walk down the seawall and fish elsewhere.

Fishing elsewhere meant catching zero fish and losing my Gotcha in the process. Meh.

I returned to my original place on the seawall, tied the Yo-zuri back on and caught two more ladyfish before the bite turned all the way off. Still, five total ladyfish was a lot of good catching, and had I stayed in that same spot, I might have pulled in a few more.

That might be the last fishing report for awhile. We're off to New York for the weekend.