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.