Had Don M. aboard. Was supposed to be Don and his girl friend. But she wasn't feeling well. So it was just Don and myself, that departed at 11am. I had big plans and was playing the tide, right.
Since this week hasn't been all that productive on the Trout, but I had a plan. Go back to where I was on Friday and do what we did then, and box our limit of Mangrove Snappers. Then see what happens on the incoming later on.
Believe it or not, we didn't float-rig fish for them on Friday. And we weren't going to do it today either. Tight-line....that's what has worked so well on this first spot. A long leader, really small hook, and very light sinker, that barely will hold the bottom and a live shrimp. Tight-lining, isn't like stereo-typical bottom fishing. Because you're really not baiting and waiting. But it's more like fishing a jig, with a way better presentation.
Well, Don was all over it. We weren't on the spot 2 minutes and he caught a Mangrove and a Trout, then another Trout, and another and another....... "DON'S IN THE MEAT!", I said while trying to keep up with him.
WOW, what a difference from Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday when I was in this same area.
Many of the specks were exactly 14 to 14-1/2 inches. But if we weeded through them and the tide got lower, we'll pull a few keepers out of here. I felt confident. And we eventually did.
YEAH......we did!!
I'm talking, every shrimp got slammed. It was a full blown fishing clinic. We were bailin' them! And loading our Mangrove Snapper limit into the cooler, too.
What's the deal? Why not on Tuesday or Wednesday, was it even remotely like this? Why did we not catch a single Trout on Friday?
I was amazed. But I was happy and so was Don. Because he came to catch fish as do all my customers. But this was shootin' fish in a barrel! Plus he caught 2 Sheepshead also.
I left the bait shop with at least 100 live shrimp. And as we boxed almost our limit of Speckled Trout out of the massive school of 14 inchers, we had our limit of Mangrove Snappers. WE WERE OUT OF BAIT! And we were only 2-1/2 hours into our 6 hour fishing trip. HOLY CRAP... "Don, I'll have to send you back to the bait shop to get more shrimp", I said.
So we ran back to the dock, and Don took off to B&M. Hell, if this was earlier in the week, we would still have bait. Because it was not only a struggle to find bites, let alone 14 inchers. But as usual I prevailed, everyone caught fish this week and went home with bags of fish. The difference today was these fish just arrived here. And no where were they this ravenous for me all week long. I keep track! I've been making extensive notes since October 1st, about the areas I usually fish for them this time of year. This week, I've been after them, 4 out of 7 days.
Don was back from the bait shop with more shrimp and we took off. The tide was just starting to push in and we were right on time. No sooner we came tight on the anchor and Don was waylaying Specks and now Yellowmouth Trout too. On the float-rig.
The action wasn't super fast. But these fish were no 14 inchers. Everyone was big, fat and full of spunk. We dropped the rest needed for our Speck limit in the cooler and began working on our Yellowmouth Trout limit, with fish up to 22 inches.
It was a float-rig fishing clinic all over again. And Don was wearing them out again, as I played catch up. The tide was perfection. The wind was near nothing, and the air temp was beautiful in the late day sun. Man, it just doesn't get much better than this! 
It was such a glorious day. We easily caught 75 Trout, and probably 20 Mangrove Snappers, and two Sheepshead.
All on two spots, but with 15 dozen shrimp. We didn't use all the bait, but we had it. We finished up and went back to clean the catch. Basically in the dark by the shine of Don's Jeep head lights.
Giant bags of fillets were filling up. And my knife was dull. And it wasn't even late, but dark as all hell when I finally finished cleaning all the fish. No one was around. The boat ramp went quickly vacant.
Hmmm, am I on to something here? Late departures on Sunday's? No one around....I'm kinda liking this.
Was today the official "kick-off" to winter Trout fishing? It sure did feel like it.
Was today the official "kick-off" to winter Trout fishing? It sure did feel like it.
Full moon in November. I better pencil that in.
