I missed my chance on Friday because I got caught up in trailer and truck maintenance. And afterwards it was to late to go.
The weather wasn't all that bad. It sure was dark and gloomy. And cooler....!!! I never broke a sweat, it almost felt like FALL. (C'C'mon winter.....)
I took 4 dozen live shrimp. And had a plan to fish just one area of the river, with shrimp, and maybe a jig with a soft plastic on it. The tide was rising. I really liked that. So I made my way up river and fished one 1/2 mile stretch. The jig just wasn't working. So as usual I went to my ole stand-by, the Float-rig. I didn't care what I caught. But as I moved down the bank, each small spot I anchored on had been Flounder country in the past. Usually in the spring though.
I was on my second anchor drop, and I pitched out a live shrimp over an area covered in nasty oysters. Set only inches deep on my rig, with a 24" leader. I was keeping my shrimp shallow to avoid any bait-stealer bites. That's when I saw a big swirl and then a splash, and my float went down. I thought it was a Redbass by the commotion it made. But as the spot dictated, it was a aggressive Flounder, that came up to the top to attack my live shrimp.
Not a stud.....but worthy of my dinner plate. So I kept trying to catch another. Had a few more bites, but they certainly were not Flounder. So I moved on, trying a 100% spring time Flounder spot. Which on an incoming tide in May, I will not drive past. But it was dead, after a thorough going over.
The weather report certainly didn't keep the Saturday crowds down. No matter where I was, I had boats driving around me. Lurkers staring, and everywhere worth an anchor drop, had a boat on it.
That's a weekend for ya'.
I headed back east, and into the ICW. I decided to fish a spot that's really shallow, near the mouth of a creek. It has some interesting topography just outside the mouth. A very long sand/mud bar. That's 4 feet under at most high tides, and out of the water at low. It was max high tide, when I arrived. There was hardly any current. On my second cast, of the float rig set very shallow, once again. The live shrimp got sucked up off the surface in the shallow water by a 18" Trout.
I also had rigged up, a snap on float attached to a leader and a hook. A stealth rig. I always keep plenty of these weighted snap-on foam floats on the boat. They work great for everything from casting a shrimp to a Tripletail on the rip line, to pitching a shrimp up on a shallow oyster bed. So I used this float to cast a live shrimp up to the same spot, and the Trout busted the shrimp soon as it hit the surface.
I pulled only two keepers out of the spot, while catching about 15. Most were small male Trout. Then, the Ladyfish showed up. But I was happy. I was catching, and for me everything is more fun on a float. Watching the shrimp being popped right off the top of the water, was exciting.
I didn't press my luck to far. I could see some rain falling just south of me. My livewell was almost empty, so I headed back to clean my fish for dinner.
Weather?? I didn't feel the heavy East winds were that fore-casted. I even ran towards the jetties for a look see on the way back to the boat ramp.
I'm heading out with two guys on Monday or Tuesday, and wanted to try Nassau Sound. Hope there isn't any big wind. Because that's one place that it's not good for anyone, if the wind's blowing 15 kts out of the east.
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Had these photo's in my camera of a excessively HOT, slick as glass day last week, with Brandon and Lauren from Houston, Texas. Where we struggled all day to give away a live shrimp on the float-rigs. But ended up catching a few small Reds, a Trout and a Flounder with a few Pilchards on a bottom rig. Which I caught, from castnetting at the dock.
