No wind, cool, and not that many people around. I liked that.
Only problem, the FULL MOON. Or at least that was the only difference between my last trip to the same area where it was absolute mayhem on Trout & Reds, last Tuesday.
We started early. And when I got to where I wanted to fish, we were "early". The tide was'nt right yet. I wanted higher water.
Eventually, we got some current and started catching some fish. John Jr. was first. Using spinning rods and reels and casting popping corks and live shrimp. He found a Flounder along the grass edge.
The first spot we tried was the same spot that earlier back on Tuesday (3-4 days before the full moon and 3-4 days after is the ole general rule, when the big bite comes) we had Red limits and Trout limits all on one spot. But today, this morning it was just dead. So when we left, and moved to another bank. But, I still had plans to go hit it again, later.
The spot is just too good, not to have some quality fish on it.
But spot two, was giving up some decent fish. The Redbass were small ones. But we had current, structure and lots of bait in the area. A few more Trout came too. My goodness is the bait everywhere.....it's almost as if there's too much bait around. And when you think about it, our lone live shrimp is like a potato chip amongst a pile of French fries and Hamburgers! So, you have to stay on top of your game. Keep PRESENTATION, and YOUR CASTS, perfect and accurate.
We headed back to "spot one" where I initially started and was going to move till we hit caught three Trout! I believed the spot would give-up some nice ones. Turned out John and John Jr. weren't getting bit at all. So I had to fine-tune their approach. NO, POPPING THE CORKS!
It's easy to over due popping these "clicking corks". Making too much noise, and moving the shrimp too much. As soon as they just casted out, and let the corks drift, and the live shrimp swam really naturally, BAM.....the 3-Trout. Just what I wanted off this spot, went from the net to the fish box!
Every Trout today was gorgeous. 18-21 inchers. Not a single short. Not a single Bluefish. Not a single Ladyfish, Not a single Pinfish bite. That's the idea when fishing a high tide. Keep the bait over the structure, shallow and no where near the bottom. Make precise casts, and quality drifts of the cork.
But still, because of that giant moon it was a challenge and every quality Trout had to be worked for.
The river traffic is at a minimum, the air was cool in the morning. It was other-wise a really gorgeous day.
Later on we tried bottom fishing at the start of the falling tide, and gave it a shot looking for those 40 pound Redbass. for John Jr. But didn't loose a single Mullet to a big Red. So being that the Mrs. was waiting on the crew, we headed back to Mayport. And that's where we ran into the afternoon forecasted N.E. 10 knots plus of wind.
I'm really enjoying fishing further up river. Getting away from the "hub" around Mayport. And it's such a joy not feeding all our shrimp to Bluefish teeth. Only down-side is the longer ride, there and back.
