Jus' call him 'Gator'.....
Had Donnie Sears and his son Trey aboard the Jettywolf today. Departing at 8am, we had a whole day of FULL MOON falling tide to work. So, 1st stop was a "creeky" kinda spot. Shallow, in the marsh grass. 1st drift of the Float Rig, BAM....Trout number one.
I.G. - instantaneous gratification!
sort of.
The Trout was a 14 incher.
The guys caught 6 or 8, with one keeper out of the bunch. So it was time to leave the nursery alone and move.
Of course being a Saturday, I go to where I wanna fish, and there's a boat there. But I can tell, they ain't fishing the spot right. B.S. Popping corks, in hand. I figure they won't catch much, I'll come back when they leave. I no sooner try a couple creek mouths in the ICW, and YEP, they leave!!
It's funny how you can easily become a 'fishing profiler' over time. Just one glance. is all it takes sometimes.
So I move in for the kill. We bait up, pitch the float-rigs to get the perfect drift and start catching Trout. Then, here comes big Momma!
The guys had 2-3 pup Redbass. and the bite slows so we adjust. "I move 40 feet".
The current is still hauling, and they guys get some small 14 inchers. So we bait up the bottom rods and drop out some shrimp on the bottom waiting for the tide to slow down.
Not a single sniff, nibble, nothing on the bottom.
As the tide slowed we pick the float-rigs back up, a few more small trout, get caught......"Okay, time to change zip codes."
I make a quick run to a low tide spot. Of course someone is almost sitting on it. So I squeeze in, and we set up to float-rig fish the spot.
I few more throw-back 14" Trout. Then, a Keeper, finally. The wind blows might cold and then Donnie gets a nice sweetheart fattie 21 incher, just before the tide goes slack.
Time to head in, and make the donuts, aka: Clean the fish. I think we had only a total of 6 keepers up to 5 pounds, and 2-3 small pup reds. And two days ago, we had ONE keeper, and 25 throw-backs and a few weakfish and a Flounder.
There's no rhyme or reason to the Trout fishing lately. And every time I fish the Mayport Jetties, I'm disappointed.
So......
The fish are in the creeks, big time. Especially, the Redbass and even Black Drum. If you can get back behind the furthest back creek, and find a hole or a dark flat spot. You'll find the Redbass stacked up. But, I can't traverse a foot of water......2 feet maybe. So yeah, I'm putting a "creek plan together", myself, in a 26' boat!
Had to do that a few years ago. Don't know if the water's that cold, or colder then any other year? Certainly doesn't seem to be. But I did it then, guess I'll try now too, for Redbass and Drum, catches.
