Trout, trash fish and clean water
Sea trout are moving into the creeks in search of their favor meal. For medium sized trout is shrimp the meal of choice. Water temperature at present is still hovering around 70 degrees this means there are still plenty of bait steelers (pin fish, needle fish and yellow tails) present. When conventional float fishing fails to produce you might pull out your favorite plastic. We’ve had success on plastics resembling finger mullet and sea shad. When fishing a plastic the bite might be hard and fast or soft and subtle. It been said when working a plastic – don’t stop . My thought is to the contrary. You can stop a bait, work it at constant pace, vary the retrieve or twitch your bait.. A hook set should be firm enough to accomplish its objective and no more! Redfish can mouth a bait. By this I mean the fish has picked up your bait but hasn’t committed. He can just as easily spit your bait or inhale it. I’ll set the hook on a redfish holing a bait. More often than not the result is hook set squarely in the size of his jaw. Sea trout are known for aggressive hard strikes. On the other hand, a sea trout can “bump” a bait. Usually after a couple bumps a frenetic bite will follow. Both redfish and trout are head hunters. A head strike will often stun or kill a bait then the trout or red will follow up to enjoy his meal. Select plastics that work. ( see Chuck King @ Cranmans or Allen @ River Supply). There are lots of plastics on the wall but all aren’t equally effective. Things to look for in a plastic color, size and shape, smell, and last but not least feel. Look for colors that stand out. Counter shading or multiple colors that mimic or exaggerate work well. A plastic that feels fleshy can draw multiple strikes on a retrieve from the same fish. The size of plastic for redfish and trout is usually between 2 to 6 inches with a 3 inch plastic as standard. The smell of a bait is important if not for anything else it mast your our odor. If you’re not satisfied with the scent on your plastic you can sweeten your plastic by rubbling it with shrimp or by putting a small chunk of shrimp on its hook. There are several salt water scents in the market. Fin Essence and Berkley attractants work fine. Garlic favors know for years by fresh water bass fishermen and are equally suited in salt water. Gentle tides has meant water clarity has been exceptional. Couple clean slow moving with tons of bait steelers and you might want to try your hand at plastics. You might be surprised.
Tides are building with a high tide Sunday the 26th of 9.3 feet couple spring tides with a northeaster this could make for challenging fishing. Nonetheless the cool down will likely heat up the trout bite. Day light saving time ends on the 25th so remember to fall back, set your clocks back on Sunday. Fish’n been good!
Good Fishing! Capt. Jack McGowan