Fishing has been good! Lots of legal size redfish around oyster beds near marsh grass. Seatrout are plentiful! Shrimp are abundant so almost any creek mouth or gully has the potential of producing good fishing this time of the year. A spot red hot one day can produce almost nothing the next. Water clarity is important! A rule of thumb is work your drop about 30 minuets, if the fish aren’t biting then move on. Having a fishing plan is a good idea. Coordinate your fishing to be at certain drop at a tide stage you believe fish are likely to be there. Fishing 6 to 12 drops on an outing is typical. A word about anchoring. A power pole is a useful tool if you have one. On windy days which has been most days, a heavy anchor is not a good idea, it is a must. This sounds like an over kill but an anchor about twice the size of what is matched for your boat is a good fowl weather anchor. If your back is a little tender then do not go with an over sized anchor. On the hand there are many days when an over sized anchor is the only option. My statement has been if the over sized anchor pulls we don’t need to fishing there. Another option is working your trolling motor. You can cheat the wind on many days. Again if the winds and currents are such that your trolling is ineffective look else where for a place to fish.
On most days even with a stiff wind fisherman can find spots out of the wind and with fish. Shrimp are plentiful but so are the bait fish: yellow tails, pinfish and croakers. The worst culprit are needlefish. Needlefish are relentless. Typically try to cast away from the trash fish or you’ll just encourage more of the same. It possible to have a good redfish and seatrout with trashfish mixed in. Local waters are still warm suitable for little bait steelers as well as sought species. On those occasions when you’re just feeding the trash fish move to another drop! Most bait well can comfortably hold a couple quarts of shrimp. Losing lots of bait means fishermen are throwing off lots of bait in there casting or just trying to win a battle against the little fish. In either case a change is needed. The difficulty is when you are catching some quality fish as well as trash fish. What do you do? First pattern the trash fish. Redfish will likely be close the structure; trash fish will likely be off the structure in deeper water. In short don’t cast to little fish and expect a different result.
This past week has produced some really good fishing! Large redfish near the beachfronts! Strong seatrout action in the sounds as well as quality black drum and sheepshead. Several fishermen have stated this looks like the best year they have seen in a long time for both black drum and sheepshead! Some flounders being caught near little gullies on the outgoing tide as shrimp and mullet pour out.
Tides are increasing this week to over 8.9 feet on Thursday. These are big tides. Dealing with wind is tough. Dealing with wind and big tides could be even tougher. For the recreational fisherman stay inside unless you got to fish. For those heading out fish the top of the morning high tide or the afternoon incoming tide look best. The afternoon tides throughout the week are considerably smaller. Likely better fishing will be in the afternoon with smaller tides and a longer period to fish. That being said the afternoon fishing would be late afternoon.
Hope this of help in planning your next fishing or booking your next charter! Thanks again!
Remember go light on the resource. Keep only what you want to eat and release the rest. We are having a great year nonetheless going light on the resource only makes sense.
Good fishing! C apt. Jack McGowan