You learn something every time out

Fished with Vance and his son Issac this past Friday on my off day after our Independence Day.  I usually avoid fishing on national holidays but thought we would be ok since it we figured most people might still have to work.  Well after a wait at the bait shop we got the ramp and were pleasantly surprised about the lack of trucks around the launch.   After getting the boat in the water we made a quick run out of CRB and to the flats to look for some early morning trout.  We started a drift and it wasn't long before we were into quite a few trout.  All were shorts but they were fun and we caught quite a few drifting over the grass with shrimp under popping corks.

Issac got into the hang of it as well and got to reel in quite a few fish.   

We ended up with 12+ trout or so in very short time.  We also pulled in a nice bonnet head shark, some catfish, pinfish and a lady fish for the trashcan slam.  I also was able to pull a nice trout in on a topwater which was pretty fun as well.  We found all the fish in and around the sandbar and in the clean water.  When the water got dirty we didn't have as much luck.  It was then around 9:30 or so and I thought since we were doing so well out front that the reds must be eating along the mangroves as well so we pulled inside to some of my favorite summer holes.  Well we were pretty disappointed in there as there wasn't much current for some reason but we were able to catch a mangrove snapper and one rat red.

We ended up leaving a little after 11:30 but my tire was going a little slack on the right front and by the time I got to the gas station it was really running low and with the big screw it the treads I knew I wasn't getting home, so luckily Vance was there to help and after a quick but not Nascar tire change I was back home to wash everything down for next time.  Thanks Vance and Issac for helping me get the tire changed and thanks for the great morning at CRB!

Next time I won't be so eager to leave fish to find fish.  With all the rain we've had over the past week or so and some big falling tides in the afternoon I would think that the fish might be a little "off" and I think the key was to find the clear water on the flats.