Casting Platform updated and some recent quick trips

I just got in my new accessory for my Yeti and though I've been using it for a while as a casting platform it needed a bit of an upgrade to make it perfect so I took the plunge and ordered the SeaDek for it and just installed it.  It looks great and I think will be much easier on the knees and more stable.  Also, it will pad at least a little if someone is riding on the cooler which doubles as my jump seat in front of my console.  I absolutely love my Yeti and being that my truck also doubles as an office and I do a lot of work outside, my cooler is a pretty important piece of gear.  I've had this cooler for over a year now and the only time it hasn't had ice and drinks in it was when I've done a quarterly clean out.  It's a little scuffed up but these things are built to last and it was worth every penny. 

So I've been out on a couple of short trips to Weedon Island over the past few weekends and have had some success on artificials since the bait shops around here don't open early enough for the bite during the summer.



The other week I went out solo looking for an early morning topwater bite and I found plenty of big fish that really didn't feel like playing.  I missed a couple aggressive strikes along a mangrove shoreline leading into the backcountry and as I floated in with the tide I saw many large snook and reds away from the bank in feeding lanes.  Unfortunatel, by that point I had spooked them so I moved around and jigged back behind me and ended up with a perfect slot red up under the mangroves that I didn't spook out.  I then ventured into the back country pushing fish left and right and ended up with a couple more slot sized reds in with the mullet.  While working my way back out I saw more snook that I had ever seen in my life but after throwing the kitchen sink at them I was convinced that they just weren't willing to bite this morning and gave up.


I went back to that same place a week later around the full moon with Dr. Schuster and all those large fish were gone to probably the beaches to spawn.  We fished for a few hours throwing artificials and all we had to show was one lost mirromullet that got taken by a pretty hefty snook.  We found some mullet activity and casting through the mullet yielded a violent strike and after a couple of tailwalks and runs towards the boat she finally realized she was hooked and smoked out away from the boat.  I was unable to raise the rod tip up high enough to keep from cutting through the leader so away she went with my lure.  Oh well it was a great 10 seconds or so and made the day for myself.  We had another couple of blowups a few minutes later but no hookups.  We ended up with the dreaded skunk but hey that's fishing.  We had a great morning and we knew going in that it was going to probably be all or nothing.

Fishing Doc's Stomping Grounds

I fished the other morning with Dr. Schuster down in Bradenton looking for some snook that he had been targeting a few weeks earlier.  It took a little while to find some bait but after we located the schools it only took a few throws to fill it up for the day.

We ran into our first hole on the incoming tide and got set up.  It took a few minutes before we got a bite because I couldn't make the perfect cast up in the mangroves but finally we started getting some good casts in there and we were rewarded with 3 smaller snook around 20 inches or so.

The current slowed and so did the bite so we decided to go drift some flats on the last part of the tide and target some trout and bluefish that Doc had gotten into a trip before.  We get to the grass flats and I think it was the first cast we started the drift off with this.

A nice solid 20 inch trout for the cooler.  We were targeting the potholes but this fish came from the open grass away from the pothole.  We ended up catching 4 or 5 more on that drift and as we got farther into the drift the bite slowed so we circled back around for another pass.  It wasn't long before we had a couple more nice trout.  Dr. Schuster was free lining whitebait while I chose the traditional popping cork rig and both seemed to be producing.  The fish also seemed to be over the grass and broken water instead of being in the potholes which was a little unusual but it didn't take very long for us to figure it out.

We even had a couple of doubles and caught quite a few fish over 18+ inches with the longest being right around 20 inches.  The last fish of the day for myself was a nice solid trout that was released for next time.

Dr. Schuster dropped me back off at the launch and he headed back out for lunch and to set up on the broken water.  He told me after the trip that on the last bait he caught a smaller trout and was bringing it in when a much larger fish ate the trout and took off across the flat.  He had to clamp down on the spool to keep the line on the reel and he said the fish (shark) cut through his leader.  Overall, we both caught quite a few fish and had some good fish to take home for dinner. 

Every Tampa Bay flats fisherman should know how to use a popping cork

So, a much different title for this entry but it comes with a good fishing tale from today's outing with Vance and his Dad.  Light winds greeted us this morning as we ran south from EG towards the flats of Cockroach Bay.  Rain was way south for the morning and although I was worried about getting into the wet stuff, both of my fishing companions were ready and fired up to go fishing.  We pulled up to the first flat and I quickly got on the trolling motor and started looking for potholes.  It wasn't more than what seemed like 5 min before we were into fish.  It started off with some small trout and we pulled out 5 or 6 while Mr. Whitaker got the hang of fishing with a popping cork and circle hooks.

Vance didn't get on the board until this really nice trout.

By that point we had boated quite a few trout and were looking for some larger fish as most of the trout were smaller.  We drifted a little further as the tide slowed and finally found some activity around some pothole I liked to target during the winter for reds.  Well we found a couple trout with Vance getting some more meat in the cooler with another large trout.  We saw the trout swirl chasing bait and Mr. Whitaker pitched in and unfortunately caught the smaller trout because when Vance pitched in it was game on.

After playing the fish perfect on his new St. Criox we put it in the cooler and started looking again.  It wasn't long before we saw some mullet working and I had no longer mentioned that we might be in the area of some reds when Vance's cork disappeared very quickly in the pothole he was in.   This is when the fish story begins. It was just that quickly that he hooked up and his line broke.  After reeling in it was determined that the braid (main line) had broken and the cork and everything else was still out there.  It didn't take long for the cork to pop up about 20 yards away and I figured we would just go over and retrieve it and start fishing again.  Little did we realize that there might still be a fish attached!  As we got closer the cork dove under and out of site (think Jaws!).  We would wait for it to come back up and we would take off after it again (again Jaws!).  By this point it was all hands on deck so we closed the distance after a few missed tries and some tense moments when we didn't see the cork come up.  I had the grand idea to try to hook the cork with my jig.  Well we got within 10 yards and I made a quick cast to where I thought the mid point of the fish and the cork were and like throwing the hook on Deadliest Cast somehow I was able to snag the line and the cork.  I quickly loosened up the drag to hopefully keep the fish on the cork and line and played the fish for a tense 30 secs before we go the fish close enough to grab.  Vance made a great snag on his leader underneath the cork and wrestled the 24 inch red into the boat.

We cruised some more potholes on the way to Schuster's Hole without any luck and got to the hole and it wasn't long before we were rewarded with some fish.  Mr. Whitaker got a nice flounder and I got a snook on a jig before we took off back to Cockroach to fish some mangroves on the high tide.

When we got inside Cockroach there were some fisherman already in the cut I like to fish so we cruised some other mangrove shorelines while they fished and eventually they came out so we pulled up and started our drifts around the cut.  It wasn't long before we had some bites and Mr. Whitaker pulled out his first Florida red.

I got my redfish as well for the inshore slam and we caught a kitty cat to make a trash can slam.  As you can see from the picture above the clouds started rolling in and the tide started to die so it was a quick run back to EG to clean some fish!  Great day overall 15+ trout, a few reds, snook, flounder and a couple mangrove snapper.

Late May fishing with Vance

Fished with Vance this Memorial Day weekend and did pretty well on some early summer patterns.  As usual we ran down from EG south towards Cockroach.  The bay was a little rough heading down but we quickly made it to the first flat.  We were fishing an incoming high tide so we thought we would drift for some early morning trout.  The water was slightly off-colored from the outgoing tide and wind blown water so we had problems finding the sand holes early on under the low light conditions but we found some underslot trout after we found some clearer water as we got back a little shallower on our drift. 

As we got shallow we started noticing more activity and found some mullet jumping as well so we were both thinking that this might be the place to find a redfish.  It wasn't long after that when I pitched in a pothole to watch the cork disappear and start screaming across the flat.  I was rewarded with a nice right underslot redfish that got it's picture taken and put in the cooler.

We ended up fishing that area for a while and let the current take us by the mangroves looking for snook but there none to be found so we headed out and further down south to set up another drift and get set up to get into the backcountry.

We motored around the the front of Cockroach and set up a drift towards the mangroves and by the end of the drift we had caught a couple more smaller trout and completed the trash can slam (cats, ladys and pins).  With not much trout action and with the current quickly peaking we figured it was time to head to some summer holes inside so we got on the trolling motor set up casting up against the mangroves.  We didn't have a single bite at the first stop until we were about to move where I got a small red about 20 ft from the boat.  We had gotten a little to close to the mangroves so we decided then to head to the cut to hopefully pick up some more reds and maybe a snook.

We get set up and the current was flowing quickly under the mangroves which is perfect for this hole so we proceeded to get some shrimp out there.  It was quickly determined that Vance's set up was a tad to long so I handed him my rod to fix his leader length and the cork disappeared!

It was the perfect size red for dinner and it had multiple spots and was really bronze.  It wasn't long before Vance found another red and this one we got on some video.

 

 

I got on the board in that hole as well and by the time the tide died in a hour or so we had pulled out over a half dozen nice reds up to 22 inches.  Some were right at the slot but they were spunky and fun to pull in.  We had a couple solid strikes that we missed as well with one memorable strike on a pinfish.  From there the tide was quickly dying so we eased out back to the channel and then a quick run back to EG to clean some fish and get home!

Vance sent me the picture from his grill and we had some redfish tacos for dinner so all in all a great day!

 

May fishing with Dudley and Linden

Fished this morning with Dudley and his son Linden.  We had a great start out of EG with a good run south we pulled up on the slick calm flat.  I jumped up on the poling platform and I had them start with some topwater baits to see if we could get on the board quickly.  Well we had a fast blow up right off the sandbar and after working closer the mangroves we had already missed a couple of fish.  Linden had a big blow up as well but for some reason the fish just missed the lure.  They seemed to be short striking and we ended up missing a lot of fish until Dudley got on the board with a small trout. 

We fished some pushes with no luck and so we pulled back to Schuster's hole.  After a couple of missed fished I pulled out a keeper sheapshead.   We pulled out a trout as well, but no redfish.  I think the couple of fish that took the shrimp away from were reds but thats fishing for sure.  By that time the tide was slowing down so we worked some mangroves and decided to run a little south.  We saw some activity out towards the marker off the Cockroach launch channel so we pulled out to see what was going on.  There was a tremendous about of bait out there.  We tried dropping a lure underneath but nothing so we fired but up and ran into the backcountry.

We got to the hole on the last part of the incoming and caught quite a few short trout.  They weren't very large but they were great fun to catch.  We then had some lunch and a tour around the backcountry and it was back to the flat that we started the morning off to drift for some trout.

The current was strong after the tide had switched back to an outgoing and it wasn't long before we knew we were on to the right pattern.  After crossing the sandbar I was rewarded with a nice 20+ inch trout and we caught a couple more shorter trout with some solid fish missed.  Linden scored on a really nice flounder.

We saw a couple more rather larger trout as well.  I insisted that we check out Schuster's hole again before we drifted the flat and after no fish but a stingray we went back for one last drift over the trout area.  It wasn't long into the drift and on one of the final shrimp that this fish struck.

 He measured 25 inches on the tape and had plenty of girth as well.  When it hit I knew it was something large so I was thinking it was a nice red but as it got closer both Linden and I saw that huge mouth and knew it was a rather large trout.  After some wrangling around the boat I was able to flip it onto the deck.  It only took me 3+ years to catch a trout larger than the fish that Kate caught a few years ago with me but today I succeeded.  After that we picked up and moved out back to the ramp to get home.  Everyone got some great fish to take home as well!

Overall even though we didn't get onto any reds you can't complain about bringing home some dinner and catching a couple of really solid trout.

Quick Weedon Island Trip

This was my position most of the afternoon as I drifted the flats looking for reds, trout and snook.  The noon started off slow with just a couple of pinfish until I got up to the potholed flat that I've fished with John before.  After just drifting a few hundred yards I had seen more big redfish than I probably had ever seen at one time.  Most every open sand hole had a rather larger redfish in the bottom of it.  Unfortunately, they were extremely spooky and every cast sent those fish flying off their holes.  I was fishing a circle hook with a shrimp head hooked with a small pinch on weight to drive it to the bottom but after watching a nearby boat hook up on free lined white bait I knew my rig had to be modified if I was going to catch one of these fish.


So I took off the weight and then tailed hooked the shrimp for more scent and easier casting and made another pass across the area.  I had a couple of quick misses so I knew I was on the pattern even though you had to make much longer casts in order for the shrimp to sink the 2 ft to the fish.  Finally, I had a red lined up perfectly facing away from me so I could throw over the top and reel back to the fish to present the shrimp perfectly.  He came up out the hole chasing the shrimp, missed twice and finally picked it up on the third try as I drove the hook home.  After a quick fight and a picture I was back on the hunt.

 

I started back across the flat and hooked up on a rather large trout with a huge gash across the dorsal fin but I was unable to land as the hook came off at the boat.  I guess the Ospreys have been working that area as well and maybe the reason why the fish were spooky.


I turned back with the wind and drifted in order to be as quiet as possible and went over the holes with the larger fish in them again.  Half way through the drift I spot a larger red out in front of the boat that would be a great target.  I put a good cast in on the fish and it responded by chasing down the shrimp and picking it almost off the top of the water and then it was off to the races.  The video below is after two blistering runs that didn't get on camera (*click picture below).

After that I had it dialed in but the tide was quickly coming to an end and I caught one more red and another fish that I didn't know what it was before the tide died.  I jumped up out of there and ran back to the launch under some great conditions to open up the motor a little which has been few and far between lately.

Fishing Early May w/ John and Lindsay

Got out with John and Lindsay looking for some inshore fish around Cockroach.  After a quick run from EG Simmons we pulled up on the flat to plenty of water though it was still pretty off-colored from the recent rains and wind we've had over the past couple of days.  We decided with the tide already pushing in that we would get right up in the mangroves in Schuster's Hole.  There was plenty of activity around the hole and by the time I could hand the rod to Lindsay and turn around it doubled over with a nice solid red.  After a quick fight she had her first redfish in the boat for pictures and the cooler. 

We spent the next few hours working that hole and others around the outside shore line looking for some more fish.  We ended up with a handful more smaller reds right at 18 inches or so.  We also got onto a couple of trout up to 15 or so inches and I completed the slam for us with a nice 20+ inch snook.  I wasn't paying attention to my cork and the next thing I knew the line came tight with a good solid fish.  Luckily the circle hook was in the perfect place so I was able to get him to the boat even on some light flouro.  I guess it's time to step to 20+ lb leader material! We fished for a little while longer and the wind kicked up as predicted so we got a little wet on the ride home but it was well worth the effort.