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It was an awesome week of fishing, especially for gator trout. The water temperature broke 70 degrees, and the fish began to move. I have many inquires for the week, and because Monday seemed to be travel day for everyone, it never filled. It may be just as well, as we had another cold front come through on the weekend, and it was still cold and blowing on Monday.
But, Tuesday, as if by miracle, was a gorgeous day for Bill Odell and his friend. It was my second trip with Bill, and he told me that what I had showed him on the first trip had allowed him to take his Mom out for an absolutely great time.
We headed straight up into the Sound, and I decided to see if we could catch some bait. I threw two or three times on some pylons. I moved to another spot and threw again, and had so much bait I could hardly pull the net into the boat.
We took our bait and headed to some of my favorite potholes, thinking we'd catch some nice trout, and maybe a snook or two. But, the fish had other ideas. They didn't want to eat, and I found out later that others had run into the same situation. As the tide moved higher, I abandoned the potholes in favor of a large, deep trough, hoping to find a snook that was thawed out enough to eat. We did find a couple of snook, and managed to boat one. But, we also found a big trout bonanza that I have often found there, before. The boys were able to limit out on trout right there.
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I met my number one fishing buddy Wednesday morning at his dock, and loaded my three Stellas and some supplies. It looked like another gorgeous day. I told John of the previous days outing with Bill, and the reluctance of so many redfish to eat our offerings. We decided to stop and catch a few ladyfish on the way down the river, so we'd have another option to offer them. It's hard for redfish to refuse a chunk of ladyfish.
Next, we stopped to see if we could find more shiners, and it didn't take us too long to load the well with plenty. Counting our well stocked tacklebags, we figured we had the bait situation covered. I wanted to show John some potholes he hadn't fished with me before, because John loves catching big trout, especially on every cast, and the action there has been great. The trick would be getting his 22 Coastline through the super shallow water that protects and surrounds them. I took the helm as we approached the area, and sat us down at the edge of the first hole.
It was a great hole, and we had non-stop action right from the start. John had selected an unusual lure made by Ricky Banks. It's a short white plastic body with a split tail, and black dots down it's belly. It was very different from the Bass Assassins I've had my customers using, but it was just as deadly. We had a blast catching trout for several hours. Save for a very few, they were all nice slot fish.
We had pushed tons of big redfish as we had come onto the flat to fish the potholes, and knew they were there with us. As the tide began to flood the flats and give us the option of moving the big boat, our thoughts turned to chunked ladyfish and big redfish. We moved out onto the open flats and began chumming with shiners and ladyfish, and put out freelined shiners on two rigs, and ladyfish steaks on two other rigs which were then placed into the front rod holders.
Ladyfish is a great bait, especially when the water is still cold and the fish lethargic. We caught big trout, redfish, and snook on the steaked ladyfish. John boated one 10 pound redfish, and we missed 4 or 5 others. He also caught 4 snook, and missed 2 others. There were also 4 flounder in the midst of the tons of big trout we caught weighing up to 4 pounds. Even though the reds still were reluctant to eat, we got our Slam and had a Blast! John took a limit of big trout home for dinner. What a day!
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As good as Wednesday was, Thursday was even better for John and me. We followed the same game plan, catching four ladyfish for cut bait, then stopping to catch some shiners. We entertained fishing a different area, but I reminded John that the trout we were catching there were much bigger than those I'd been catching in other areas. We opted to return to the scene of the previous days crime.
This time though, I was armed with a new bait I wanted to try. It was a Culprit 5" Jerk Shad in a green with gold flecks. John stayed with his white Ricky Banks lure. The wind was about 180 off from the previous day, now coming from the south/southeast so we began at a different part of the flat. My first cast with the Culprit brought a jarring hit from a big trout. John was impressed. There was another, and another, and another, and soon John couldn't stand it and had to have a Culprit, as well.
It was the single best day of trout fishing John and I have ever had, and probably the best I've ever had, considering quality and quantity of fish. It was unbelievable! Our average trout was about 19 inches, and we had many over 20, which is considered a trophy trout, here. There were also a couple of flounder, including another keeper. We stayed with the trout until the tide rose high enough to let them began leaving the potholes. As with the day before, we had not been able to keep count because the action was so fast, but we were sure we had caught a good 50 big trout. Still, the best was yet to come.
Finally, we moved to deeper water to see if we could get the reds and snook to eat. John had already caught a snook about a quarter inch short of keeper size on the same Culprit lure, but we didn't get any more on the ladyfish. He did catch another beautiful 10 pound redfish, and we caught a number of really big trout on the ladyfish as well. The biggest was a 6 pound monster, that took the bait so deep that it punched it's aorta, and bled out before we could land it. We worked on the fish for a long time, trying in vain to resuscitate her. Get this. We wound up putting back a healthy 4 pound trophy trout when the big 6 pounder finally expired.
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Once again John and I had gotten the Slam, and had recorded the best day of trout fishing, and the biggest trout John had ever caught. What a day. We went home with big smiles permanently engraved on our tired faces.
Friday's tide was very poor in the morning, and descent late in the day, and never booked. I was ready for a day off, though, knowing I was looking at a full week ahead. We've got great pothole tides next week, so stay tuned.
If you want to be able to continue to fish Florida waters please follow this link, "Manatee Zones: How You Can Help" and please take the time to become involved, even if you don't live in Florida. Let the politicians know WHY you come to Florida on vacation!
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