Bait on the flats was really tuff this morning. A bucket of chum along with 10 tosses of the cast net resulted in maybe 20 decent white baits. Captain Steven got wise and quickly ran to the Skyway Bridge and was greeted by tons of white bait. No chumming was needed and 2 tosses of the net filled the live well. Good size bait perfect for a 3/8" net.
With a dead low tide I was confident I knew exactly where we would find several schools of large over the slot redfish. Winds forecasted under 10 mph were closer to 15 mph combined with little sun made sighting redfish a struggle. We searched for over an hour and only spotted several pairs which we never got a shot at.
Fishing near the pass we changed gears and chased Bonita which did not take long at all. With silver Clark spoons on 3' of 25 pound fluorocarbon leader it was game on. Rods bent deeply and drags screamed as we hooked these speedsters. Bonita from 5 to over 10 pounds pounced on our spoons. Just follow the birds, position yourself up tide and drift into the battle zone. We could have done this all day!
Back to looking for redfish on a local mangrove, oyster lading island. We saw 3 large 40" bruisers with no takers. Back on of my favorite flats action was awesome. Trout, Mackerel, Ladyfish and Black Tip sharks made for lots of light tackle fun. I deployed the Power Pole in 7' and worked baits under a float from in 5 to 8' of water loaded with glass minnows. The Black Tip sharks exploded upon hookup maybe several exciting jumps. One shark had been bitten by another shark!
Captain Steven Markovich
www.onthemarkcharters.com
