Rained Out
I began the day as usual, up at 4:15am and out the door by 4:45am. It makes for a long day, but at least I don't have to go to the office like most folks. I pulled up on a flat to the west side of Picnic Island, dropped the Power Pole and started my morning ritual of chumming up the white bait. I was expecting a group of four this morning, so I new I had to really load up. It didn't take long for the bait to find my chum slick and hone in on the source. Soon enough I had plenty of bait in the well. I had to go through a lot of small stuff to find anything of size, which means I threw that net ALOT!
I met my charter group at the Punta Rassa docks at 8:30, a great family from France on a whirl wind Florida tour. They had never been fishing before, so needless to say I was really excited about bending some rods. I went directly to a set of docs adjacent to the boat ramp. I've had good luck there in the past with really big Snook. Giant bait is what they like, and giant bait is what I had. I grabbed a Tarpon rod and baited it with a very large pin fish. No sooner than it hit the water and we were hooked up, and broke off just as quick. This went on for about an hour, fish on and then broke off! The Frenchman just couldn't bully em out of the docks. I figured we would be better off going somewhere there wasn't too much structure to contend with, so Redfish Pass here we come.
We arrived on a strong falling tide, which is the key for a productive day at this pass. We were fishing only 30 minutes when the storms started rolling in, and they were nasty. I figured maybe we could fish through them, boy was I wrong. Thank goodness we were so close to shelter, the kind folks at South Seas Resort allowed us to dock up and get cover. I discussed in detail what our options were with my group and we decided to call it a day and head back as soon as we caught a break in the weather. Later that night they called me and asked if they could book me the next day and luckily I had availability. It was a great day! We caught good numbers of trout and snook. Overall all good experience for the Frenchman and his family. Tips for the day: Get up really early to find the bait, be on the water when it's still dark with plenty of chum at your side. Fishing is great when the weather permits. Look for a light East wind changing over to west in the afternoon and fish a falling tide around the passes and you'll do fine. SO GET UP, GET GOING, and "GO CATCH EM"
Captain Jason Marsh
www.AnglersChoiceOutfitters.com
239-246-3579