Sometimes you eat the fish, and sometimes the fish eats YOU.
I told ya'.
Went out to try my hand at it yesterday, and realized one thing.
I must know what I'm talking about!
Started at the jetties (inlet) on a falling tide with a bothersome easterly swell, against the current. Overcast, rain threatening, a bit windy. A "front"
was pushing thru.....again??????.
NEVER LOST A LIVE SHRIMP TO FISH LIPS!
Said to myself, as I often do in the summer, "hell with this place." And left.
Never saw any Tarpon roll, either. Which is why I went there.
Everyone's saying the pogies are gone, but saw a line of them outside the jetty along the bottom on my scope in 20 feet of water, and would see them "flip" here and there as I sat anchored. But everyone ran down the beach and past them, as usual. Habits are hard to break, I guess.
I have a "pogie poem" that my dad wrote years and years ago when he and I fished together.
I'll have to post it here soon....it's really good!
Decided to not go up river very far today. Especially with a 3.5' falling tide. Anything less than a 4.0+ keeps me closer to the inlet.
Ran down to the "lil' Jetties", and had a great drift on a spot that usually has a jetty jockey sitting there fishing 24 hours a day 7 days a week....but there wasn't one, YET. Caught some Jacks on this spot that is very hard to fish. It's one of my 'on a scale from 1 to 10, in difficulty float rigging spots. And it's a 9.95'.
The jacks were busting baits getting washed over some submerged rocks, but I never caught a Redbass, which is why I stopped there.
And it didn't take long before a jetty jockey, showed up with hands full of rods and reels and set up shop for the week, as usual. So I left.
Did some R&D in the ICW heading south. Poked around floating a few spots ...my big catch pictured above. A 10" Red. Never caught one so small in my life!
The falling tide was blasting pretty good at this point, but it was short lived. Ran to a dock where the Reds hang out. Never lost a bait. Ran towards the Dames Point, fished a spot there caught a Ladyfish while on the phone.
Went to another spot close by and sat and waited on the incoming tide, and lost baits to mangroves and pinners. Then as the current picked up and the wind started to blow 15 knots from the SE, I caught a 18" Trout. I lingered or more like loittered there for a long time, and never caught another trout. Looked at two other spots on the way home, never lost a bait.
Out at sun-up, put boat on trailer at 5:00 pm....that's one L-O-N-G day. And then at the ramp at the end of the day,I have one of those Coast Guard Auxillery guys who wants to give me one of those USELESS inspections for a shiney sticker for my boat, that means zero when the Coasties need a quota filled. (and since I'm commercial, I get out of it because he doesn't have any stickers for me with him) Plus I say......I gotta go, now!
There was something in the air. Because even though the tide wasn't all that strong for very long. Something was up. I don't have days like this very often, I usually can get bit. I mean I went places that I never got bit by anything.....and the south jetty was one of them.
Next up:
Tuesday & Saturday.
"I hope they are ready to be on top of their game."
PS:
I went to the bait shop the next day and I wasn't alone. And did GREAT compared to some of my network of fishing compadre's, so it sounds.
THAT'S FISHIN......
