Spin fishing and fly anglers had a great week onboard the Maverick. Since most were inexperienced anglers, we opted for trout on the grass flats just off the intracoastal waterway in about 4-5 feet of water.
After the early morning topwater bite was done, we went to deeper water with jigs and arti shrimp under Old Bayside Poppers and had a blast. With the jigs, it was best to slowly move it near the bottom. The Old Bayside Poppers have a distinct advantage over the Cajun Thunder floats in that the stem on the float is made of titanium and won't bend. They are a bit more expensive, but it sure seems worth it.
Some bluefish up to five pounds were caught while fishing for trout. All the anglers were excited to have the screaming runs that bluefish of that size can produce. Spanish are still in the local waters and, when you can hook them in the lips and not get cut off, they are also a hoot on light tackle. Although I haven't done it lately, anchoring up with a chum block over the side should draw all the Spanish you could want to the slick.
Although the summer doldrums are upon us, it's been more active than I can remember for this time of year. Fly anglers are catching as many as the spin anglers. Deceivers and Clousers in a variety of colors have kept them busy. Yesterday, it didn't seem to make a difference what color flies we were using. Chartreuse/white, white, white/gray, or whatever seemed to work just fine. The best thing about flies is that you don't have to worry about the small bluefish taking the tails off your soft plastics. Captain Mel Berman told me that a Clouser attached to a jighead on a leader worked just fine for him. He was fly fishing with a spinning rig!