Inshore Trout and Red fishing continues to be excellent for most anglers and we all know it only gets better from here. The water temperature is falling pretty quick, now. We went from 86 degrees to the low 70's in a couple of weeks, and now it has crept back up to the 77 degree mark. This sharp decline and then leveling, has sparked a pretty good fish bite in the rivers and near the beaches.
After all the talk about bad weather throughout the summer months and terrible inshore fishing, the holy of holiest, the "Speckled Trout" has finally come knocking…. For ALL OF US.
In nearly each instance I have visited local Marina's and Boat Ramps, the story has been equal. Trout! And, large numbers of them caught on a variety of bait. Although each angler has his/her own tactics for catching Trout, this season is starting out with the makes of very memorable one.
The Bass Boys Story...
I visited St. Simons Marina last weekend to check out who was catching what before the wind started blowing the following day. I had high hopes there would be a good crowd of fisherman there just before the Weather front approached, especially on a Saturday. As the barometer dropped through the early AM hours, I waited patiently to see who would be the first group back to the dock with a limit of Trout.
At about 10 AM, a bass boat slid in and tied up. I watched with curiosity while they jostled with their gear and coolers, and the two anglers gave us a few hard stares as well. We don't see bass boats in saltwater all that much and I didn't recognize either of the anglers on board, so I minded my business, but only for so long. The two never came up the dock and were just standing around the boat like they were lost. Well, they were.
I took a walk down after about 15 minutes to check on the Anglers and see if they had any questions as they looked very confused. They had been fishing in the Altamaha River (a brackish/more fresh) for large mouth Bass and took a wrong turn and ended up in the Intracoastal Waterway heading south and ran into St. Simons Marina after a fairly long Journey down river.
The driver said he had never been to the GA Coast and both the guys were from Alabama. He told me they were lost and were looking for Two-Way fish camp. I told both of them they may need fuel and we'll have to go to lunch and let me draw them a map to find their way back. These guys were so far from their launching area, I couldn't believe it. During our conversation, the guys said they stopped along the way and fished several "points" of marsh grass that looked good to them. I asked them what they had used for bait and both the anglers were tossing black rubber worms with green and blue tails and had also been tossing a few spinner baits and jerk baits.
Now, for the big question I had been leading up to for nearly 15 minutes. "Did you catch anything?", I asked. The driver looked at his companion and answered "Yes, we did… But we're not sure if these fish are legal in length and we're not 100% sure what they are". When he said that, my gut hit my knee caps. I was thinking these guys had killed a pile of undersize Redfish. So, I asked to see their catch and let them know I was not the ‘Police" and would lead them in the proper direction. The drivers fishing buddy opened up the large center release well on the aft deck of the Bass Cat with hesitation. His motion seemed intentionally slow and lifeless and was driving me nuts at that point. I wanted to know what they had in that well! Finally, he opened it and asked me to step on board. I took a quick look and stepped back on the dock. I shook my head and looked down and he slammed the lid shut. The driver of the boat asks me, "Are we in trouble?" with a curious look on his face. I answered with only this. "If I were you, I wouldn't take that mess of fish up here and clean them". It would have caused a fiasco if they had.
The boys had themselves a box full of Trout in the 3-5 pound class! I finally quit holding out land let them in on their accomplishment and exactly what kind of day they had. "Getting lost was a good thing if this is the result", I said. I told them to be sure they didn't have any more than 30 fish total, so they began counting very cautiously. They had 26 Trout and 6 Redfish, all legal. The Trout were huge and every one of those fish came off Rubber worms, spinner baits and Jerk Shad. These guys didn't know a thing about saltwater fishing, were lost and had never fished this area in their life. They were simply good fisherman during a great Trout season. These guys were so scared they had done something wrong; they didn't know what to do and out of fuel. They wanted to ask directions and buy fuel, but were worried someone would ask if they had caught anything. Again, they weren't 100% sure they were trout, but they only THOUGHT they might be. Incredible… I will never forget it.
After I was sure they were legal, I offered to ride with them back to their launch area, so they agreed to bring me back by truck to St. Simons Marina after we loaded the boat on the trailer. We fueled them up and I kept the marina "vultures" off the guys so we could get them out of there without everyone swamping them with questions. The boys were nervous enough as it was and felt bad for getting lost. I didn't let the marina hang out group hammer them, and we headed north.
The driver (David) showed me where he thought they had fished, and the areas looked likely. It was hard to tell with no GPS track to follow, but he and his partner (Ronnie) were sure about a couple of the spots. The men were so grateful after I got them back to their launch site; they ended up giving me every trout in the box. I argued that they should clean them and eat them as the table quality would exceed largemouth bass any day. David said, "Man, we didn't come to catch no Trout. We came to catch Bass". I didn't have any words on that note and accepted the fish with no further argument.
David and Ronnie dropped me back off at St. Simons Marina 3 hours after we fueled their Bass Cat and drove off. I had a great time talking fishing with them. They were from Mobile Alabama and had only fished the lakes near there and a few North Georgia lakes as well. They had never been saltwater fishing in their life, so they were interested to hear about Bull Reds, Tarpon and other fish they had only seen on TV.
Upon returning to the St. Simons Marina, I missed a lot of catches being cleaned, but every one of those boats caught plenty of "keeper" size trout that day. This could be a premier year on the Georgia Coast estuary system for Trout.
The spots: Points, rips, shell beds, covered mud/shell mix areas on the flood tide and any type of structure. It looks to be a no brainer this year, so far…
The Tackle: Popping Floats, Slip Floats, Soft Baits, Top-water (daylight & dusk) and bottom fishing as well. Looks like pretty much anything..! Get on the water, get your feel and catch some fish… The bite is on!
Redfish On the Beaches a while longer
Off the beach, we are HAMMERING the Bull Redfish as they make their seasonal appearance to spawn. The baitfish are still in the rivers and sounds, so the fish have plenty to eat and will stay happy so long as the baitfish stick around. Be ready for aggravation in catching the bait when they are in deep water as they are scattered, but at least there are still a few around. Follow the bait to the Bull Redfish. It is literally that simple. No bird or bait activity and nothing on the depth finder means... Don't fish there. Find a better spot and HOLD ON!
Capt. Richie Lott
http://www.charterfish.com
