Having my first baby at home this summer has really put a crimp my learning the LR area. I’ve managed to get out a few times but rarely at the “right” time and rarely with my wife who loves it almost as much as I do.
Sunday afternoon we left my daughter with her grands and hit the water…with every other yahoo that only takes their boat out twice a year. It was a mad house on the ICW!
My wife lost a big flounder boatside, and we didn’t get another bite. It was a bummer, and I felt I’d let her down.
Monday, I decided to beat the crowd and I hit the water well before day break for some topwater action on a low and rising tide.
Tide: Low rising to Mid-High
Wind: North 3-7mph
Water: 82f, slightly stained, slight chop
I fished topwater near protected shell banks for better clarity. Had a few blow-ups finally connected with two back to back trout at 17" & 15". Had one decent fish come unpinned, and another broke me off. Should have changed leaders after that first fish.
With the sun getting up and wind and current getting stronger, I switched to plastic paddle tails. The tide was just touching grass. I found an eddie I’d never fished before and started casting to the grass edge and pulling it out. Immediately started catching trout and it was fast and furious for the next hour with about a 3-1 ratio of keepers, the biggest being 18.5".
There was another boat that moved just off my stern and was drifting float rigs but I never saw them catch anything.
My theory is that fish were waiting with nose in the grass for bait to get trapped when swept through the eddy.
The tide got up over the shell bank and well into grass and the bite stopped. The crowds had started to arrive, so I called it a day with 6 fish and went to join my family on the beach.
I rarely keep many fish but that evening