Fished the outgoing tide this morning from 7-noon. Mud minnows on the bottom and under a float. Fishing in 4-10 feet of water. All I caught were baby sharks and stingrays. There was live bait all around me every spot that I fished. After catching 8-10 little sharks in each spot I would pack up and try another spot.
Question: if you were in a spot and constantly catching little sharks would you switch to another spot? The sharks were a pain in the rear end because it seemed as soon as my bait hit the water a shark would eat my minnow. I need some help. I have yet to catch a redfish, trout, or flounder this summer.
Unless you were wanting to catch sharks, then yes, I would move. Go find some creeks or drainages coming out of the grass flats and park yourslf at the mouth of them at outgoing tide. This should yield some more desirable catches. These same spots and flats adjacent to these types of spots can be very good at low tide as well. Follow the bait. You’ll eventually stumble on to the right participants.
Happens more often in the summer for me than I’d care to admit. Doesn’t necessarily mean that your chosen species is not there, just that these others are more aggressive. When it happens, I normally first try to change presentations, often going to artificials, and if that doesn’t produce, I move on to the next location. Happened to me recently and when I started casting a Saltwater Assassin, I immediately started picking up trout. I hate wasting prime tide time on the wrong fish.
These are just observations I have made in two spots that i know produce:
Really good spot known to produce reds and a few trout on a regular basis(low tide) tend not to hold those fish when toad fish are around. As a matter of fact, its almost like the reds leave when the toad fish shows up. Has happened in the same spot more than a few times.
I have a spot that holds lots of bait consistently on a certain tide stage(high) and holds reds and trout in the warmer months for a few hrs after the bait shows up. Before the reds and trout get there the sharks,blue fish and lady fish get there. The last time i fished this spot my buddy caught a baby shark and we caught a few lady fish. Before I even realized I had said it, i told him,“well, you always catch small sharks and lady fish here before the reds and trout come in.” Then 30 min later we are reeling in reds and trout. The small sharks and lady fish did not leave completely but its all good when you are catch big reds and trout.
Keep in mind this is just something i have noticed a few times about spots that produce reds and trout. Not to mean that because the little sharks are there the reds will be along in a half hr or that if you catch a toad fish you should leave. Well maybe that one. Lol. I just always figure if something happens more than a few times in the same spot at the same tide stage, then there may be something to it. And if its happening at one spot in the ocean it is likely the same thing is going on somewhere else. Anyway, good luck to ya.
P.s. That is good advice above.
I’d rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave.
I have had almost the same luck the past couple weeks. Ive fished 3 times and caught almost all sharks (probably 30+). I can say that there was a redfish and ladyfish mixed in there but it is still annoying to have to re-bait every 2 minutes. deeper water seems to hold less sharks but they are still there in these hot months.
