I caught a slam 6 times over and sight fished and caught 2 slams. I saw a few trout popping the surface and sight casted them. I caught 2 instantly when my bait hit their spot. I saw some thing running bait pulling wake in very shallow water and casted on its nose. Bam instant flounder. I did that 3 times. I sight casted at least 10 reds. I ended the day with 10 or 11 trout 2 about 17 and a few 14 plus and the rest were like 7 to 9 inches. I probably caught 20 or so reds from about 12 inches to 24 and caught 5 flounder from about 8 inches to close to 15. Also caught a lizard fish that i couldn’t tell was on there. As i reeled in a tandem rig with 2 3gram 2inch powerbait pogy paddletails i could see the bottom one and thought man its really kicking up some sand but it was the lizard fish just blending in. The flat i fished had a pool about 50 yds long and a muddy sand bank and i was running from end to end catching tailer reds from 14 to 24. I fully committed to chasing the reds today and at 1 point i got knee deep in mud and at another ponit got shoulder deep in water because i opted to stay on the reds. I fished the flat from less than a foot of water and followed the reds until it got 4 ft deep so getting back to my jump in spot was deep. This was the latest into the incoming i have fished the flat, I thought i was gonna have to swim back out and left the reds tailing and biting. I got a picture of the momma egret watching the baby with a red tailing in between them. Also the baby egret was feeding with the red again in the same spot. The red pushes the minnows on the shore and the egret pushes the minnows back to the red. It was so nice i couldnt hear or see a person or any signs of people for most of the day. It felt great to get away and not think about anything for a couple hours. The wind, the tide, the fish, the bait, the birds, the weather, my schedule every thing worked in my favor today. Truly a day to appreciate, especially since most of my recent trips i struggled.
The water wa
Great day. I was looking at the sky all day wishing I was out there. Jealous!
1966 13’ Boston Whaler “Flatty”
2018 Sportsman Masters 207
www.eyestrikefishing.com #predatorsstriketheeye
Great post and catching 40", every picture I have tried to post says it to big, I just hit post again and all have posted on 2nd try.
Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it!
Fantastic report, I’m glad you tore um up. Day’s like that make it all worth while:smiley:
Great post and catching 40", every picture I have tried to post says it to big, I just hit post again and all have posted on 2nd try.
Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it!
wow, gets my vote for best inshore report post of 2018! Great pics, super informative, one q, how do you rig tandem rigs? I used to fly fish and that was a commonon technique, but how do you do it with lures?
Cheers
I’m not a Dr, those are my initials and I cant edit my user name. Please do not contact me regarding medical issues
Not asking exactly where, but what river(s) do you fish? I haven’t see a pool like that since I was a kid (also not saying exactly where). You always seem to get on ‘em and just curious what rivers are producing.
Took my drone out today near low tide and saw 30-40 reds all along a bank which was super cool to see. Tried to get a video of my wife catching one from overhead, but of course, right after i had to land it in the boat (sketchy with today’s wind), then she lands a 22”.
Are you still seeing bass tail in the flats at high tide or is it too cold now? I haven’t seen any in the past few weeks and wondering if it’s just where i was looking or universal at this point.
I fish everywhere. I would say the area but people can google map spots easily. Its not just my spot a lot of people fish the area so i dont want to blow it up. Id try that spot you knew as a kid, probably a good one.
Some good general tips
Tailers in grass = hightide
Tailers in flat = lowtide
Totally different things
We have year round flats fishing but fall is the best time for both styles.
Our water temps are ranging from 64 to 74 right now depending area and time of day.
If average temps are above 60, air high and low and water then floodtide fishing is still a go. Lowtide flats fishing ive seen tailers in sub 40 degree water around oysters, there sunning for warmth. Its game on until the water gets below 60 but then the patterns start to change from fall to winter. Low overnight temps and low tide cool and slow the flats down. High overnight temps and low tide in the morning usually add up to good flats fishing.
So for ideal winter flats fishing conditions i want warmer than usual weather with low tide at like 5 to 8 so the warm water outflow from the flat brings fish to the backwater and the warm overnight temps and mud from the low tide will hold and warm the fish. Then when its low again in the morning and the sun comes up the flat is easily warmed and fish are condensed into a smaller feeding zone. I had nearly this exact scenario except the tide was low at like 830 pm the night before and low at 10 ish in the morning. The wind produce just enough chop to give the fish less visibility of me and also blew the tide out a little giving me a extended lowtide.
Tandem rig is 3ft flouro modified uni to uni to main. I take a 18inch section of flouro and tie a uni to uni with the 2 leader lines about a ft from original double uni. This leaves you with 2 end lines 1 over a ft and the second a over 2ft. I then uni on what ever baits i want tto use. If 2 different weights the lighter 1 is always first. I mainly use this to cast in winds and sink quicker/slower depending lu
Nice report and photos
“Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education”
18’ CC SeaFox
Change your name to FOTYinchreds… Fisherman of the year!