Inshore stingray stingray stingray. I cant even catch a shark!!!
Riddle me this. Fishing incoming tide at a local fishing hole about 3 feet of water, lots of bait. One cajun thunder, 2 feet of 30 pound leader with a live mullet.
Hit after hit, mullet comes back without a tail…OK - what am I fishing for wahoo???WTF???
So I put a trailer off the back. This time the fish (I believe its a redfish) yanks the float down, i pull on the road, I reel up the mangled finger mullet.
How did the fish swallow the mullet, mangle it and not get hooked with TWO hooks??
Well, i dont really have much to offer except for sympathy…I cant tell you how many times ive come close to starting a thread with the same title. I appreciate and got a kick out of your candor.
Yep, if you are new to an area move if you aren’t getting bites. If you do catch fish note the tide and go back again at the same tide to validate the spot. One of the best ways to find fish is to drift a shoreline and work a bait that covers a lot of area like a swin bait. Since getting a trolling motor I have found numerous areas that hold fish that I normally would not have found without being able to effectively fish a large area to single out spots.
I’m right there with you bro! I will agree with Hurricane though. Ditch the float until you find some “actual” fish. That suspended bait is really asking for bait thief’s…IMO. I’ve gone through a dozen mullet in a morning, several times, doing the same thing. PM me and we can go be terrible together sometime!
If we have a contest, you will have to battle me for 1st place. Don’t give up though, keep working different spots, tides, etc… Thanks to a couple of folks here on CF and going out and trying on my own, I am better that I was but not as good as i want to be. I have come to the conclusion that the more time you spend on the water, the better fisherman you will become. THAT is my biggest problem. Living 2 hours away, limits the amount of time I can get out thus I am not able to scout, experiment, etc. as much as i would like. keep at it, you will get better.
This sound trout advice from Ron Davis. Book a charter with Ron 843-513-0143 and totally enhance your learning curve: “Every lure made catches fish, and no lure catches them all the time. As you gain experience with a multitude of lures, you seem to migrate to those that produce
best in the most varied conditions. I’ve been fortunate enough in the last 5 years to fish inshore for PLEASURE almost 1,000 days. When I am trout fishing, I will always have a TroutTrick tied on. Everyone will have differing opinions, but my trout staples are 1) live bait popping cork rig, 2)DOA/ popping cork combo, 3) 1/4 oz. jighead for Assassins and Z-Man plastics, 4) 1/8 oz. jighead for TroutTrick or Gulp! 3” shrimp. When our Edisto water is clear, 90% of the time a TroutTrick is what I’m throwing because it seems to catch bigger trout on average. I’ve had plenty of time on the water to do all kinds of side by side comparisons, and during the right conditions, it’s hard to beat."
No one is worse at inshore than me. The very first time I went inshore I caught a 23" spottail within 10 mins. That was 2 years ago. Since then I have caught a floatless crab pot on my outboard, countless plugged pee holes with sand and mud, mangled props, and gelcoat rubbed off my bow on sandbars.
Inshore is for catching bait to take to the reefs, jetties, and inlets.