Anyone else notice that live shrimp is producing mainly rat reds this time of year? I’m throwing some jumbo shrimp too. Thanks.
there are a lot of rats around, but they’re big enough to eat finger mullet now too. problem with scrimp is that everything eats em… that’s only a problem if you’re around pinfish and rats and are targeting something else.
i recommend switching to lively menhaden or any other shiny fish and see if your catch gets bigger. caught short flounder and reds 10-25" on FMs in the last two days… but i lost the 18" flounder because i yanked on him expecting another rat. you just never know…
BTW, try fishing your spot with a little bit more water on it- rats will stick around structure in less water than the 2 and 3 year olds.
Wow… Good stuff man. Thanks
hope some of that helps.
also want to add that i don’t think 1 year olds (under 15" in aug/sept when they are born) really go up in the grass either. if the water’s at the top of the creek bank, or into the grass, bigger fish may have actually moved shallower than the little ones, too. i don’t fish the flats, so i’m not sure. sure don’t hear about fly guys being plagued by schools of rats wanting to eat a merkin crab.
have you found any trout or flounder mixed in? fishing on the bottom or in the water column?
i remembered also that the 18" flounder that shook the hook at the surface two days ago had eaten the smallest scrimp in the bucket- way smaller than a pinky finger. i had run out of FMs, but it didn’t matter once i found the fish.
No flounder or trout at my spot with shrimp. Did catch an 18" as well on a menhaden under a cork if you can believe that. The water was shallow though
18" flounder I mean
I have caught fat slotties and 30"+ reds on shrimp. I have noticed the bigger reds tend to get in the grass faster than the baby reds. Try fishing a lower tide, if you are not already.
“In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose fish. If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone.” Ray Bergman