Thought I had a good one today!! Reds every where as far as I can see. I couldn’t get any hooked up!! Zman, voodoo, doa, gulp, top water… dang. In case you were wondering I managed not to cry in my beer. Haha What the heck gives. Why couldn’t I hook up?
I’ll let Dave(Optiker) chime in here.
Some days they just don’t want to cooperate. Curious, did you have any live/real bait? I’ve had some days when they would ONLY bite on one or the other.
Couple of questions/comments- what size leader are you using? With clear water (Assuming it was pretty clear, since you could see the fish) you want to go as light as possible (10-15# fluoro)…same for jighead weight, light as possible. Also lure color- if overcast, use a smoke/dark color, if sunny then use something brighter. If this was a popular school that is highly pressured, you likely need to be one of the first ones to them early in the day/tide; otherwise they may be lockjawed for the rest of the day. Another thing, when you see a huge school, try casting on the outskirts of the school, not directly in the middle. Last thing I can think of- I’ve seen a lot of people of my boat, when sightfishing, when the fish gets near the lure they have the tendency to let the lure just sit…if fish are finicky and you’re trying to get a reactionary bite, you need to keep the lure moving since you’re trying to imitate a wounded bait with a plastic imitation. Hope some of this is helpful. Good luck.
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Thanks for the info. The water was muddy with outgoing tide on the mud flat. I could see the fish because they were coming to the surface and on the sonar. The line was 10# mono and 1/4 oz. jigs. I was in a remote area early in the morning. The only other thing I can think of is bringing live bait. I wonder if they were spawning if that had anything to do with it. Strange to see them coming to the surface so frequently that way. Thanks again.
Sometimes, they are just that way, unfortunately. In a school as soon as they know you are there sometimes that will shut them off. Scent helps often, and if they are only hitting little grass shrimp I’ve only had luck with something about that size. Like a fly or maybe the new salty ned shrimp from Zman might do it.
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Great info here!
Also, is it possible the school was mullet? How big were these fish?
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Well they were mostly slot size. That said they were surfacing from 5-10’ depths so literally I could see them. If you get past the fact I didn’t catch it was quite the show.
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I didn’t good idea
I’ve seen it go both ways.
Spawning fish don’t eat much normally of all species, even freshwater Bass and Crappie, I have read and heard that.
Live shrimp
Definitely not spawning. Males reach spawning size around 27" and females around 31". They spawn late Aug and Sept in deep water like the grillage area. Those big bulls we’re targeting around that time? They are spawning, or trying to…
Its what makes the world go around…
I can remember Cobia around Edisto stacked up deep like cordwood at one time.
Then they started having tournaments with crazy prize money with the big female breeders bringing in the big paydays.
Now just look at the Cobia population in that area
So anyway, keep floating big breeders away belly up at grillage or off the front beach rocks at Edisto and mother nature will respond accordingly.
Just think of how many grillage big drum used to be caught vs now.
Im guilty as sin too, but not so much anymore.
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Careful… you might bring Fritz up out of the woodworks with that sort of talk 
I’ve fished mostly freshwater, very little in saltwater. So take my reply with a grain of salt. I fish with several guys who think sonar can spook fish and shut them down. Especially the high powered newer units.
We didn’t have sonar in daddy Jon boat back in the day.
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I heard Frosty just turned senior citizen the other day. Congratz?
Yep, I fully believe this.
It’s the abundance of easy pickin shrimp. Get the shrimp in the net, for every 50 you lose, you’ll catch one red.