The boat hit the water at 6:30 AM. I wanted to give Bassin a change of pace and give him a little taste of live baiting. We made the run to the Skyway in the dark and it was nice and smooth. Got to the big bridge and anchored up. The current was ripping so hard my net wouldn't get down 5 ft before I ran out of rope. Made a few more tries and got fed up and pulled anchor. Tried drifting with the current and throwing and got maybe a 1/2 dozen, not nearly the 200+ baits I normally go through. I decided to run across to a grass flat that holds bait every now and then. I chummed heavy for 10 min and made a throw. Got a couple dozen but they were small. I have not thrown on a flat on my new boat and learned the hard way that grass on a fiberglass is very slick and took an unwanted swimIt was cold but thank got it had been a mild winter. After killing an hour we went back to the big bridge. The current eased up and bait was on top. After 5 or so throws I loaded the well and headed for the river.
First stop was a small cut near the mouth I did pretty well on last week and got set up. Cranked a couple bats of chummers and they were getting popped. First bait in the water gets hit within 15 seconds, a Snook around the 18" range. As I release him Dave hooks up on an 18" Red. Within 2 min of fishing we are 2/3 the way of a boat slam. All the fish caught today were in the 16 - 24" range. I think we need some cold weather to push more of the bigger ones back in the river. We caught 6 or so fish ( Reds and Snook ) at the first spot and decided to push up river. We anchored up on the second spot ( this place looks like it would never hold anything but does ) and started chumming. I get a Snook on the first bait. Dave hooks up and first we were calling it a Snook, then a Red, and turned out to be a 21 1/2" Trout. I even got Mr Trout don't count to get a pic with it
We fished there for about 45 min with more Snook, Reds, and 1 Lady to show for it. By then with wind kicked up and was tough to deal with so we pushed to the BB cut. We made a short stop at a really fishy looking dock with submerged structure and mangroves next to it. This thing was screaming Snook hole but we goose egged there even with some really well placed baits. We headed around the corner and anchored on a mangrove line I have been doing well on but the cross wind was unbearable. We stuck it out for about 30 min and Dave got a couple of Reds and short strikes.
We kept working up river to another spot that is like a mini flat. The first 15 min I could not keep a bait in the water more than 30 seconds and a Snook would hit it. Dave pulled a Red and 4 or so Snook from there as well. We decided to push into " Shortcut Cut " to get out of the wind and bounced all the way down it and it produced well Both Dave and I would be on them almost constantly for about 15 min or so and all the commotion would spook the fish off and we would bounce down 50 yards at a time. We had a double hook up with Dave on a Red an me a Snook until mine came unbuttoned. We tried the SSS cut but the wind was ridiculous and could not get our baits in the strike zone. I think I got a rat red from there.
We decided to go back to the first spot and after finding out how shallow my boat won't go got back there. By that time the tide was dead and so was the bite. My chummers were not even touched ( other than by the birds ). Having enough Dave wanted to show me the " guide cut " he fishes and it looks like a really good bank to fish. The tide was lower than we wanted but Dave got a mid twenties Snook and a decent Flounder. We decided to head back to CRB and try a few spots by the ramp and headed that way. Halfway through the no wake zone I notice the boat sagging in the back so I peek down the porthole and it was full of water
I had Dave go up front and I turned on the Bilge and put it on plane as I was not sure where the water was coming from. Not wanting to chance anything I called it a day. I figured out what it was on the drive home thinking about it. The cross wind was getting us wet with spray in the slow speed zone so I gave it a little throttle to get the nose up a hair. Doing that pushed the back end down and I was trimmed up so water was coming over the back without. Rookie mistake but crap happens and I'll just count it as a lesson learned.
It was a fun trip Dave we need to do it again.
Dave hooked up in the background:
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