Fishing After Irma...Good

jhdog13

15 Sept 2017...Wabasso South… Good info, the ramp at Wabasso was OK. Arrived at 0 Dark Hundred. Water was even with the top of the ramp. Have seen it in the past, where the parking lot was flooded, so no problem. Would definitely be a challenge catching today. Still dark, so rather than risk the chance of hitting any debris, started at the causeway, South side. Water was moving pretty hard through the relief bridge. Bait was stacked up. Lot of fish crashing bait, mostly big Jacks. Pulled one short Snook and missed a few hits. Good light, run to the Pine Island cut. Nothing but short Trout, Snapper and Snook. Duckman showed up, catching with live bait, no monsters. Tried a pocket that is normally not fishable, normal depth is about 2 inches. Three short Snook. Couple of boats hit Hobart, so decided to work the Sisters and the South spoil islands. Set up to fish the Mangrove trough, you have to know where it is. Not all of the fish will be back in the Mangroves, some will wait in the trough to ambush anything coming out of the jungle. First fish, a low end slot Trout. Plenty of short Trout, Snapper and Snook. Good solid hit and run, scattered bait. Wound up being a 24 inch Red, really good colors. If you are going out, the East side shorelines have been altered. Lay downs that held Snapper and Flounder are gone. Now there are a lot of new trees down. The new structure on the spoil islands was productive. Pulled a 19 inch Red off of one. On another, something crashed a Mangrove, quick flip with the Baby Vudu Shrimp, nothing, looked down and watched a Sheepshead come out and hit. Hope you do better at fishing the moving water than I did. First cast, Ladyfish, next a Hardhead Cat and last, a Jack. Not a great pattern. Favorite Trout flat, a 22 inch Sail Cat on the Matrix Shad. This was real fun as I have shifted down to 8 # test, She took it down to the Cajun Red. Had been hooked before, removed a hook from her belly. Saw quite a few dead fish in the Estuary. Johns Island, the Sheepies were down deep, with dirty water, hard to target. Not fun size Tarpon were rolling. Did not even take a shot. Johns Island Bridge, water ripping through. Managed 3 short Snook. Still not much at Hole In The Wall. Not a bad day, no monsters, but plenty short Snook, Trout and Snapper. Rounded out the day with 5 Hardhead Cats. All players released for future encounters.

Keep on Spoolin

Good report.

FS Shelby

Great report, thanks for sharing with the FS forum community!

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