It's about time

Finally the creeks have decided to turn on and the bite has been the best I have seen in three months.

My day started with a little frustration as I headed to my ice machine to find an almost empty ice bin. Upon opening the ice machine door I looked at what was almost enough ice to cool down a glass of tea but not even close to enough to fill three coolers. After I scooped out all of the ice that hardly filled up the ice scoop, I headed to the bait shop where, lucky for me the Twice the Ice machine was working and I was able to fill the coolers. Now all I needed was for the bait shop to open so I could get twelve dozen shrimp for what I was hoping to be a better day than I had been having.

For the past few months, I have been struggling to catch enough quality fish to satisfy one fisherman and today I had four customers. I have been fishing around Blount Island and the commercial docks in the Downtown area with limited success.

So this day, I decided to fish an area that I have not been to in several months. I hope I am not making a mistake because this area is a long distance from the boat ramp and the worst thing that guides face is making the wrong choice on where to fish.

Well, my clients are on the boat and we are heading to an area that I have high hopes for a nice day of CATCHING. I hope I am making the right choice.

After about a good 30 minutes run, we are the first spot and as I ease up to the spot, I notice the current is screaming. I hope we are able to catch a few in this spot. I gave the customers some instructions on where to cast the 1/4 ounce lead head jig and live shrimp and tell them to have at it. This spot is a very small area and the baits have to be in just the right spot or we will not get any string stretching.

The first few cast are not exactly where I want the baits to be so I give a little more instruction on where to cast. The first cast in the right spot resulted in a pretty good thump and after a good hook set, we are hooked up on what seemed to be a nice fish.

This fish ran out away from the shoreline and got out in the strong current and with the current helping the fish this is turning out to be a nice battle. After a couple of minutes, the angler had the fish up near the boat and as the fish came within reach, I slipped the net under it and we had a nice 24 inch red in the boat. This was great as the angler was a 8 year old boy and this was his first redfish. After some high fives and a short photo session, we were back at it.

You just cannot imagine how good I felt as so far I was thinking I had made the right choice on an area to fish.

A few more cast and we had another one hooked up and this fish also was trying to take advantage of the strong current as it headed away from shore and into the deeper water. Again, after a couple of minutes we were able to put the net on this one and another nice red came to the boat.

This action continued for the next hour and a half with several more nice reds, some small trout, pinfish, and a couple more nice slot redfish.

Man was I felling good. So far we had been in the water for only a couple of hours and had several nice reds in the box and a nice trout. With a bunch of smaller reds and trout that were released.

This spot has played out and up with the anchor and off to the next spot.

We made a short run to the next spot and after sending down the anchor, I gave a short how to on where I wanted the baits to be. The first cast produced a real nice fish that was heading back to the boat so fast the angler could not turn the reel handle fast enough to keep a tight line. This fish ran past the boat and was pulling line from the spool like it was a big boy. After a short time this fish broke off and we never got a glimpse of what we had on the hook. A few more cast and we were hooked up again. The angler did all of the right things and managed to get this fish within netting range. I slipped the net under it and now we had a nice speckled trout on the boat.

More high fives and photos and my little angler had another nice fish on the box. This spot produced several nice size creek sharks from around 5 to 6 pounds. These fish do pull good but that was not what we were after as we still had room in the cooler for me keeping fish.

After a few sharks at this spot, I pulled anchor and headed to the nest spot.

I eased up to this spot slid over the anchor and told them to have at it. I moved to the back of the boat where my little angler was fishing and made a long cast to try to get his bait out before his dad and brothers had a chance to get in the spot. I handed him the rod and turned to bait a hook and before I could get the next hook baited, the little guy was hooked up. This was another nice fish and with a little help from me the little guy was able to get the fish up to the boat for an easy netting. Another nice slot redfish was now in the boat.

We fished this spot for about an hour with several more redfish, a few trout, a flounder and a few more sharks. We now had all of the redfish we could keep, so off to another spot we went.

I ran up in a deep creek that I thought would be holding some trout as we still had room in the cooler for some of these.

The first cast at this spot produced a trout, then another and another. The next few cast produced sharks and I was ready to head for another spot but the customers were enjoying the shark action and we already had a nice box of fish, so I elected to stay a little longer and let them play with the sharks.

My anglers were a dad and three kids and if you have already got a nice box of fish to take home, sharks on light tackle can be fun and they were sure having fun.
We fished this spot for a little longer with several more sharks and a few pesky sting rays but the kids were still having fun so I stayed at this spot until it was time to head back to the dock.

This ended up being a pretty darn good day, with a nice box of fish for them to take home. We managed to catch several redfish, a bunch of trout, a few poor mans tarpon, jacks, pinfish, sharks, rays and a flounder. I was glad I made the long run to an area that I had no visited on a while.

But best of all my little angler is going to have a lot to talk about on his way back home as he out fished his dad and brother and caught some species he had never caught before.

Now for some other local action:

The jetties are producing a few nice reds, tarpon and sharks. It seems that spanish mackerel are still here and can be caught on the higher end of the tides around the inlet. Try a Clark Spoon for some good action from these fish.

We have had our share of cold water in the ocean which has made king mackerel fishing tough but it looks like the cold water has gone for now and some kings should be around for a month or so longer. The grouper fishing is still good with good catches of these string stretchers on the close in wrecks. I big bait will work after it has been soaking for a while. Let the little fish peck on it and after a short soak, the grouper should come out to see if he can get a snack. Wait until the rod bends down then set the hook and TURN THE REEL HANDLE as fast as you can to get him away from his hole. If you can get the first 10 feet back on the spool, you will have a good chance of getting the fish to the boat.

There are still some real nice seabass on these close in wrecks and they will eat any cut bait or small live bait. Try a finger mullet or monster mud minnow.

Good Fishing

Capt. Jim Hammond
Capt Jim's Fun Fishing Inc.
904 757 7550
http://www.hammondfishing.com
jim@hammondfishing.com