Fishing the tide...

[gottaflylee]

With the hurricane coming past us today, figured it was a good day to check the river out and see if the Trout were wanting to play. Mike, NoExcuses on the board said we could take his boat but needed to change out 2 of his batteries before we could take off, so we got a very early start of 10:30 am leaving the dock after the batteries were replaced.
The first placed we looked at, the wind was howling and the current was screaming and fishing that area was not going to happen, so we made a move to the other side of the river. Pulled up to the point and second cast I was hooked up with a nice little Speck on one of the MirrOlures that I rescued from the rust.



The next 10 minuets I was 3 for 4 Trout and then the current changed and the bite went away...

another one, notice that I am using a clear blue Catch 2000 with a white belly, red head, in very stained river water. This is one of my best producers in this water...



With another move, we headed up river and started working a tree lined marsh bank that looked very fishy with bait and what looked like Trout busting just out from the bank. Shortly, this lady sniffed my MirrOlip L29MR 808 a little to close and jumped for her life as I set the hook in her side.



Shortly this guy came to the boat...



Time to move again and we pulled onto another sand bar area near a creek mouth and as we snuck in Drum were busting on the bank and soon, Mike had this little guy to the boat...



We watched bigger fish busting baits coming down the bank and as hard as we fished, what they wanted was live bait and today they were not going to get that from us, so we moved on to the last stop of the day for us.

As we pulled onto the shell bed and mud flat, it was on. Large Trout were busting baits coming down the marsh on the falling tide as well as out on the open flat. At times we would see as many as a dozen fish bust a school of baits, coming out of the water with their backs. Mike's second cast and he hooks up to a very nice fish that is pulling drag only to have it come unglued half way back to the boat...

Try as we may the fish continued to bust baits and gave our top water baits half hearted thumps. For all our efforts, we managed a couple of Drum and a small flounder that gave the boat an inshore slam for the day.



With the approaching thunder storm, it was time for us to call in the dogs and beat it back as fast as we could. Each time the thunder would roll all the bait in the area would jump, it was very cool to watch. Just as we touched the dock, rain came down and we darted under the shelter till it quit. Fun day with a good friend...till next time buddy...

[Tenacious]

Great report Lee, that Nikon takes some great pictures Don't tell Frank

[NoExcuses]

Very enjoyable trip indeed and educational as always Capt Lee.

of note:
- Polident works
- Mirro's outfished Rap's
- 6' gator was just a little too camera shy
- Final stop had huge potential. A good amount of 4lb Trout and upper slot Reds just killing the bait on top. Threw the box at them. Not today.
- Love when you push a storm until the last second to get just a few more casts in and you make it back to the dock exactly as the heavens open up.
- Saw third boat in the last week run aground in the Waterway at high speed. Take it easy folks.

[slip slidin]

Congratulations on completing your inshore slam fellas. The two of you on a boat together can only mean double trouble for the critters.

[raunchieconch]

That's some smart fishing right there, congrats.

[PiratesPride]

Nice work boys, pretty fish and a great day on the water!

Will

[SeaBiscuit]

Nice river report Lee. With a storm approaching fish can sometimes go on a great feed!
Did y'all catch the flounder on topwater?
Nick

[merry marlin]

Very enjoyable report as usual Lee... Those are some beautiful pictures of the shallow water slam....
MM

[bigfish4me]

What a day on the water....great pics and informative post as always.

[NoExcuses]

Did y'all catch the flounder on topwater?
Nick

Gulp! 3" Sugar and Spice shrimp, Powerlock, a foot of water. Might hit it today to see if I learnt anything.