big pinfish

Even though JT caught bigger fish on his trip it was this overly large pinfish that he’ll remember best.

We’ve had so much wind on the Treasure Coast this winter I was ecstatic when the forecast for Tuesday promised light winds. As I was already booked to take the Ancient Mariner and his friend JT out, I was nearly giddy with excitement over the prospect of catching lots of fish.

Deciding to fish near the nuclear plant south of town seemed like a great idea given the expected winds of under ten miles an hour from the east to south-east. I love this stretch of shoreline though the negative low tides of this week meant we’d be starting our trip on the outer flats and working our way towards the mangroves as the water levels increased.

Our first hour or so was enjoyable with many small jacks being caught on live shrimp, spoons and Z-Man Diezel Minnowz. Things changed abruptly as the winds shifted and started blowing from the south. Along with the wind shift we also received an increase in wind velocity and the scattered rain clouds decided to bunch-up and give the boat a good washing. Thankfully, we all had raingear…

By now the tide had raised enough for us to find a little shelter near the trees and we found snook and trout moving slowly about, especially on the leeward side of points. They had absolutely no interest in anything we offered them, but it was great knowing they were here.

Sadly (for me), we had awesome weather on Wednesday and Thursday while I was forced to stay home as the construction crew worked diligently on my new driveway and boat parking lot.

The life of a fishing guide is filled with Mother Nature’s unfairness and bad timing on a cosmic level. Still, there’s nothing I’d rather do!