mosquito lagoon redfish

Kim’s first bite of the day; a feisty little redfish. Of course, I can’t show you the ones that got away!

Finally some nice weather! A warming trend allowed the waters to reach ideal temperatures. However, the best bite of the day is still well after sunrise. Indeed, finding fish early in the morning has been relatively simple. Getting the low-light prowling redfish and trout to bite with enthusiasm has been tough. To be honest, I’m a bit perplexed by this with water temps starting in the low sixty degree range.

My wife Kim joined me for a scouting excursion on Friday morning. We intentionally left the house about an hour later than normal as I wanted to be able to see as much fish and bait movement as possible on my way to “spot number one.” This tactic backfired as I reached Bio-Lab ramp with a full parking lot, two boats ahead of me in line to launch and two more behind as well. I pulled out of line and went to Beacon 42 ramp.

Beacon 42 is usually busy, but with two ramps it makes getting in and out quicker. We headed to my first spot that was jam packed with boats so a detour was necessary. I stopped to explore an isolated island I like and no fish were caught or found. I make a long “push” towards another area I like and Kim connects with her first little redfish. We saw lots of other critters in this area, both reds and big trout. Kim bowed-up several more times with good fish that shook the hook… oh well!

As I met my client (a several times a year regular) early Saturday morning it was clear to me the wind direction and increased velocity was wrong for a return trip to Friday’s fish. The conditions were not bad by any means, just not good for this area. We launched well ahead of the Saturday crowd and I was able to start exactly where I hoped. I was saddened by the dirty water here. We fished the area for an hour with only a single slot seatrout to show for it. A move was needed!

Running to a sheltered shoreline was a good choice. I found plenty of slot redfish and a few very large trout on the hunt. Yes, they were on the hunt, but they were also quite spooky. This is when an angler’s ability to make long casts is a plus. Alas, my client on this trip lacked this ability and every attempt I made to get close enough for him to deliver his lure to the fish resulted in spooking the critters and them running off the shallow flat. Changing tactics by anchoring the boat and putting mullet chunks on the bottom resulted in lots of catfish. Moving from place to place resulted in more catfish. We headed in about an hour later than normal only to hear the “bite” picked up about two hours later. Of course it did 😉