sheepshead

Rusty with an unexpected convict fish caught along an old rock breakwater. Several trout and a couple of redfish came from the same spot!

We had three enjoyable trips early in the week with Tony joining me on Monday. As usual Tony starts his day tossing a top-water walking plug and it paid off in spades for him.

The trout bite was on and while he caught a bunch of lower slot trout and a few under-slot fish as well, his best trout came on a “twitchin’ mullet” lure. The chunky twenty plus inch fish was not a trophy by any means it was still welcome catch.

Unfortunately, Tony had a drag pulling trout toss the inline single hook rigged Skitterwalk back at us before the surface bite ended. More trout and a couple of short redfish were caught on Z-Man Curly Tailz!

Tuesday I had the pleasure of fishing with eighty plus year old Lelan and his son Rusty. We started in the same basic area that treated Tony so well on Monday. The guys tossed live shrimp and popping float rigs along a drop-off hoping for some quick action. Quick action was not found and we only managed two dink trout and a hardhead.

Windy conditions confined us to sheltered areas by 0800 and after two more moves we hit pay dirt. The trout became active in a backwater area I love to use. While the bite was decent we only managed one itty-bitty redfish here.

Wednesday we changed our venue completely and set up on a favorite dock in the Indian River. The guys lost count of the number of trout they caught and also bagged a few ladyfish, mangrove snapper, sheepshead, pinfish and hardheads.

The real excitement for the guys came when a bottlenose dolphin showed up and started feeding on the fish we released. Quite the sight for those who’ve never seen it before!