Inshore Slamming

Ed managed an Inshore Slam recently with Capt. Mark Wright. This shallow water snook brought more joy to him than the big red he caught!

Fishing was pretty good this past week and the highlight was being able to spend some quality time with Ed on the front of my Banshee Extreme. Ed’s been fishing with me for many years and he’s one of the very few clients I spend personal time with whenever possible. He needed a break from his busy automotive repair shop and I was happy to offer him a diversion from turning wrenches.

Starting with a top-water plug Ed quickly hooks up with an average trout that throws the hook at boat side. No worries, there were plenty more eager to smash the plug. As the sun brightened the bite subsided.

Switching to a Z-Man Minnowz in the Mulletron color our bite resumed. Sub-surface soft plastic lures are my favorite lures when targeting shallow water predators. I chose the three inch lure to imitate a very small mullet or mud minnow, though it was way larger than the tiny fry-fish inhabiting the area we were fishing. It proved to be a good choice. Ed managed to catch redfish to roughly thirty inches, trout and decent snook to seal the deal on his inshore slam. I’m positive this was exactly the diversion he needed!

I returned to the same area this morning and while the trout were abundant and willing to slap at Tony’s Skitterwalk very few fish were actually caught. The redfish and snook were either gone or stayed well hidden.

I was fairly well baffled by the lack of activity given the wind, sky condition, water level and barometer were exactly the same. The only differing factor I noticed was a two degree drop in water temp which I expected to work in our favor.

The simple fact that fishing is often unexplainable is one of the things that draw me to the sport. If we caught a boat-load every trip it would become boring for me and hopefully for you too!