Johnny caught redfish, trout and one little flounder on a recent trip with Capt. Mark Wright!

We had a couple of enjoyable outings fishing this week. Preventative maintenance on both boats ate up the rest of the weekly calendar.

Monday I was joined by Tom, a regular client/friend who often takes advantage of my “scouting trip charters.” If you are a local angler who can go fishing on MY schedule you might want to sign up. The discounted fee is attractive and the particulars are posted at the bottom of the home page on my website.

We were blown out from fishing the eastern shoreline of the south Mosquito Lagoon where I’ve been targeting shoreline tailing redfish. We abandoned our attempt at fishing this area quickly and headed to the west shoreline that offered us a bit of shelter from the northwesterly breeze.

Tom spent most of the morning tossing a Rapala popper and while an occasional fish smacked at the plug nothing was hooked. Switching to a soft plastic jig resulted in many short strikes and again no hookups. I threw a Z-man Diezel minnow in the Sexy Mullet color from the poling platform and managed a redfish, juvenile tarpon and a long distance release on an under slot snook.

Tuesday morning was much calmer and I fished several miles north of Monday’s venue. Johnny held down the bow and experienced the same results as Tom did on Monday. With lots of blow-ups on the K9 Walker but no bends in the rod for Johnny; obviously a change was needed.

Using the same lure as Monday I managed several schoolie trout and one decent trout of 23 inches as Johnny went fishless. Rigging his rod with a Diezel minnow in a different color he quickly caught a redfish a little flounder and a few smallish trout.

Moving down the shoreline we see more action as the big trout are having their way with a huge school of mullet. I picked up the K9 Walker and tossed into the fray. The plug hadn’t even settled on the surface before a monster trout ate it. This Gator fought like a redfish, dragging the plug on the bottom, ripping line from the reel, never coming to the surface for a head shake. Alas, she gained her freedom boat-side as Johnny readied himself to land the trophy. The hook straightened out just enough to lose its hold… Oh well, that’s fishing!