I flew down to visit the folks here in Florida yesterday, and despite catching a cold, toughed it out and hit the canals with Dad this evening.
Pretty cool and overcast down here, conditions weren't great, but good enough to catch a few!
Here's a few shots from today!
First couple sea trout on the evening...
Dad and I tend to fish different spots, so I'm only occasionally around him when he catches fish. When I am, I try to snap a quick pic and torture him with the camera! haha
Ladyfish were pretty active too...crazy big eyes
And another sea trout...
We caught a few more once light faded, overall a nice evening out there, felt great to be on the water again!
Hopefully the weather improves over the next week and we'll catch a bunch more!
Hoping to catch some snook, redfish, and even grouper if they cooperate.
Gonna try some new spots and see what we can find! :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some more pics from today, only got out for a couple hours this evening and fished in some light rain.
Definitely not Florida like weather, but the fish were biting!
Some shots of the canal inlet and down the canal. Definitely overcast and dreary out!
First sea trout on the day...
And his almost identical twin!
We spot hopped a bit, here's Dad in abackwater cove!
He loves having his picture taken!
A nice flounder he caught, this is actually pretty good sized for down here in FL!
Hopped to another area and I caught this toad of a sea trout...pics don't really do it justice, but that's a pretty big one! Almost thought I had a snook on!
And another smaller one in the fading light tonight...
Well that's all for the second evening out.
Looks like more rain through tomorrow, so not sure if we'll get out or not.
We'll see how it pans out. Next week is looking much better temps and weather wise!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well we didn't get out yesterday, had to help some family friends with their computers, it was raining anyway, so a good day to do it.
Went out today, beautiful down here, sunny and 70s, high pressure front moved in, clear blue skies...and fishing was horrible!
Dad and I drove to three different areas within about 45 minutes of where he lives and it was the same story at every spot...slowwwwww.
Talked to a few fishermen and same deal for them.
One of my dad's friends from here said he spoke to about 15 guys that were in a redfish tournament today and none of them even caught one. Ouch!
Well I landed one mackerel today and lost another...cool colors!
I lost two sea trout I saw on, and missed probably half a dozen other hits. We fished until dark, so this is the only other shot I have!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Had to work most of today, but got out late afternoon until dark.
Another beautiful day down here, but fishing was slow again...same weird tide situation.
I did miss a monster strike just off some mangroves, probably a snook...almost ripped the rod out of my hands, came up with a frayed leader...probably just swiped at it and frayed it all up. Did manage to land a few small sea trout toward last light, lots of hits but lots of misses...just small fish.
Hopefully the fishing improves, the weather is fantastic!
Couple of sea trout...
Nice ending to the evening...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today started out slow but ended great!
Got caught up with work again until almost 3:00PM and then ran out to catch the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Here's a few pics from today...
Dad, work the DOA! Was pretty slow as we hopped spots, but this spot had a flurry of action with the sea trout!
First one on the day for me...
And another...
Dad got in on the action too!
As the spot slowed down, I looked in the water and saw this snail scavenging the remainder of someone's fishing bait, a shrimp head! Pretty cool!
We changed spots, but it was slow...so I took a scenery shot while wading out...
And another coming back in with Dad in the background...
There he is...concentrating, fishing hard!
Fishing was slow on that side of the park we fish, and I was itching to head to the other side where there's a nice narrow inlet channel, prime fishing at dusk!
This is the same spot we finished at last night...little different view as the sun set...
And the sea trout were here again!
Even a couple big ones!
And best of all, as it was almost dark, I saw bait fish getting crushed out in front of me. I kept casting trying to intercept the chaser with my DOA shrimp but came up empty cast after cast. Finally, I must have hit the right spot, as I hooked into my first snook of the trip! Man they fight hard! He immediate ran down current and right towards the oyster beds and mangroves! Fortunately I was able to keep him out and land him for a quick pic before releasing him!
After that the wind kicked up, and the bite shut down...about 3 dozen more casts without a sniff, so we packed it up and headed home for dinner. All in all a nice evening, and happy to finally hook into a snook! Hoping to get a redfish on the line next! We'll see what tomorrow brings!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well we headed to the inlet this evening, as a low front was approaching with a storm coming behind it...perfect conditions.
It was breezy, but I saw right away the activity was at it's high point...birds were crashing bait, I saw dolphins chasing bait in the distance, and had a manatee hanging out at the mouth of the inlet.
And the sea trout were hungry...I was getting hit on almost every cast, whiffing a lot but landing quite a few.
I took a few pics, but saw the storm coming and wanted to get in as many casts as I could before it hit!
Here's a few from the day...
First one on the day...
Little action sequence! haha
And another!
Here she comes...
Back on shore, with a ship out in the bay in the middle of it all!
We literally only got like an hour of fishing in before the storm hit, but it was a great hour...wish I could have been out there all day with fishing that active!
The storms should clear out tonight, and we'll see how tomorrow is.
I've seen a pattern of really good fishing here when the low pressure systems move in, seems like those high pressure days the fishing shuts down a bit or we're not fishing in the right spots. Always a learning game!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got out this evening amidst 20-30mph winds coming off the bay!
Made for some cold and tough fishing, pretty spotty bites but caught probably a dozen sea trout and missed another dozen or so.
Wind was brutal, one of those try to cast and your line almost comes back and wraps around your face kinda wind! :rofl:
And when you're lucky enough to get it out there, you have about 80 yds of line off the reel, but the lure only went about 20 feet...the rest is a giant bow in the wind! :rofl:
Anyway, here's a few shots to warm you guys and gals up!
A few sea trout on the evening...
And a beautiful sunset to end the evening!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some more pictures from today...another breezy and cool day, although not as bad as yesterday.
Waded out deep and was rewarded with a bunch of sea trout, but only took a couple pics of them in the water, as the wind blown bay waves were almost going over my waders! haha
Switched spots later in the evening and caught a few more on the outgoing tide.
From the first spot...
I wasn't the only one fishing!
And another...
Little different end to the evening...
That's all for today...not sure what the plan is for tomorrow yet :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that was it for the trip, great time as always and a welcome break from the 2013-2014 NJ Winter!
