Sat. June 29, 2013
Weather:  Mostly cloudy with rain/thunder storms passing to North and South
Wind: moderate east winds, 8-10mph, light near dark
Pressure: 28.9
Major Feed: 5:25PM
Water: Water is still pretty dark though it was fishing an out going tide

Target Fish: Redfish, Trout
Fish caught: (1) Flounder,  (1) Ladyfish, (3) Jacks, (3) Mangrove Snappers, (2) trout hooked/lost

I fished out of Bings Landing this afternoon. Though the weather was threatening I went ahead and took a chance and launched. There was actually a big storm on both sides of me but they skirted around and moved out over the ocean.

My plan was to fish some live mullet until late afternoon and then finish out the day with some top water action. I staked down along a deep bend in a creek drain and hooked my first fish within seconds of getting a bait in the water, a nice Snapper by just short of being legal. I did not have to many small finger mullet and the snapper were biting so fast I started cutting up larger mullet to save my livies. A fish would be on the bait within 30-45 seconds of it hitting the water! They just weren’t quite large enough to keep.

I had several hard strikes on live finger mullet that didn’t hook up. One completely scaled a 5″ mullet.

One thing that was different from the last time I fished here was that nothing would touch a fiddler crab? I caught some up on the way in but could interest a fish of any kind in one.

Finally, about 8:00pm with the tide still on the out going, the top water bit started! It was like you flipped a switch. My first clue was some surface striking. It was obviously a school of small predators by the multiple strikes happening all at once. I figured it was a school of jacks but quickly grabbed my top water rod and offered up a 5M18 MirrOlure. It immediately drew attention and a nice jack boiled up on the plug. I ended up getting three of them to the boat.

I did have two trout on but they managed to tear off which is not uncommon on top water. I probably had another 10-12 good strikes that did not hook up or were on only briefly.

I picked off another nice ladyfish that really put on a show. Once I got her up to the boat she almost jumped right up into my face. It would not be the first time I’ve been seriously hooked by one of the hyper fish. You really need to be careful with them when multiple hooks are involved.

Within about 35 minutes it was all over and the waters calmed. Not even a mullet disturbed the surface after that point. The only fish I brought home was a 15″ flounder.

Though the trip was not that productive……that 30 minutes of hot top water bite made the paddle worth the effort.

OH! Almost forgot……on the way over I scouted the beach……Pogy pods everywhere!! Every time I stopped I could see schooled up pods as far as I could see with my 10×32’s. I did not see any action in them though. If work allows, I’ll check this out one morning this week.

Larry S.