Biscayne Bay Trout - Good start to 2012
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:49 pm
Last couple of days the weather (temp, sky, wind) has been too nice not to go out in the bay. I decided to go out yesterday morning knowing that before the cold front coming it could mean good fishing, and decided to make it a catch-and-release practice run.
Was out on the water by 7am, solunar calendar had 6-8am as good for fishing so I was ready with topwater lures, live shrimp, and popping corks.
As I got there someone was catching (from shore) cast after cast of legal sized-trout. It was looking good.
Tried a few different spots and nothing other than a small cuda and large needle fish. I was getting soft bites but I lost confidence in my circle hook, so decided to go back to a J. Although decreased my leader size from 3+ ft to about 2ft.
Bite completely shut off around 8-9, guy who has filled-up his cooler in 15 minutes hadn't gotten a bite since. So he left. I decided to stay and catch at least one trout, if for nothing else the weather was great.
By 9:30am the wind died out completely, and the current was picking up. I was on my last live shrimp and continued to cast around the flats until I get a little nibble, waiting a bit, and then set the hook. Here it was, the answer to the last few hours of waiting, a nice 21-22 inch trout. After that, I was pretty much sight-casting where the water was bursting. For the next hour it was pretty much trout after trout, most of them pictured below with a 19" I lost while taking a picture and 4-5 other legal onces I either lost next to the boat or just unhooked.
1 hour after the bite turned off again, called it a day. All trouts were released to be caught either next time or by one of you guys.
Successfull set-up was the following:
* Gulp (rootbeer) 3" shrimp under popping cork, slow jerks (not erratic). When I ran out it was a pink DOA shrimp that did the job.
Takes of the day:
* solunar calendar is a good tool but isn't a sure thing
* patience and confidence in your spot/lures pay off
* when looking for a spot within grassy flats, look for surface busts
* catch and release seemed to bring good karma and lots of fish
Was out on the water by 7am, solunar calendar had 6-8am as good for fishing so I was ready with topwater lures, live shrimp, and popping corks.
As I got there someone was catching (from shore) cast after cast of legal sized-trout. It was looking good.
Tried a few different spots and nothing other than a small cuda and large needle fish. I was getting soft bites but I lost confidence in my circle hook, so decided to go back to a J. Although decreased my leader size from 3+ ft to about 2ft.
Bite completely shut off around 8-9, guy who has filled-up his cooler in 15 minutes hadn't gotten a bite since. So he left. I decided to stay and catch at least one trout, if for nothing else the weather was great.
By 9:30am the wind died out completely, and the current was picking up. I was on my last live shrimp and continued to cast around the flats until I get a little nibble, waiting a bit, and then set the hook. Here it was, the answer to the last few hours of waiting, a nice 21-22 inch trout. After that, I was pretty much sight-casting where the water was bursting. For the next hour it was pretty much trout after trout, most of them pictured below with a 19" I lost while taking a picture and 4-5 other legal onces I either lost next to the boat or just unhooked.
1 hour after the bite turned off again, called it a day. All trouts were released to be caught either next time or by one of you guys.
Successfull set-up was the following:
* Gulp (rootbeer) 3" shrimp under popping cork, slow jerks (not erratic). When I ran out it was a pink DOA shrimp that did the job.
Takes of the day:
* solunar calendar is a good tool but isn't a sure thing
* patience and confidence in your spot/lures pay off
* when looking for a spot within grassy flats, look for surface busts
* catch and release seemed to bring good karma and lots of fish
