# Sometimes Bigger (bait) Is Better – Inshore 11/30/09



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

With a cough, a shimmy and a bit of smoke, the outboard roared to life after weeks of neglect. The motor seemed less than pleased to be awoken on such a chilly Fall morning, giving a few sputters and pops of protest before quieting down for the ride toward the dawning sun.  Much like the engine, I shivered a bit and exhaled clouds of mist with each breath as I donned a warm wool cap. Then with a twist of the tiller, we were on our way…

Winter in NE Florida can offer some of the most exciting redfishing opportunities of the year, and even though I despise the cold, I look forward to this season as an angler because it typically means an abundance of flounder, trout and most of all, redfish predictability and sight-ability. [smiley=yeah.gif] So, as my tiller knuckles began to sting in the wind, while I cursed at the forgotten gloves in the forward hatch [smiley=cussing.gif], I had to remind myself that the discomfort will soon be worth it. :

The sun still hadn’t crested the horizon and high-tide was fast approaching as I pulled onto my favorite flat, which meant…TOPWATER! [smiley=thumbsupsmileyanim.gif] Lately I’ve been having great success throwing a Mirroloure Top Dog, so I picked up a new color, bone/chartreuse, and began hurling it over submerged oysters and along flooded grass lines. My fourth cast was rewarded with a loud, distinct “SLURP” that reminded me of my kids finishing off a Steak-N-Shake milkshake. ;D The hooks didn’t catch however, and it took six or seven additional casts to garner another strike…and miss! [smiley=shucks.gif]

The next hit actually made me jump, it was so unexpected and close to the boat, but that trout also avoided the barbs. [smiley=eek.gif] Chuckling to myself I cast again, recalling that topwater lures supposedly have about a 3 to 1 strike to hookup ratio. Well, I don’t know if that’s true but I figured I was due, and sure enough, my next strike earned me the first red of the day. It was under slot, but fun nonetheless.[smiley=thumbsup3.gif]









Once I’d reached the end of that shoreline I decided to move to an east-facing bank, thinking it would be protected from the SW breeze and would be warmed by the rising sun. I was totally wrong. [smiley=1-smack-myself.gif] Not a single nibble along a normally very productive stretch. I thought about going back to the windward shore where I’d picked up the red earlier, but I saw a kayaker headed that way and opted to chase the rising tide into the creeks, rather than be inconsiderate. 

As I wound my way into the creeks, I passed a few spots I consider to be “public” holes, since they’re within a half mile of the ICW, can usually be accessed by deeper draft boats and are often used by local guides. I seldom fish these areas, since there’s normally a crowd and I enjoy the luxury of being able to go where they can’t.  However, today they were all empty and I decided to stop at the last of these spots, where the current formed a nice rip around a finger of land.

Earlier on the flats I’d started throwing a 3” Gulp shrimp, so I stuck with that and on my first cast I landed a legal 16” trout.  It had swallowed the hook so deep that I just cut the leader and boxed him. After retying with another 3” shrimp I went to work and landed a couple of reds and trout, some legal, some not, but all released. While the action was enough to dissuade me from moving to another spot, it wasn’t great, so when I used the last 3” shrimp in the pack I started searching for something that might produce better. :-? It was then that I came across a pack of 4” Gulp shrimp in the same color. I’d tried them a few times before without much success, but figured a cast or two wouldn’t hurt. From that point on, it was a strike on almost every cast until I used up the whole pack![smiley=cool2.gif]









Not wanting to quit, I dug around in my bags until I found another pack of 4” shrimp that were so old they had white mold growing in the pack. [smiley=puke.gif] They were a different color, but I tried them anyway and they worked just as well.  Once those were all gone, I started the outboard and pursued the tide deeper into the marsh.

Before long, I worked my way into a series of shallow ponds that have historically been a favorite of wintering redfish. As expected, I found six or seven runts in the area, along with a couple more trout. [smiley=thumbsup.gif] However, I was hoping to see a few larger tails, since I’d only managed a couple of barely slot reds earlier, but still hadn’t found one worth bragging about. 

By this time the tide had gone slack, and so I kicked back and enjoyed a sandwich while waiting for the current to start flowing in the opposite direction. [smiley=40s.gif] When it did, I headed toward my last stop of the day; a particularly long, narrow, winding tidal creek where big reds love to ambush prey from behind the stream’s many points. [smiley=anim_sniper2.gif] So as I crept along against the current, I made casts to the inside of every bend, trying to present my lure as if it were being swept around the point by the falling tide. The first red spooked :-[, the second took a bite yet didn’t get stuck , but the third fell for the trick, “hook, line and sinker”. [smiley=smilie-applause.gif]

While always fun to fight reds in this tiny, shallow tributary, it was especially gratifying to discover that this one was a gorgeous eight spot specimen that measured 23”.  I released her of course, and watched the wake as she pushed her way out of that creek as fast as her tail would take her.[smiley=rollinglaugh.gif]









I figured I might as well cast to the last couple of turns before heading home, and caught yet another under slot red to finish things up. [smiley=thumbup.gif] All told, it was quite the pre-Winter welcome that I’d been hoping for. [smiley=toast.gif]

Tally for the day;
(I lost count, so these are approximations)
25-30 Redfish – Up to 23”
20-25 Trout – Up to 16.5”

(Rather than post all the pictures individually, I thought I’d try this. Let me know how it works for you.)









Final Note – As I was heading home, I stopped to talk with an older local couple who I see fishing this area quite often. They have a microskiff that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen mentioned on this site before. It’s made by Caiman Boats out of Georgia, at least that’s where they got theirs. It can go where my Gheenoe can, just not as fast.


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Great report and amazing writing ability. I think some of you fishing reports belong on the main site in addition to the forum. 



> Not wanting to quit, I dug around in my bags until I found another pack of 4” shrimp that were so old they had white mold growing in the pack. [smiley=puke.gif]


Wow  I throw them out when they look like that. ;D Was that before or after you ate you lunch [smiley=rollinglaugh.gif]


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## PVredfisher (Jan 11, 2007)

Great report. Fishing has been awesome with all the cool weather [smiley=bravo.gif]


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## Strike_III (Mar 21, 2007)

Wow. Time to submit this stuff to Florida Sportsman mag......it needs some quality work to regain it's readership.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

> Great report and amazing writing ability. I think some of you fishing reports belong on the main site in addition to the forum.


[smiley=1-embarassed.gif]Well thanks Tom...you're very kind, probably overly so. 

If I had known those mouldy gulps were in there, I'd have tossed them too, but thankfully I don't clean out my tackle bags very often. ;D



> Great report. Fishing has been awesome with all the cool weather [smiley=bravo.gif]


Thanks Cole.  Doesn't stack up to some of your recent days, but then you've always done better than most.



> Wow. Time to submit this stuff to Florida Sportsman mag......it needs some quality work to regain it's readership.


Hehe..I appreciate that!  I looked into submitting a story to FS mag one time, just to see what was involved, not because I really thought I had chance. If you hunt around really hard on their website, you can find a link within a link within a link that tells you how to go about it. I'll paraphrase for you...

_FS Mag doesn't really want your stories, no matter how well written. We have our own writers and pretty much use only their stuff. However, if you insist on submitting one anyway, you'll have to format it using our very specific 100 step process. If you get all that right, you'll then need to include pictures that can only be taken with an 8 billion dollar camera. Once you've done all that, send it all to us on outdated computer media that no one uses anymore, so we can easily identify it and throw it away. You've got almost no chance of getting published, but good luck anyway._ :


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## Canoeman (Jul 23, 2008)

WTG!! I see you lost the wool cap for something more stylish after the sun warmed your head.


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## mark_gardner (Mar 18, 2009)

sweet write up  maybe you should start your own magazine  "haMm3r time outdoors"  ;D


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