# Trout Reports



## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

I know this isn't a trout report but I have been finding some good reds in the surf. Went out yesterday and caught 6 reds and 6 flounder (3 puppies and 3 upper slot fish). Went out today and caught 3 drum that were all upper to over slot (26-30 inches). My dad went out for an hour before dark today and went 4 for 5 on 30-35 inch reds. Everything we caught were on 4 inch gulp shrimp in white with chartreuse tail and nuclear chicken


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Went out yesterday for two hours to try out the first white, size 8 Rapala X-rap I have ever owned and caught 7 nice trout, 4 decent flounder, and 3 needlefish. Caught 3 of the flounder and 1 trout on the golden boy diezel minnowz, but everything else on the xrap. Never used a twitch bait in my life but the trout hammered it. Slow bite though....


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## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

Green mirror lure been hot according to un named sources also


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Great reports! I'm no trout guy and could borderline care less about catching them but this year I am yet to catch one under 17". Must be a good year for them! May have to try the surf for some of those reds


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Trey found a 30” trout floating dead in August with a 17-18” mullet in it’s gut. Never be scared to tie on a big lure to catch a pig. You have to keep it tied on and fish it relentlessly and not be teased into fishing a small lure in exchange for catching dink trout. 
I have some custom 9” swimbaits I painted up to resemble juvenile trout and need to go ahead and practice what I preach this winter. 10/0 Trokar Beast hook...


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Griffin, Trout fishing has been the best in years.
Don't leave that topwater at home.
Yesterday we had a 4 man limit. Kept a few to share with friends./
Bottom Trout was close to 4 #. .......ICM


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## eightwt (May 11, 2017)

Sand trout have been good to fair in potholes with pearl gulp.

Seriously, nice fish caught by obviously good fisherman.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

State fish rob said:


> Green mirror lure been hot according to un named sources also


I'm not a fan of mirrolures. I have some but don't use them much.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

madcircle said:


> Great reports! I'm no trout guy and could borderline care less about catching them but this year I am yet to catch one under 17". Must be a good year for them! May have to try the surf for some of those reds


I was catching a bunch in the surf last week but when I went Monday I didn't get a single redfish bite. I haven't been able to find the reds in a while....


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Ice Cream Man said:


> Griffin, Trout fishing has been the best in years.
> Don't leave that topwater at home.
> Yesterday we had a 4 man limit. Kept a few to share with friends./
> Bottom Trout was close to 4 #. .......ICM
> View attachment 100624


Only caught 3 today. Forgot all my soft plastics at home and had to throw a little white Rapala twitch bait in 25-20mph winds.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Griffin, the reds have been scattered for me also. That's why I've been messing w trout just to fill the void. I'll be out this weekend and let you know if I find any


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Sounds good I will do the same. I'm waiting for the wind to calm down before I go look for some reds again. Looked in every one of my spots 2 weeks ago and didn't find any.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Griffinz33 said:


> I'm not a fan of mirrolures. I have some but don't use them much.


Haha that’s what my buddy said about topwaters while I was standing next to him catching a fish almost every cast and I gave him one and now he loves them.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

I love topwaters but I just don’t like fishing mirrolures since they don’t cast well in wind and the MR17s I have sink really slowly


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Griffinz33 said:


> I love topwaters but I just don’t like fishing mirrolures since they don’t cast well in wind and the MR17s I have sink really slowly


In cooler months the slow sinkers work great. Work them low and slow for the big girls. They don’t always want fast.


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## State fish rob (Jan 25, 2017)

Trout are members of drum family , drum fish like bass quite a bit.
Trout like the top half of water column. Like smack said, big bait = big trout. It’s stupid how big a bait they will try to eat. When the going gets tuff ,try suspended jerk baits. Every trout in nc has been watching a popping cork w/ a gulp bait. Small ones are stupid , gator trout will educate you.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)




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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Griffinz33 said:


> Sounds good I will do the same. I'm waiting for the wind to calm down before I go look for some reds again. Looked in every one of my spots 2 weeks ago and didn't find any.


Very sloooow day on Sunday. Way to many boats fishing where ever we when.
Did manage a small slam.......ICM


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## GaG8tor (Jul 8, 2019)

Caught several trout yesterday. Brought home 3 over 20 and a nice founder for dinner. Haven’t caught a red in Georgia all year.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

I wasn't able to get out til about 3:30 yesterday. You're not kidding about boats everywhere. Sucked and so did the fishing. Fished south of the wb boat ramp


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Did decent yesterday with 11 drum (1 on the fly) and 9 flounder. All of the drum were between 15-21 inches so they were small but still fun.


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## Czech_Mate (Jan 4, 2019)

madcircle said:


> I wasn't able to get out til about 3:30 yesterday. You're not kidding about boats everywhere. Sucked and so did the fishing. Fished south of the wb boat ramp


Haaa ain’t that the truth. I get in a Creek, turn around & boats are stacked 3 deep behind me. This is the only trout I manage Sunday around Masonboro which I release.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Czech_Mate said:


> Haaa ain’t that the truth. I get in a Creek, turn around & boats are stacked 3 deep behind me. This is the only trout I manage Sunday around Masonboro which I release.


Fly fishing for trout is much harder and more rewarding than spinning tackle. Nice work with the buggy whip!

Went out today to a spot where my dad and I caught 47 redfish (puppies) in two days earlier this week and caught 3 flounder, saw no redfish, and dealt with miserable wind. Ended up with 4 flounder and my dad caught a tiny red and like 6 flounder. The redfish have completely disappeared....


To add on to it, dropped my phone in the water while on the dock and it has fallen victim to the ICW


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Griffinz33 said:


> To add on to it, dropped my phone in the water while on the dock and it has fallen victim to the ICW


OUCH!........stop texting start fishing ......ICM


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ice Cream Man said:


> OUCH!........stop texting start fishing ......ICM


My buddy and I drove 9 hours from Texas to Delacroix for a 5 day trip n my skiff. He had his phone in hand most of the time and kept texting and talking while I was pushing him around. I told him to put it away before I confiscated it and saw how many times I could skip it...he stuck it in his front shirt pocket and was bitching about the pocket not buttoning and I told him to stick it in his tackle bag and get serious. We pull up to the dock and he reaches for the mooring cleat and his precious phone plunked into the water and he dove in after it in 50 degree air temperature...never found it and I laughed until we had to drive to New Orleans to buy him a new phone and in the meantime he forwarded his calls to my phone. 
I’m not big on phones on my boat going off the whole time...either fish or stay home!


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Went out to do some surf fishing today and caught 5 reds in the hour and a half I fished. 4 of them were slot to right below slot and one was somewhere between 26 and 28 inches. The water was still really high which made it difficult.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Saw a few familiar faces on eastern currents IG. Nice work as usual!


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Trout fishing has been off the last 3 trips for me. 
Back up plan worked.

12 Reds from the surf, all came from about the same 100 feet.
Only triple, long day of searching in bad conditions.....ICM


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Fished in your neck of the woods this morning. Rich's inlet area. Nothing crazy but got on a nice flurry of 16-18" trout. When the tide got low went hunting for reds and didnt find any


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

madcircle said:


> Fished in your neck of the woods this morning. Rich's inlet area. Nothing crazy but got on a nice flurry of 16-18" trout. When the tide got low went hunting for reds and didnt find any


It's been slow on the Trout in our neck of the woods. Glad you caught a few that's good news.....ICM


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Ice Cream Man said:


> It's been slow on the Trout in our neck of the woods. Glad you caught a few that's good news.....ICM


Until yesterday 30 Trout in a few hours. Took a long time to find them, then it was on.
Trout bite turned back on, lot's of Spikes. Few keepers no "gators" .....ICM


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Griffin close to home with Woody .......ICM


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

How much trout do you guys eat?


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Why do you ask?
Our limit is 4 fish per day per angler.
We don't always keep a limit.......ICM


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

I’m just being a piss ant because I haven’t been able to get on the water for over a month. 
We will have trout, flounder and redfish seasons here before long.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Been out of town the past two days, stoked to get back and on some trout. That up the creek or at the mouth? What was the size range on those trout?


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Griffin call me when you return......ICM


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Went out for a little under 2 hours this evening with my dad and had some decent trout fishing. Caught like 40 trout and caught some pretty nice ones in the mix. On diezel minnows, trout trix, and mirrolures. Most of the good trout were caught on good mirrolures. Most of the trout were spikes.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Haven't really seen spikes this year. Have they just started invading or the area you're in?


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

madcircle said:


> Haven't really seen spikes this year. Have they just started invading or the area you're in?


Seeing them everywhere now. All the normal trout spots have spikes now. They have officially moved in.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Griffinz33 said:


> Seeing them everywhere now. All the normal trout spots have spikes now. They have officially moved in.


That’s the sign of a healthy fishery or too many big females being harvested.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> That’s the sign of a healthy fishery or too many big females being harvested.


I couldn’t tell but it kind of looked like the small fish had net injuries. This same hole got wiped out by a netter last year. I’m not sure if it happened recently at this spot since we caught some good fish today.


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

madcircle said:


> Haven't really seen spikes this year. Have they just started invading or the area you're in?


Yes after that cold windy weather we had a few weeks back, Spikes showed up in big numbers.....ICM
Check out IntraCoastal Anglers Richard G. with a 31" 9.8lber* LIVE RELEASE.*...WOW
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=intracoastal angler&epa=SEARCH_BOX


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Great work Richard G...... ICM
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3051204708432779


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ice Cream Man said:


> Great work Richard G...... ICM
> https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3051204708432779


Nice fish but I’ll be negative and say that fish looks beat up from livewell and weigh in and is released well away from where it was caught. Better than throwing it on ice but it’s probably crab or dolphin bait now.
Don’t beat me up too bad!


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Smackdaddy53 said:


> Nice fish but I’ll be negative and say that fish looks beat up from livewell and weigh in and is released well away from where it was caught. Better than throwing it on ice but it’s probably crab or dolphin bait now.
> Don’t beat me up too bad!


I completely agree. That fish wasn't looking too well on the release. Props to him for releasing the fish but I don't think it lived...


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Great fisherman and hats off for catching it but I couldn't help be negative either. After I found out he dragged that fish around to 3 different tackle shops to weigh it in their tournaments.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

madcircle said:


> Great fisherman and hats off for catching it but I couldn't help be negative either. After I found out he dragged that fish around to 3 different tackle shops to weigh it in their tournaments.


That’s why I refuse to fish any of these live weigh in tournaments and only one 25” maximum trout tournament a year. Even the Texas STAR CCA tournament can kiss my ass because they absolutely refuse to allow live weigh in and there is an 8 pound minimum to weigh a trout in. It is ridiculous. If you want to be conservation minded just don’t take the ticket and don’t fish these ignorant tournaments. There are too many people, too many tournaments and not enough water. I’m not being negative, just being realistic. 
There is another thread on here about adopting the catch, weigh and release immediately with a weighmaster in each boat like the bass tournaments do. You’d get crucified for treating an 8-10 pound bass like these guys treat 8-10 pound speckled trout. Time to be a big boy and stop supporting this nonsense. You can’t act like you give a shit about the speckled trout, redfish, any of the resource if you participate in these tournaments or support and defend the guys that do. Just my opinion, I’m not popular with the masses but if more people thought the way I do the resource we all share would be better off. Sad but true!


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

I've known Richard since he was a kid fishing out of a small Jon boat. 
He now runs a bay boat with the best tournament live well on the market.
He's a very caring, ethical, considerate angler, that knows the value of releasing a breeders. 
Hold off on burning him at the stake. He's a good guy with good intentions...... ICM


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

I too wish we had water side weight stations that would document, photograph & certify your trophy fish for a better, easier, faster release without a high mortality rate........ICM


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ice Cream Man said:


> I've known Richard since he was a kid fishing out of a small Jon boat.
> He now runs a bay boat with the best tournament live well on the market.
> He's a very caring, ethical, considerate angler, that knows the value of releasing a breeders.
> Hold off on burning him at the stake. He's a good guy with good intentions...... ICM


That’s what I’m referring to when I stated “defending”. I’m not burning anyone at the stake but no one held a gun to his head and made him drag that fish around and then release it at the boat ramp where flipper gets a free meal. The only thing that makes people do that is tournament money/prizes and or status. He might be a good ol’ boy but if he cares that much about the fishery he wouldn’t participate in the shenanigans. That’s just my view, no ill intentions.
I get in spirited discussions with my fishing buddies, guide buddies and they are like brothers to me. Just opinions that if they don’t get brought up and discussed will never matter. Before I got my license I always told guys that even if I caught a state or world record speckled trout she would be released right then. Is that an elitist attitude? Probably and I wish more would follow suit. 

I look at it this way when talking conservation and ecology-
Man, recreational and commercial fishing was never figured into the equation. We have to stop acting like we were. I don’t care what the regulations are, we have to go above and beyond the laws to make a positive impact.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ice Cream Man said:


> I too wish we had water side weight stations that would document, photograph & certify your trophy fish for a better, easier, faster release without a high mortality rate........ICM


I believe they should be released where you caught them, not many miles away. No one wants to do this because it’s “too much trouble”. But they’ll go to great lengths to get to the places they catch them...


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

The IGFA all tackle length records are another option. Fish are photographed on the approved IGFA tape measure where they are caught, measurements are recorded and the fish can then be released. Doesn't take long and less stress on the fish.

https://igfa.org/world-record-requirements/


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## richg99 (Nov 28, 2009)

We've had this same discussion with our little Freshwater Bass Club in TN. 

Somehow, dragging an LM Bass around for five hours in a tiny livewell and then weighing and dumping it a mile or more from its home doesn't seem all that sporting to me. Water temps up there can get to 80+ degrees. 

I am in the minority, so I don't fish those tournaments anymore. Kayak guys have it figured out ...with Daily tags and matching rulers. Catch; Measure; Photo; and Release. 

If anyone is afraid that a guy will cheat...well, they cheat even with the present system. Cheaters will cheat...period.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Many of the big money tournaments require lie-detector tests for the top winners these days.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Zika said:


> Many of the big money tournaments require lie-detector tests for the top winners these days.


And they still cheat, I’ve heard guys that won talking too much at the bar after the weigh in and they take xanax to pass the polygraph test. How is any of that even fun?
There is a tournament in south Texas called “The Blacklist” that all the cheating bastards started for all the people that have been banned from tournaments for cheating. 
A couple of years ago this one guide got busted for shoving over a dozen mullet in a fish before weigh in. He got stupid when confronted about it and ended up getting arrested. Another guide in Louisiana got arrested for throwing beer bottles at a brick wall because he was a guide and there were no guides allowed in the tournament so he signed his wife up to fish and she got busted for weighing in redfish with mutilated (trimmed) tails to keep them under 28”. The same guy got run out of another LA tournament for weighing in fish from one state over which was out of the boundaries. Just this summer a Texas guide got busted for catching a 31” trout and giving it to a client to weigh in for a tournament in Matagorda. He had post a photo of him and the fish on Facebook and that was what incriminated him. 
The moral of the story is tournaments have gotten out of hand along with many other aspects of inshore fishing. 
Back to work now...


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

Had a pretty decent day of trout fishing. Caught probably around 30 trout. Mostly spikes but a few 14-16 inchers and 10 big fish from 18-22 inches. Didn't have a tape on me but 4 were probably over 20 inches. I caught them on an MR17, white rapala xrap, and Texas eye jig with 5 inch white zman JerkshadZ. Even though I caught fish on everything, it caught almost all of the big trout on the zman. Water was crystal clear and I was able to sight fish a few big trout. Also caught a little puppy drum and flounder in the mix which completed the slam.


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

That's a lot better than we did.
Fun fishing with Gerry & Drew.
We did experience a few operator errors, a few keeper Trout (6) & a few too many laughs .......ICM


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Went out sat morning. Took a while but got on a good trout bite. Few spikes but mostly keepers w a few over 3 lbs. On the same anchor when the trout stopped the rat reds moved in and it was all you could catch 18" reds. Fig 8 area


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

madcircle said:


> View attachment 105510
> Went out sat morning. Took a while but got on a good trout bite. Few spikes but mostly keepers w a few over 3 lbs. On the same anchor when the trout stopped the rat reds moved in and it was all you could catch 18" reds. Fig 8 area


What tide were you fishing? Got skunked this morning in that area.
Had to go back up plan. Ended up releasing 20 Trout all keepers...... ICM


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

It was just about the last hour of the falling by the time we started catching fish. Either the fish had to warm up or I did. Took a long while to find them. As always, all fish on my boat were released.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Between work and daddy daycare I didn't get out this weekend. Somebody post up!!


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Sat. went north to NR with All Day Ray, we caught 10 Trout biggest 2.5#, all released.
Had to drive pass an endless net in the back of a small creek, very discouraging Trout don't stand a chance.

Sun, went searching with Woody we caught 6 Trout all released.
Spooked a bunch more on our way out.
Watched guys fishing Shrimp for rat Reds & Black Drum, saw them catch a few ....ICM


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Nice!!


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Seeing Red & Black today........6 times each...... ICM


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

My dad went out this morning in the rain and wind (I didn't go for those reasons) and caught 26 red drum and 15 black drum.


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Nothing to complain about there! Until this last warm snap I had a pretty good winter pattern figured out. Went out new years day and last Saturday, struggled hard.


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## Griffinz33 (May 8, 2018)

I went today and caught 12 reds and 3 blacks. 4 of the reds were really good fish (25-27 probably) but everything else was small.


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

Went north with Harold we caught 8 Trout, 2 keepers biggest 3# & 6 Rat Reds......ICM


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## madcircle (Jul 16, 2018)

Rub it in why don't ya


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## Ice Cream Man (Jul 16, 2017)

madcircle said:


> Rub it in why don't ya


Sorry, ( not really! ) I forgot you still work.
Will leave you a few ...... smaller ones...... ICM


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