Hi,
There were thunderstorms moving through the area this morning. My neighbor invited my to go fishing with him in the Lagoon. I went over to his house at 10:00am- a few bad storms had moved through the area already. My girlfriend gave me her waterproof case for my phone - so at last I could take pics!!!
Fishing Report: 5-23-15; 10:30 am; Walton Scrub, Low tide, incoming. Very windy NE with rain clouds in the distance; air temperature 87, water temperature low 80s, water visibility clear, to murky.
Out of the many times I'd been fishing in the Lagoon, I'd only encountered a bad storm once and the wind blew and I could see the rain coming so I got off the water-- this was December, 2014. There was no lightning, just a torrential downpour. And, I got wet getting off, but that didn't bother me. The problem is lightning and if there's lightning near you or coming to you- get off the water.
Today we went at the perfect time, low tide, incoming. We went out deep past the sand bar and there were two giant black clouds with some clear sky in between. They were being pushed by the wind right at us. We could see there was some rain falling- but they didn't look like thunder clouds, just light rain. I good thing was behind the clouds there were no clouds, just blue skies! It looked like sunshine in 15-20 minutes. The clouds were about 10 minutes out, moving quickly.
The wind was blowing Northeast and even though it was low tide, the water was higher than usual. My neighbor caught a nice Blue Runner (type of Jack) on his third cast. We headed South to the 3rd weed-bed where the trout were biting the last few days-- we were casting as we went. I didn't get a strike before we made it to the 4 white posts. We were getting close to the trout spot and you could see the rain coming. The wind whipped up to 25mph and one black cloud missed us to the the South but behind it came the rain.
"Here it comes," I shouted back to him as I was wading out deeper. It rained but not that hard at first. I cast out to the third weed-bed, I could barely see through my sunglasses- it was dark and now pellets of rain darted off the surface in a white froth. "Fish on," I yelled. It was a nice trout and she came to the surface- I could barely she her jump as she skated over to me, I unhooked the 15" trout and flipped her back in- I looked at my neighbor - he was only 30 yards away but I could barely see him, it was raining so hard. He didn't see me catch the fish. Next cast- fish on, a smaller trout. I pulled it in and jiggled it off so I didn't have to release it (which I call an "insta-release" -- it keeps you from touching the fish and getting hooked, toothed or finned).
It was poring!!! I noticed that the wind had slowed, and that the waves were smaller. Next cast I lost a fish and reeling it in quickly to check my bait, caught one close to me- this too was insta- released. I called to my neighbor, "That's 3 trout." He heard me but could barely see me. I saw him catch a small trout and then I hooked a nice one and jiggled him off, 19" at least. I lost a trout on the hook-set and hooked another one on the next cast. It came all the way in and jumped off. That's 5, I thought. The rain slacked a little and it looked like it might stop soon. A very nice trout probably 23" hit and I fought it for a minute on the surface before it came to me and splashed around me. "If it wasn't raining I could take a pic," I thought. I pulled the fish to me and it flipped off-- "Woah, what a trout!!"
Behind us, 1/2 mile to the west the clouds that had blown by had somehow become bigger and a bolt of lightning and loud thunder could be seen and heard. Woah! My neighbor headed off the water and I stared back at the clouds in the sky. This was bad but the wind was blowing the whole mess away from us and it wasn't near us- not the best rationale but it was sure it wasn't coming our way. The band of rain was half way though and had slacked off some- behind it was blue skies. I yelled, "Go ahead I'm staying for a while and watching it." He yelled back, "I wait by the Mangroves and be back when it passes."
I caught a small trout but another thunderclap echoed over the water. The violent storm was far in the distance but still loud. I moved shallower, away from the fish, in case I needed to leave. I started to get off the water but it was clear that storm was not coming our way and the dark rain cloud had almost passed. I stopped there and cast shallow for a while. "The sun will be out an a couple minutes," I shouted over to him. 5 minutes later, my neighbor came back on the water and the dark clouds and rain looked like they where almost through. But the dark sky stayed and blocked the sun, and the wind was nearly howling as the edge of the storm moved through. A boat came and two guys fished the second weed bed South of us but moved out when the rain started again. I was raining hard just South of us, North of us was sunshine. The North East side at the Power plant was all sunshine.
"In a few more minutes there will be sunshine," I said to my neighbor who replied, "Yeah, that what you said twice before." He told me he'd caught three trout in the rain (I had caught six), I just couldn't see him catch them- I was busy myself. The action was hot but the rain was not.We were both soaked and his knapsack wasn't waterproof.
"Let's move North-- there's sunshine there now," I called to him, "I am going North," he said. On the way I caught a ladyfish, who struck crazily 3 times on the surface before grabbing my jig and sailing through the air sideways. 'Ladyfish,' I yelled. I unhooked her and wiped the slime from my left hand. We worked our way North and more clouds popped up but eventually the sun came out.
I caught my 7th trout as we neared the beginning of the 2nd weedbed. By now, more storm clouds appeared but they were far away- heading near us but probably going South of us. The wind, however, would not let up, 20mph with stronger gusts. "Too windy," he said, "maybe we can come back later if this passes." We got off the water. No pics today- too rainy--maybe next time. I left my phone with my new waterproof case in my backpack which is water-resistant (when I opened it later, there was only a small bit of condensation on my phone case).
Our totals: 1 Blue Runner; 10 trout (I caught seven, lost three and missed two), 1 ladyfish. We fished for around 2 hours, in terrible conditions.
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