One of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar with my first teacher was Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles. The trout today were here, then there, and at least one time- they were everywhere. I couldn't even reel in without catching a fish- if one missed you'd get another strike until one grabbed it. One broke my line because I hooked a trout and another trout bit my line in half- it struck the line moving through the water!!!
Fishing Report 7-29-15 Walton proper 6:15am, right before sunrise. In coming tide, moderately high. Water temp in the low 70s, air temp in the upper 70s to mid-80s, overcast. Cal jigs, paddletails.
I met Ken Turner at Walton/Indian River intersection (Walton proper) and my new fishing buddy Al was parked a couple hundred yards South. We went down the hill but I fell because of my bad shoes (that have fallen apart from wading) and slid down the bank a ways before righting myself. I got a slightly skinned knee and that was it. We went out to the sandbar and stopped. There was some bait and a few fish feeding plus a giant manatee was right in our spot! She didn't want to move but eventually did. I didn't know if she scared the fish- but nothing bit- at first.
HERE. I got a strike after 5 minutes and pulled a nice slot trout up. She splashed on the surface and threw my lure, 0 for 1. Ken was throwing a white fork-tail and he started moving- I told him to wait a little while more. I hooked another trout- it came up and threw my lure, 0-2. As I was pulling it up a trout struck right by me- it flipped off, 0-3. I cast to my left, hooked a small trout and brought it to me , it flipped off right by me, 1-4.
Ken got a strike and pulled up the biggest trout of the day, a slot around 18". Nice fish , Ken!! I grabbed my camera, just as I got ready to take a pic, I had a strike, trout on!!! Ken put his fish back in the water. I pulled the small trout around behind me. It came up and flipped off right by me, 2-5. The bite was on.
I lost two more trout after they came up, 2-7 and Ken landed another trout, small this time. I caught two and lost another one, 4-10. I hooked a small slot my biggest so far and stopped to take a pic:
My 5th trout a small slot, Ken is fishing in background (it looks like Ken caught this trout!!! haha!!!) (click pic to enlarge)
I was now 5-11 and lost and other small trout, 5-12, then missed one on the hookset. I pulled another one to me, it flipped off, this one was close (I maybe could have netted it) so I'm 6-13 and they slowed down, I finally got a last strike and it flipped off, 6-14. Ken had switched to a paddletail and we headed South to catch up to Al who was throwing a big plastic shad for snook off the last pier.
THERE. I caught one nice slot near my second spot, now 7-15, but nothing else was biting. We got to where Al was--he wasn't doing much with his big lure. I went and fished around the last pier-- nothing was going on. When I came out from the pier, Ken caught a trout and then another one in the shallow flat out from the last pier. So I went over to where he was.
EVERYWHERE- The trout were everywhere. I caught one on the first cast, then another one on the next cast, which doubled with Ken who also had one. On my third cast, I pulled it up, hit- miss, hit- miss, hit-miss, hit miss, pulled it in faster, hit- trout on!!! I pulled it around and took a pic.
On every cast you couldn't pull the lure 10 feet without getting bit. Al didn't bring a jig so he was watching us catch fish. I gave him a jig and he tied it on. I caught number 11, and 12. Then a strange thing happened. Maybe because it was number 13 or maybe because the stars were out of alignment- I cast, hooked a nice trout and while I was pulling it in another trout bit my line and cut it!!! Woah. That was a first. There were so many trout there, they were biting my white line!!! There were everywhere.
Unfortunately I had to retie and put a new leader on. I didn't have another small jig so I tied on a 3/8 oz jig and caught another trout but as quickly as they started hitting they stopped! You couldn't catch one there, if you tried- and we tried!!!
To recap the fish we had just released in that spot: Ken caught at least 6 and Al caught a couple and I caught about 6 in just 10 minutes of frenetic activity. Here, there and gone.
I went South and caught one more:
Then it got too deep and when I tried to go to the shore- it got deeper!!! I had to go back to the sandbar. I headed back North to the pier where Ken and Al were. We fished back North and nothing was biting. I got a small jig from Ken and put that on.
THERE. We were about back to where we started at Walton proper. Finally I caught another trout in shallow and there was some bait still around. The tide was getting high and it was about time to stop. Ken caught a nice trout with his forktail bait and I caught two more trout after him. Ken's line broke for no reason and he retied. I caught another trout and lost one. Ken fished a bit and got off the water.
Al and I went to the 5th pier. I put on a gold DOA shrimp and cast the posts. Suddenly, hard strike!! Fish on!!! I got a nice fish on and it started heading South. Then-- it came off before I knew what it was. It might have been a redfish, because it didn't jump. We were done there and I put a paddletail on as we fished back. I caught a small ladyfish on my last cast or so.
My totals: 16 trout (lost a bunch too) and 1 ladyfish. Ken caught around a dozen trout (one nice slot) and Al caught a couple trout. A great day on the water!
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