I'm back in the Lagoon after over two weeks- seems like I never left. There were still fish in the same places, and they were feeding even thought the tide was wrong. I went with my buddy Ken Turner, who, as always, provides some comic relief.
Fishing Report 7-20-15 Walton proper; 6:15 am just before sunrise. Warm around 74 degrees heating up to about 82 with a water temp in the mid70s. Wind out of South-West then mostly West. CAL jig 1/8 oz on variety of 4" plastic baits - mostly lime and white.
We went down the steep bank at the end of Walton Rd. The sun had not risen and it was still hard to see. I didn't know what to expect- I hadn't been wading in over two weeks because I got an infected cut on my right leg.
I got a bump on my first cast, then next cast fish on!!! fish off. I had a trout but it didn't get hooked well. Ken made it over the shallow section and after two or three casts hooked and landed a nice snook (3 lbs). I forgot I had my camera on (it hangs over my shoulder on my chest) or I would have taken a pic.
I hooked a trout and got it part of the way in and it came off. We were standing just over the sandbar in three feet of water casting in a shallow weedbed. There were small glass minnows on the surface and some bigger bait splashing around. Occasionally a trout would feed, crashing through the weeds to the top, disturbing the smooth surface. I cast out, got a hit, it missed --then, fish on!!! My first trout of the day:
My first trout, a small slot (click pic to enlarge)
The bite was on!!! Next cast I got three hits before I hooked another nice slot and pulled him in. Meanwhile, Ken had put new line on and it was snarling almost every cast. While he was busy re-tying I cast deep- fish on, and pulled a small trout across the water. He flipped off before I could unhook him. Next cast, I lifted the jig, wham!!! fish on!!! This trout jumped completely out of the water and splashing all the way to me. I took a quick pic as it was coming in:
Ken got his line straightened out and caught a nice trout- then it got snarled again! I was rolling and caught three more before the sun came up. Then I saw a splash on my left cast to it and wham!! Trout on!! This one was only 20 feet away and I wheeled it to me. Ken had got his line straight and caught another trout or so. By the time they had stopped biting I had ten and lost two.
We headed to the next spot which is out from the drainage pipe - in a little deeper water. I cast far and as soon as my jig hit the spot I had a trout on:
My 11th trout, a nice slot
I caught three more almost on successive cast before Ken hook another nice trout. It came off, but he soon pulled in another trout and he shortly after caught a jack. I didn't count his fish but that was about 5 trout, a snook and a jack.
I cast deep but as I started to lift my jig out of the water a trout slammed it. I took a pic:
My 15th trout, caught 10 feet away!
The bite slowed and we waded South. I got a bite set the hook and thought I had one. When I pulled it up it was an 8" brown Lizard fish. Only the second one I'd ever caught. Ken hooked two trout and I also caught two more as we almost went to the last pier. We turned and headed back North.
Nothing much was happening for about 20 minutes then suddenly I saw a fish splash. I cast over it and trout on!!! trout off! Three cast later a got a strike near me and hooked a small one. When I pulled it up it was a 10" snapper, fairly good size! It flipped off before I could get a pic. We decided to head back in - we weren't far away- it was almost dead low tide.
I cast back in shallow to the spot where we first caught fish and wham!! Trout on! I took a quick pic:
My 19th trout- squint and it will be in focus!
I caught another trout then Ken hook a bigger fish. What was it!!! It was a flounder and I took a quick pic;
Half of Ken's almost 3lb flounder. Is Ken smiling now!!!
I caught one more trout and we headed off the water at about dead-low tide. It was around 9 am and the water was starting to heat up.
Our totals: I caught 21 trout, 1 Lizard fish and 1 snapper. Ken caught around 10 trout, 1 snook, 1 jack and 1 nice flounder. A great day on the water!!
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