Update October- November

Hi,

I've almost been fishing a year in the lagoon and also in the surf. Since I started working on my house I stopped blogging- sorry. I'm just going to recap some recent trips.

The snook fishing stayed hot in early October. I had two plus 5 snook days fishing shallow at Walton Scrub along the lagoon shoreline and hitting the docks as I went. My neighbor Jim caught a nice redfish on one trip.

Then the beach got crazy and Jim and I fished Joe's Point (the beach access named after Joe's Point Rd.- about two accesses North of Tiger Shores). There was so much bait and so many birds and fish -it was crazy. I couldn't cast at all some times because huge flocks of gulls, pelicans and other birds were dive bombing the bait. The first time, October 12, I caught 30 bluefish, 20 ladyfish and 2 mackerel. I went through 2 packs of of paddletails, 2 jigging spoons and got my line cut four times. Jim and I kept about 20 bluefish and two mackerel. There were tarpon swimming everywhere and fish busting the surface and flying out over waves. Just crazy. The next day the fish were still there. We caught fewer fish but we still kept about 20. Bluefish are a little bit oily but still good eating.

By November the snook weren't as active in the lagoon but you could still catch 2 or 3 every trip shallow. But the Jack were back. And I mean back!!!! Catching a dozen jack with a few over 5 pound has not been extraordinary. Today Jim caught a jack that was around 14 pounds on a Mirror-lure.

The biggest mystery is: Where are the trout??? They have simply disappeared. The water in the lagoon was very high for about a month- most of the grass was now gone except for a few patches. The trout are not where they were because the water level and vegetation changed. I pray that the excellent trout population has not been hurt. My theory is that the extreme high water killed a lot of the grass since it couldn't get sunlight. Trout feed in 2-4 foot of water so their normal food sources weren't there, the water was too deep in their normal feeding areas so they moved. Hopefully, with some stable weather, they will return to their normal fall patterns.

In 4 recent trips I've caught just two trout. One was in a regular spot and one on the shoreline. Some of the members of the Stuart Fishing Club have said how bad the trout fishing has been. So it isn't just me. The jack, however, are everywhere.

Still fishing some---