Brief Fishing Reports 4-20-16 Slam and 4-21-16

Hi,

I've been fishing and the water in the Lagoon has been very high all week, at least 1 foot higher than normal. There's some sign of grass trying to grow shallow but the deep water and wind keeps the sun out so this isn't helping. With the full-moon it's prime time to fish but it's too windy especially on the West side.

The fish-of-the-month at the Stuart Rod and Reel club is largest trout. Yesterday I caught a 24" and a smaller slot, the day before a 21" and the day before that a 23".  I have a pic of the 23" and 21".  I measure them on my fishing pole which I have taped.


      Gotcha!!! A nice trout 23" from Monday

Yesterday I had an inshore slam- lot's of wind. Today I caught a big snook!! Here's a brief report:

Fishing Report: 4-20-16, 10:30am Walton Scrub-- Wind SE 14mph gusting, water high incoming then outgoing. Water temp 73 air temp 80. Water slightly stained and stirred up. Fishing Cal 1/2oz then 1/8 oz with different CAL paddle tails.

There were two people fishing live bait in shallow so I went South to fish the piers. One of the guys fishing with live bait caught a nice trout as I went by. He was fishing a live shrimp. It was very deep shallow with waves so I stayed to the shore. It would be high tide in 30 minutes so I tried to get moving. I caught a small ladyfish that leaped in the air twice. I pulled it in and it shook off. The first pier was dead. I cast 30 times and finally got a strike- missed it. I fished the short second pier nothing and the long third pier nothing. I didn't even fish the ends because it was so deep. The water was finally going out and I had little to show for my day so far.

I blanked on the 4th pier and started fishing slower. I had a heavier jig on because of the wind and waves. The 5th pier was dead too then suddenly after I cast shallow through the pilings I felt some weight- my line just stopped. I set the hook- fish on! nice fish, I thought it was a jack because it stayed down then saw it redfish!!!


          Small-medium redfish, had two spots

That was exciting then headed for "snook cove" which is an open area with mangroves. I cast off the white pilings and immediately had a fish on - trout!! The trout jumped twice and I wheeled an 18" beauty over to me and released it. 


                    18" Trout, my first

"Now all I need is a snook" I thought. I worked my way into snook cove and wham!!! Fish on!! It was a snook!! It came halfway out of the water then took off pulling drag and turning me sideways. I pulled it to me and it splashed again. I pulled out my camera, pulled it up and go a shot- it was about 30" a small slot. Then something weird happened I lifted my rod tip and my line broke- for no apparent reason- I guess fishing piers will do that- wear your line on barnacles.


    Slot Snook- it flipped over and broke my line!!!

It counted because I could have easily netted it. I was upset that it had to swim away with a hook in its mouth!!! In about 15 minutes I had an inshore slam. Wow!! I fished snook cove and up to the pier nothing. On the way back I cast where I caught the trout- I had a hit then another trout on!! This was big trout woah. It was easily around 4 lbs and I measured it on my pole and it was just less than 25".  The pic didn't come out- sorry.

On the 4th pier going back I caught a nice 2 lb jack and another ladyfish. I headed deep and got a hit immediately- missed it. I fished deep back and suddenly about 15 feet from me something slammed my jig- my drag whined and it just popped off. That was big- don't know what it was. I fished back and caught another small ladyfish.

My totals: 2 trout, one big around 24", one redfish, one slot snook, one jack and 3 ladyfish. A beautiful day on the water.

 ________________________

Fishing Report 2: dated 4-21-16, 8:30am Walton Scrub-- Wind SE 16mph gusting, water high incoming. Two-three foot waves.Water temp 73 air temp 80. Water slightly stained and stirred up. Fishing Cal 1/8 oz with different CAL paddle tails.

Today it was very windy and I only had three strike- but two of them paid off!! Nobody but me was crazy enough to fish the West side!!!  I first fished south to the piers- nothing. There were two foot waves with occasional whitecaps on every cast. When I made it to the first pier I patiently fished it. I cast toward the deep end and there she was- wham!! Big snook on!! She came out away from the pier quick then bellied half-way out of the water. Woah!! I tried to pull her North even farther from the pier but her second run went back to the pier- pulling drag the whole way. I couldn't stop that run but just when she made it to the pier I turned her and she went shallow away from the pier. After a couple minutes in the open water I got my camera out and got two pics. This is the best one:



       A submarine? No!! A big snook around 40".

She was well hooked but tired and after measuring her against my pole, I unhooked her. I moved her in the water till she swam away. I'd say she was over 10 pounds. What a fish!!!!

I fished all the way up to the 5th pier and had a vicious hit under that- missed it. By now I noted my jig was falling apart the led had separated. I headed back fishing quickly in the rising tide with huge waves.

When I got to the open stretch near Walton Scrub I fished out from the second mangrove and wham!! Snook on- another big snook. This one hit it- missed it then hit it and I set the hook and my drag just screamed. It went right out in the deeper water and splashed around but wasn't hard to bring in.  Here's a close up:

                                                    A very nice upper slot around 32" beautiful fish!!!


What a windy day- two snook one around 40 and one around 32.

Recap of the last month

Hi,

I apologize for not posting - it's not like I haven't been fishing :) just not writing about it. The snook fishing has been good. It got cold and for a week or so in March the snook were trying to keep warm. Then the water really started warming up and the bite was on. I've been catching one or two snook on bad days and 5 or 6 on good ones. They have been hanging around piers and cruising the shoreline chasing bait.

In my snook contest for March (Stuart Rod and Reel Club) I caught 20 snook but the meeting in March was cancelled because it was merged with another event. So I'm not sure how I would have done-- 20 snook in a month isn't very good for me.

Still I haven't had a big fish for quite some time and the biggest snook have have been in the 34-36" range. My neighbor Jim, who I fish with most of the time has had 3 monster snook on but all three have either broken his line or in once case broken his hooks. He was throwing a plug with a rusted treble hook and a big snook hit it and broke off two off his three treble hooks!!! That was a shocker.

There is still no grass in the lagoon- the grass died off in the high water of late August and September when it couldn't get any light. I'm sure pollution and water quality didn't help. Hopefully with warm water and conservation efforts: we (SRRC and other organizations) are dumping oyster shells and planting grass- the grass will come back.

Because there's no grass the trout are very hard to find. Look for them in shallow water 4'-5' maximum depth with access to shallower water. I caught a 24" trout (4 1/2 pounds) two days ago and have been catching one or two trout a trip. Last year it was 6 or 7 trout per trip this time of year and I averaged 15 trout a day in early summer. I know Jim Bohrer has been catching some big trout and I'm not sure of the numbers which I'm sure are less than last year-- he fishes Round Island in Vero.

I've seen some Redfish now that the water clarity is better and they're dumping less water from Okeechobee. But I've only caught three redfish this year and all were small. My neighbor caught a nice redfish at Bear Point a few days ago. He's also caught more redfish, possibly because he fishes slower.

I've been fishing Walton; Walton Scrub, and on the east side -Herman's both North and South and have fished Bear Point once. For a while I was catching some big jack a few around 8-10 pounds. I even caught a 10 pounder that was hit by a shark on the way in. It was cut up but lived to swim away. We don't see many sharks but when we do my neighbor starts heading for shallow water!!!

Right now the deep bite on the other side of the sand bar in all areas has been horrible. You can fish deep and for 30 minutes not get a bite. There are ladyfish and an occasional jack but no trout deep. No grass beds to protect the trout.

The spring mullet run is on!! Most of the mullet are too big for small jack, trout and snook but perfect for bigger fish. I've had good luck fishing shallow around bait and fishing piers. I haven't been fishing the bridges but they are probably getting to be good. Some of the snook will head out to the inlet to spawn soon.

I may upgrade my line from 8 lb to 20lb since I've been fishing piers and got broken off twice. 8lb is good for trout or anything in open water but a big snook around a pier is a different matter. I still fish primarily a 1/16 oz jighead with CAL 4" paddletail or fork tails usually white but I change colors. I have fished the larger paddletail and caught trout and bluefish on them.

I have some pics I'll put up someday and will do fishing reports,

Tight lines and true lies,

Richard