Some Good Results Despite Tough Conditions

Last week brought a continuation of the red tide affecting the fishing action on the inshore waters of our area.  We fished hard and managed to pull off some real nice fish on several trips.  Weather was a challenge with some heavy winds mid week preceding a couple of rainy days Thursday and Friday followed by a strong cold front arriving Saturday.

Or main target through the week was anything that would bite.  I tried to stay well inland for the most part, jumping from spot to spot to knock on as many doors as possible and avoid the worst of the red tide.  We caught some very nice redfish ranging to 25 inches using live shrimp cast into pockets along points and shorelines.  Plenty of mangrove snapper were in the mix as well as some small snook, black drum and some sheepshead.  Casting was difficult with very high tides and windy conditions mid- week, but anglers that could get the baits into tight quarters were rewarded.

We also did pretty well on a couple of the trips fishing the outside passes for sheepshead which are congregating to spawn right now.  We caught quite a few ranging up to 3 1/2 pounds using pieces of shrimp fished near bottom structure.

Trout and pompano remained to be scarce due to poor water conditions in and around the outer bays where they are found this time of year.  Conditions seem to be improving and with the wind change occuring with this cold front, I am hopeful that we will see improvement over the next couple of days.

Saturday morning, I fished with long time clients Doug Brown and his sons Jeff and Dave.  We fished as the front moved through and northerly winds increased and experienced some pretty solid fishing compared to the previous days.  The group managed five nice redfish in the half day along with loads of mangrove snapper and black drum.  Here is Jeff with a 25 inch red caught way inland near Rookery Bay Saturday morning…

Capt. Ben Geroy also experienced similar results on his trips during the week.  Some decent redfish along with a mixed bag of other species kept his clients busy while dealing with changing weather conditions and poor water conditions associated with the red tide.  Friday afternoon, Ben headed out in the rain with Mike Dyer and buddies.  They found a couple of nice redfish willing to play along with plenty of snapper and some jack crevalle.  Here is Mike and the group with a nice backcountry  redfish released on 2/15/2013...



- Capt. Todd Geroy