Have All The Fish Left The Flats?

[Reel Addiction]

I know we are in the dog days of summer, but have all the fish left? I have been fishing hard for the last few weeks and my results have been poor at best. I fished hard both days this weekend with nothing in the box. I fished on incoming and our going tides at both St Marks and Alligator Point. Nothing, zip, nada. I have thrown everything I have at them. Top water, spoons, gulps of all varieties and colors, live bait but no shrimp. I have been on the water when the sun came up and I have also fished while putting it to bed. Nothing to show. I spoke to a plastic navy guy today and he was having similar problems. Am I the only one having these issues and is anyone catching anything on the flats? I think I am going to call my Buddy BBB and maybe he can take me out and stick some fish.

[tabb]

Fished all day today (sunday) and had two keeper trout out of the Econfina. We fished had from the grass line and bars all the way out to 11 feet. We caught all kinds of fish just no keeper trout. Several shorts, sharks catfish and trash.

Enjoyed a beautiful day on the water and some good pulls on the fishing line just not much meat. Would have been nice to catch a limit but still had a great day.

[Tidedancer]

Fishing the flats and the beaches have been sort of slow here the last couple of weeks. Live bait is the ticket in deeper water now. Pilchards are your best bait for trout now IMOP. but the pilchards getting scattered recently and hard to find.

[fishinfool]

FF had no love today either.

[rocket]

I went Saturday and Sunday and only had a few keeper trout to show. I was really surprised I couldn't find a redfish...but now I know I was looking in the wrong spots!

[FUTCHCAIRO]

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU FELLAS, KILL EVERY SHARK YOU CATCH, THEY ARE EATING ALL THE FISH IN SHALLOW WATER ALL OVER THE COAST IN THE GULF. EVEN OVER IN MATAGORDA BAY IN TEXAS, WHERE THERE IS GENERALLY PLENTY OF TROUT, AND GOOD SIZE ONES, THE CATCH IS WAYYYYYYYYYYYY OFF. WHEN THE WATER IS AS WARM AS IT IS NOW THE FISHES SWIM A LOT SLOWER AND ARE EASY PREY FOR THE SHARKS AS WELL AS OTHER LARGER FISH.
PA
SEMPER FI

[bbb]

I know we are in the dog days of summer, but have all the fish left? I have been fishing hard for the last few weeks and my results have been poor at best. I fished hard both days this weekend with nothing in the box. I fished on incoming and our going tides at both St Marks and Alligator Point. Nothing, zip, nada. I have thrown everything I have at them. Top water, spoons, gulps of all varieties and colors, live bait but no shrimp. I have been on the water when the sun came up and I have also fished while putting it to bed. Nothing to show. I spoke to a plastic navy guy today and he was having similar problems. Am I the only one having these issues and is anyone catching anything on the flats? I think I am going to call my Buddy BBB and maybe he can take me out and stick some fish.

I haven't had any problems getting into the fish. They are biting straight stainless steel.

I've seen alot of reds, black drum and goats lately up in a couple feet of water at dark laying in the sandy potholes around the grass flats. Problem is all the bait they have around them. Most don't look like they are feeding, just loafing around.

[Gumbo]

I would not recommend killing every shark you catch unless you want big trouble with FWC. Purposefully killing any fish you can not legally keep is illegal. Any fish that you cannot legally take must be returned to the water unharmed. If you happen to gut hook an undersized fish and it floats away from your boat, the FWC will cut you some slack. If you put a baseball bat to the head of a shark just for the sake of killing it, you have broken the law. No different than if you put the same bat to the head of a 14 inch redfish.

[Gulf Coast]

FutchCairo,Don't it feel good to break a little LAW every now and then !!