Stingray Shuffle at Panacea 5/24/14

[Edwade]

I've been following the forum for a while, but haven't had anything to post. So here is my first one. Got to Panacea about 2 hours after low tide. I was glad I wore my Kevlar boots because the rays were every where. I started throwing a top water but it was a little choppy and nothing was interested. Right at the major feed around 10:00, the water got smooth and fish started busting on top. I tied on a Papa Dog popper with a DOA shrimp on a 15 inch leader trailing it, and almost immediately I got a 21 inch trout on the fake shrimp. Over the next two hours I landed 5 more trout, all over 17 inches. Most on the trailing DOA, and one on a Gulp jerk bait. But on one of them, I threw at a boiling fish, and he slammed the Papa Dog. I thought it had to be a big red, but it turned out to be a monster trout, 25 inches. Sorry I don't have any pictures, but I'm not carrying my iPhone in the water, and all the fish were released. (After cooking for company last night, my wife told me I was taking her out tonight, so not to count on cooking up any fish!)

[SS-342]

Thanks for the good report. To catch fish and release them is a true/blue fisherman.

The fun is over when I reach my limit. I fish to eat.

I tip my hat to you Sir! Good man and good fisherman! Don't let this be your last report. It was a good one!

[DixieReb]

Good report. And glad you made it back from all those rays!

[Dubble Trubble]

We were at Dog Island a few weeks back, and the rays were THICK!

Dubble

[Jhults11]

Wade fishing is a lot of fun. Just be aware of the bull sharks, most if the time they won't mess with you but if you keep fish, keep them on a LONG stringer

[MudDucker]

That's crazy, the rays generally don't like low salinity waters.

[GaryDroze]

Wonder if you were the guy I saw wading east of Bottoms Road Saturday. I was paddling/wading across from there, on the west side of Piney Island Saturday morning. All I got was lots of ladyfish & a rat red!

What brand of Kevlar boots do you wear for wading? I like my NRS workboots, but Kevlar sounds like it could be much lighter!

[DEMON]

Sounds like a good trip. Thx for posting.

[Edwade]

So I went back for a reprise today, but the nice flat water was gone. Seas were 2 feet and occasionally white capping, and it made wading miserable. After a couple hours, I packed it up and went over to St. Teresa hoping to find the sheltered bay smoother. It was choppy, but much better. I ended up catching 2 very nice trout, and missed a couple more. The trout measured 18 and 22 inches, and both were released. All the fish Saturday and today were caught during the major feed according to the "Tides4fishing.com" site.

[Edwade]

Wonder if you were the guy I saw wading east of Bottoms Road Saturday. I was paddling/wading across from there, on the west side of Piney Island Saturday morning. All I got was lots of ladyfish & a rat red!

What brand of Kevlar boots do you wear for wading? I like my NRS workboots, but Kevlar sounds like it could be much lighter!

Gary, the boots are by Hodgman. They're tough, but heavy and not very good on mud bottom. Check my pm for the trip details. Ed