A ride from the house to Wakulla Beach that used to take me 45 minutes before the grader "fixed" them, took us twice as long because of the deep sand piled on the roads. Even had a man and woman in a pick-up stop to commiserate about the poor road condition.Later in the afternoon we started wading out from Live Oak Island a couple hours before the low. Caught a bunch of trout, mostly short, and a few ladyfish on 7M MirrOLures and TopDog Jrs.
Thursday afternoon I walked in to the spot on the west side of the bay that I like. Caught 2 reds, the big one 28". Headed out of there shortly after 4 for Live Oak Island to wade out again. Stayed until after dark this time. Actually kept count this time. I almost never do that. 20 total trout, 2 ladyfish, 1 sailcat. The action was noticeably slower than previous times I have been to this spot recently, think I need to give it a break. Don't know which I dislike more: trying to release a green ladyfish with a MirrOLure in it's mouth, or trying to disengage a TopDog Jr. from a 5 lb. catfish in the dark. The way that sailcat hit on top, I initially thought it was a huge trout.
With the moon being full, there is no water on the flats during the evening low.
The wind turned around today and started coming out of the south.
Friday afternoon I went back to the spot on the west side of the bay. Now I'm armed with a small selection of brand new Catch 2000s and a few more 7Ms. My third cast produced a 30" red a little before 2 in the afternoon on a Catch 2000. Fifteen minutes later, BAM, another red and it's a good thing this one was a cat hair under 27", because he took my Catch 2000 tail first, all the way back to his crusher plates. This one was a goner no matter what I did now.
TopDog Jr., 7M, Catch 2000. Doesn't matter. I haven't been catching a lot of reds lately, but of the ones I have caught all of them have taken the entire lure into their mouth. Might have to start using 12" A.C. Plugs. Wonder if I can get a Stretch 30 without a lip on it.
Saturday afternoon I went back to my regular spot. Deep enough at high tide to use 52Ms I caught and released a 20" trout. Then a little later hooked something BIG. He hit about 20' from me, I set the hook, and he took off. With a 6' Berkley Lightning Rod and Ambassadeur 5600C4 loaded with over 200 yds. of new 12 lb. test Yo-Zuri Hybrid (just put it on this morning) I initially had no control what-so-ever. My best guestimate is about a 100 yd initial run. Then we started going back and forth for a while. I got him almost back to me when he cut me off on something. Never did see it. Don't think it was a shark, the line would have been cut by his skin much earlier. Snagged a big ray? They don't usually run like that. Tarpon? Didn't jump. Didn't even come to the surface. Stayed down the entire time. Big cobia? Outsized red?
Whatever it was, it's got my MirrOLure to hang on his wall.
