Tide was supposed to be high at 0516 this morning. That might have been the high, but it wasn't any where near the predicted 3.3 feet. I idled out of the canal in the dark this morning, and took my usual shortcut behind the bar at the lighthouse. When I saw the old pilings I knew the water was already low. so, I decided to run out and around to get to where I wanted to be. (A fellow forum member attempted the short cut this morning
) I idled in to my spot just as the sun was starting to show itself on the horizon. There was a gentle north breeze, and the water temp was 63 degrees. And, the fish were there. My second cast with a topwater boated my first red of the day. 24". A few casts later I made a long cast with the topwater. About 6 twitches into the retrieve a red rolled on the bait, but didn.t take it. I let the bait sit for a couple of seconds and twitched it a couple of times, and the fish rolled on it again. We played this game for near the entire retrieve. The fish rolled on the bait 8 or 10 times, but wouldn't eat it. The fish finally ate the bait about 20 feet from the boat. Another slot red boated. After that I couldn't get a fish to look at topwater. I switched to a spoon and had one fish charge the spoon, and turn off about a foot before eating it. It didn't take long to realize these fish weren't very aggressive. So, I switched to a soft jerk bait and a slow retrieve. The decision payed off. 5 more slot reds boated within the next 45 minutes.The fish were hanging out in one particular area, but the water had fallen out so fast I had to vacate the area by 0830. Never caught another red after leaving that area. I moved out to an area that had produced trout in hte past. What I found was a Birddog. He had caught several nice trout in the area. I eased on a little further and started a drift. The intent was to drift to water deep enough to run, and maybe catch a few fish. The drift produced a 19" and a 22" trout. Got to water deep enough to run and headed in. It was a slow idle through the lighthouse canal. There was very little water. Had the boat on the trailer and headed home by 1130.
With the early high tides this week, I might have to slip in a couple more half day trips this week.
