BigBendFishing.Net

Had a very loooong and interesting day yesterday...

Put the boat in at the fort just a couple minutes after it was light enough to see. The wind was blowing hard, the water was choppy even inside the creeks way up the river, thunder sounded like bombs going off around us. We fished several spots along the river on our way out to the gulf. We got rained on a bit, had a few hits in topwater, but no fish. That pattern continued until around noon. We hit several areas but everything turned out about the same; bite or hit here and there, no fish.

We headed out to the east flats in to some deeper water around noon and ran 8 or 9 very long drifts. I got the first shorty trout of the day on a mirrodine in our first drift, and after that we caught all sorts of stuff on every drift. We ended up throwing about everything in the tacklebox at em due to the difficulties presented by all the floating grass. Catch 2000 was the lure of the day for trout.

Long story short, we drifted for 5-6 hours and decided to call it a day, but on the way in saw some somewhat smooth water and decided to give topwater a go for a few. I got in to a big one right away so we stayed until sunset amidst non-stop topwater action. I'll just give some stats instead of narrating the whole thing:

Locations fished:
4 or 5 spots in the river
Sprague Point
Sprague Bar
Big Pass
Little Pass
Patty's Island
Goose Bay
West flats
East flats from nipple to lighthouse
East River

Time on Water: 13 hours

Fish Caught on GULP!: 0

Lures that caught fish:
Mirrodine
Bite-a-Bait
Redfin
7M
Catch Jr
Top Dog Jr
Catch 2000 - I used to think the '2000' was a millenium designation, but apparently it's the number of species for which they're good...

Species caught on Catch 2000 (mojo post reply if I missed any):
Trout
Ladyfish
Puffer-fish
Pinfish
Snot Cat
Black Sea Bass
Sea turtle chased but thankfully didn't hook it
Redfish

Other:
6 pinfish caught on artificals - a record for me. I've caught one before here and there, but never a half dozen in a day
Mojokoko got a pinfish rougly 1/3 the size of his Catch 2000...on his Catch 2000
I caught a mullet on the Top Dog

We had a very long day that started out horribly for us but turned out ok in the end. We got at least 20 trout (a few were even decent size!), and a whole bunch of other assorted goodies. Yesterday was definitely mojokoko day as I struggled throughout the morning and some of the afternoon in the midst of one of his best days in a while. Hey, it happens, but I redeemed myself with catch of the day just before the sun went down Someone forgot to tell my sunburn about the 'tropical depression.'

First real fish of the day - a pathetic shorty that was only photographed cause we had nuthin yet


Mojo with the Catch 2000 that owned the day


Mojo's bite-a-bait trout:


More shorties for me - I was gettin a little frustrated at this point...


Another decent trout for mojokoko


Mojokoko having good day: works in shameless plug


4th quarter comeback for the Mook!


I caught this on my NFGFC raffle prize Top Dog Jr mirrolure! I have not yet caught anything on the beef jerky...

Thanks for the report. Inspires me to get back out there.

Nice thorough report. Glad ya'll got out there

Get rid of those snap swivels and you'll catch better fish.

birddog wrote:
Get rid of those snap swivels and you'll catch better fish.

X2

turned out to be a nice day I see try smiling Mook It's supposed to be fun

Good day Mook.
See what happens when you join North Floridas' finest fishing club.
Fish nearly jump in the boat.

Good report

Barhopr wrote:

birddog wrote:
Get rid of those snap swivels and you'll catch better fish.

X2

X3

Thanks for the report

rocket wrote:

Barhopr wrote:

birddog wrote:
Get rid of those snap swivels and you'll catch better fish.

X2

X3

X4
Nice Report!

Good report and glad I got ta meet you Thursday evening As far as the snap swivels..... If your catch'n fish, don't change anything!!

Thanks Sir Reel - great meeting all of you Thursday.

I started the day with no snap swivels, but I was adjusting to a new rod 6" longer and a lot stiffer than I'm used to, a new reel, and a thin spectra braid line (I've been using just mono all this year) and I was having a lot of problem with my line tangling up in the split rings on the lures. Switching to the snap swivel helped alleviate that some. I'm still not sure if it was the new line, the new rig or just the nasty weather, but I'll switch back next time the weather is decent and see how it goes. I've never really had any trouble getting the big hookups with the swivels on there, but I have lost a couple of big ones this year because they twisted the dang thing open and took off with the hook. Thanks for the advice though; I'll keep that in mind.

Mook you can fix that problem by using a short piece (about 18") of fluorocarbon leader.

I recommend using a uni to uni knot to attach the leader to the braid.

I typically use 20lb. fluoro.

birddog wrote:Mook you can fix that problem by using a short piece (about 18") of fluorocarbon leader.

I recommend using a uni to uni knot to attach the leader to the braid.

I typically use 20lb. fluoro.

10-04 bd - I figure that's the obvious solution, but I only had 35lb braid and 50lb steel leader on me. I tried the 35 braid and it was juuuuust heavy enough to screw up the lure action. Thanks again.

What kind of fish is the last one?