Lanark - July 5-8, 2012

[manley]

Hot, still, and very little water moving!!!

Winds were completely calm in the mornings, then South - SW @ 5-10 in the afternoons
Slick every morning, and late in the day as well
Water temperature generally stayed around 85'ish, give or take a couple of degrees
Water color was most commonly like root beer
Debbie churned things up pretty good, but surprisingly, there was not a lot of debris

Fished:
Inside the reef, all along the flats, betwen Ho Hum & the Island View, back side of Dog Island, Dog Island Reef.

Fish caught:
A good many trout, mostly shorts, and never a limit
Spanish mackeral
Couple of redfish
My first-ever cobia, unfortunately was short
Bluefish
Bunches of black sea bass, mostly shorts

The usual trash fish:
Gafftop sailcats
Sharks... surprisingly, just a couple
Hard heads
Hound fish
Remora

Didn't see any scallops (in the water), but didn't look for them either.
Neighbor in the campground got 2 pints on the 6th, in front of the uninhabited condos.
He said the water was "clear, but a little stained," which is hard for me to believe, because I had been there and it wasn't even close to clear!
Saturday, a south wind and decent tide tried to push clear water over the reef, but on Sunday, it was MUCH worse than it had ever been any of the other days.
Southwest wind every day is just pushing the river water onto the flats, and until that pattern changes, I don't think that the water will clear up any time soon.

Didn't even go to the beach at Dog Island, because the water was so stained... but did ride over to SGI on Sunday evening, and the water looked great there.

Life is good.

[HewesMan]

Thanks for the report. Maybe I will get back out there in a few weeks.

[oreocwby]

Hows it goin manley ?? Ive been tring to catch a red fish on a lure for a while, but with no luck. Ive been at it for about two years and have spent alot of time and money. Can I ask you for any suggestions? Thanks so much in advance.

[SHOWBOAT]

Hows it goin manley ?? Ive been tring to catch a red fish on a lure for a while, but with no luck. Ive been at it for about two years and have spent alot of time and money. Can I ask you for any suggestions? Thanks so much in advance.

Don't mean to be condescending, but if the statement above is true then your money is best spent on a day trip with a guide. Any guide worth his salt can give a topwater plug, take you into to 2' of water and you can watch a redfish explosion. That will be $400-600 well spent as you'll have information you can resuse and an addiction that will make $400-600 seem like the normal cost of operation.

[manley]

Hows it goin manley ?? Ive been tring to catch a red fish on a lure for a while, but with no luck. Ive been at it for about two years and have spent alot of time and money. Can I ask you for any suggestions? Thanks so much in advance.

I'd love to give you advice... but I don't know diddly about that! I'd label them by-catch, because I wasn't targetting them... except that I was fishing in the water! Sorry, and wish that I could help!

[rockyg]

The bay water behind Dog and SGI are as stained as I have ever seen. While the fish don't seem to mind I really miss fishing the clear water flats and the sight fishing aspect of that area. We did well on Dog Island Reef even when you could not see the grass bottom in 24"of water. Those 4 pound Bluefish out there are a blast to catch on top-water. We did see some clear water on the outside of both islands. It seems that the C-belle river is just pouring out stained water right now 24 hours a day.

And.......nothing a local guide likes better than taking another local guy out there and showing him the spots he fishes to make a living.

[oreocwby]

I totally understand thats how a guide makes a living and I dont wish to take food out of anyones mouth but pretty hard to learn with no teacher........

[rockyg]

I totally understand thats how a guide makes a living and I dont wish to take food out of anyones mouth but pretty hard to learn with no teacher........

Nobody taught me.

The bottom line is there is no shortcut to becoming proficient at anything of substance in life. Read all you can. You can find TONS of good info on this site. I have fished here all my life and still find good intel on here all the time. General trends and locations, not go to this rock and cast 10' to the left 30 minutes before high tide on Wednesday, GPS cords to follow.

Time on the water is the best teacher. Open your eyes, look for signs of fish, pay attention to the tide and water temps. Redfish like hard bottom, rocks, creeks, and tide flow. Go to those places on an incoming tide and keep looking until you find your own honey holes.......then don't tell anyone else where they are.

[SHOWBOAT]

And.......nothing a local guide likes better than taking another local guy out there and showing him the spots he fishes to make a living.

This wasn't the intent of my post. I don't expect him to retrace his guided trip everytime he launches his boat, but there is apparently something flawed with the technique if he fished for two years without tricking a redfish. I imagine a guide would recognize that flaw in short order and allow him to catch fish in other locations. Indifferent of how "hot" a spot is, if you believe you'll always catch fish off it you're wrong. Sometimes it takes several "hot" spots when money is on the line to find a quality fish.

[silverking]

Not to derail Manley's thread or risk ticking off two friends, but both Showboat and Rocky have some good advice.

But there are no shortages of reference material out there, including this site (search old posts for trends), magazines like Salt Water Sportsman (tricks in one locale will often apply to others), and the North Florida Gulf Coast Fishing Club meetings/tournaments.

Our annual Flats Pro Seminar every February in St. Marks is designed to shorten the learning curve, but there's no substitute for actual experience. What worked for me 20 years ago may not apply now because of increased pressure, changed patterns, etc. Learning is half the fun, so don't get discouraged. Keep trying and experimenting and you'll get your redfish yet.

[manley]

Not gonna derail my thread at all... Heck, I'm just happy to have something to contribute that is actually getting a few page views and a couple of replies!

[SHOWBOAT]

Not gonna derail my thread at all... Heck, I'm just happy to have something to contribute that is actually getting a few page views and a couple of replies!

oh yea, nice report Manley! Thanks

[oreocwby]

well to be a little more detailed, I am a great offshore fisherman and have several great numbers for shallow grouper and rock bass, etc.Now i have started to focus my attention to reds. Much dif here than what you see them do on Sun Sports. I belive my problem has been figuring out the tide, times and depth.(NOT JUST SOME ONES SPOTS-rockyg) So I may have just been on the brink of catching one. Trout are a piece of cake.... I'm pretty sure we all cant just become wonderful red guides over night(rockyg) but I am always looking for helpful tips. But I have one great tip for those to think about- No one owns the fish or the gulf, we all know if one spot is fished all the time that may cause it to loose its wonder but their is no way that we can over fish the gulf...cant take the fish when your dead so why not help a local neighbor complte his dreams of catching fish. JUst a though. Thanks to all for their great tips. Tight lines and calm seas to all.

[oreocwby]

Thanks showboat and manley you all have a great attitude towads helping others..keep up the fantastic work guys

[Gulf Coast]

Bro, you have made a major mistake !! JT own the fishn holes therefore....