BigBendFishing.Net

Took some of the advice that I read from this website and decided to fish artificial instead of live shrimp.

Friday:
First boat out of the lighthouse (7:30 a.m). Headed East about 3.5 miles with a strong wind in my face and choppy water. Set up a drift 15 yards south of some crab traps. Fished in 2-2 1/2 foot of water. Water was stained, but could see the bottom. Saw a a lot of big sting rays. Fished a Yozuri minnow. Threw it probably 20 times before I caught a short trout. Changed to a gold rebel with a broken back, I figured the action would entice whatever was in the water. Second cast and boated my first keeper trout Let my assistant fish with it since she was trying a SWA electric chicken under a equalizer with no luck. I threw the Yozuri again and caught another keeper trout. Nothing happening with the SWA. Got the gold rebel back and hooked into a huge spanish that got off at the boat. Had to get to work, so stopped fishing at 10:30 am.

Synopsis: Although it was not as much action as fishing live shrimp, it was better than having to wade through a lot of shorts and trash fish. 2 keeper trout for the day. When something hits the lures you know it is going to be good.

Saturday: Left LH at 7:30 a.m. Wind is a lot better than yesterday's so headed to Grey Mare. Tried to go with a similar gameplan except I will anchor after a catch a fish. Wrong move! Fished the rebel again and caught a short trout. Friend from New Orleans was fishing a candy corn SWA. Once again no action from the SWA under cork. I give him the gold rebel to throw and he catches a short trout. I threw the Catch 2000 and boated another keeper trout, but it took a lot of casts. The wind slacked and the bite dropped off. Fished again in 2-2.5 ft. Seemed like everytime I picked up the anchor and drifted we would at least get a bite. Changed locations at 11 and headed south for deeper water and fished 5 ft with no action. Headed to east river and got the hi-light of the day with purpoises escorting us into the mouth of the east river. They were playing with the boat. It was a little nerve racking but it was amazing too. Fished the first oyster bar in the east river and my buddy picks up a nice spanish on deadly dudley (red jighead, clear with silver specs ) I continued to throw Yozuri, rebel and Cathc 2000 without incident. Got a nice bump on the rebel but couldn't catch. Gave up at 2 p.m. loaded up and got checked by the man. They were checking everybody.

Synopsis: Should have continued to drift. 2 good trout and 1 spanish. Both days all fish were caught south of the boat. No fish showed up on the depth finder in the flats, but as I threw the lure they appeared to come out of nowhere. I was able to get a good luck at almost all the fish. Great experience. I appreciate the knowledge shared by all that post.

Thanks for the report BIG. For us newer guys we can begin to get a good picture at how sporatic or consistent the fishing is.

I fished the EQ on Thursday without much success but found the CT prompted the fish yesterday - I don't know if it was the cork alone, but add it to your files.

Two days on the water.. Nice report..

Nice report Big...Tips for ya...if you get a bite either mark it on your GPS or throw a marker..GPS is my preference....if you keep drifting and getting bites that is okay, as soon as you get out of the bite, crank up and run back to the spot and try it again....Don't run throw your drift, kinda circle around to it....You can change the drift by alternating the direction of the bow with the drift and criss cross the area....

Chalk hit it right on the head "IMO" I have never caught a fish of any size while anchored I always drift and mark the spot were I caught a fish, then drift back through the same area again and again "usually picking up 1 or 2 keepers on every redrift Still not a bad couple trips with the slack tide this weekend
PS: I caught all of my fish this weekend under a CT 18" leader with a day glow white body and red tail shrimp in less than 3 foot of water

good report, BIG.
Your day Saturday sounded about like ours at Keaton. We got into some nice fish about 11 am but somehow got outa them and never could get the bite going again. Ended up with 3 big trout,1 flounder ,and a blue.
Sure was pretty out there, wasn't it?

Yes it was gorgeous. Does anyone use their fishfinder in the flats? I never see any fish on it. Do you just pick a spot and start fishing and see what happen? It seems the best approach is to definitely drift.

BIG wrote:Does anyone use their fishfinder in the flats?

Yes, for water depth and temp. only, fish don't like hanging around the boat in 4 foot of water

Use your bottom machine to determine depth and type of bottom. It's as valuable up shallow as it is offshore, if you use it properly. IMO, "Fish Finder" is a misnomer, especially in shallow water. You aren't going to see fish on the reader. But if you determine what type of bottom the fish are holding on, you can find that type of bottom with the machine.

A fish finder in water less than 15' is a waist of time, the angle on mine in 4' of water only covers about 1' of the bottom, a fish would have to be directly under the transom of the boat to show up. It is a combined unit and all I use it for is to mark a plaace where I catch 3 or more fish in a distance of about 50'. I do use it to determine the depth we are fishing in.
Pa