BigBendFishing.Net

Sorry about the late post from last weekend.

Friday morning got off to a decent start with Captain Bartman loading the livewell with a good selection of LY’s & pins.
Friday morning had westerly winds, H2O temp @ 81 F, pleasant for wading. The incoming tide was lazy for the first 4 hours…slow to rise. 1st stop yielded 4 reds, 1 doormat & 1 Spaniard on ice. We also caught several jacks, which were fun but took a toll on our bait selection.

Later, after the storm passed & more bait gathered, the winds turned SSW & increased. We tried an oyster bar we hoped would give us some relief from the winds. Bartman managed 2 more reds for the cooler but it was a rough ride back to camp.

Friday greeted us with much better weather. After picking up live bait, our 1st stop brought some excitement with this 30” red that gave my Stradic 2500 all it could handle. 30" red caught on a large, live shrimp.After a quick photo op, we revived him & watched him swim slowly away to fight another day.



Moved to another bar & picked up 4 trout 17”, 20”, 22”, 23” , one red 26”, 3 BSB. Since action had slowed, we decided to try something new (for us). We fished with cut bait (cut larger pinfish). We determined that there is a 50:1 ratio between catfish caught and other desired species caught on cut bait. We did catch the red on a piece of cut pinfish but only after dealing with numerous catfish.
I think we will return to fishing live bait.

Great fish! Love those oyster beds. Hey, maybe its the perspective but your boat looks surprisingly big. Mind if I ask what kind it is? How shallow will it run, etc?

Thanks!

Actually, it's not my boat, it is my buddy Bart's boat. It is an 18' Key Largo CC w/ a 115 HP Merc. His boat has been "stripped down" for how we fish. Chrome railing on the front removed, trolling motor removed, Captain's seat removed, the baitwell in front of the console is now a hold & one of the rear holds is now a baitwell. He installed a Wang anchoring system on the stern.

As you can probably tell, we rarely fish from the boat. We use the boat to catch bait and get us to & from the various oyster bars we fish, wading.
All of the above "mods" were to accomodate wade fishing. With the captain's seat gone, we have a large cooler in the back, It can be repositioned out of the way when we are catching bait. The rear baitwell allows us to refill bait buckets without having to get back into the boat. It's a great boat.

As we are getting older, we may one day have to install a wheelchair lift.....just kidding.

His boat can handle some skinny water. I have been in the boat in 1.5 feet of water idling along.