06/11/16 Pepper Fish Key

[Hogfish24336]

Went back to Pepper Fish Saturday. Water temp was 85 in the shallows which was 2' of water. Red fish bite was on fire at first light on the incoming tide. The fish seem to be holding in the holes if you know where to look. Gulp mud minnow threaded on an old vudu shrimp hook seemed to be the best bet. After the sun came up went into the flats fished 4.5-5.5' of water caught countless amounts of trout just no keepers caught so many that I moved all over and tried everything to catch a slot fish didn't happen. Tide changed mid day and sharks and trash moved in. Took a break waited on tide to change went back to the shallow holes for reds late in the day managed to pick up a mid slot and he went home for supper. Hope this helps anyone in the area. Pic from one caught early in the morning which was safely released. http://imgur.com/IFriYFz

[LastCall1983]

Thanks for the tips. Friday we caught a ton of trout, just no keepers. Biggest was 14 1/2". The lady fish were on fire though.. we saw LOTS of schools of lady fish and they were hungry. Had one jump atleast 10 ft out of the water. My wife had a blast catching them. We were in 8 ft or so of water with the best bites with trout. Also caught a spanish mackerel.

April 19th we went and wore the trout out, also in 8 ft of water on a popping cork with gulp shrimp. Nearly every fish was a keeper. We limited out in a couple of hours.

[DixieReb]

I'm glad you caught some. The bigger trout might be out deeper, we used to go to 12 ft. to get them when it's this hot. I know it's a long way out, but they seek the cooler water.

[LastCall1983]

Dixie, i just moved from Moultrie to Adel back in December. Yeah we went out to 10-11 ft and got no bites at all. They were a little picky Friday, talking to people at the ramp no one did very good, but Saturday and Sunday i talked to a few buddies that wore them out those days.