BigBendFishing.Net

Took the boat down to Steinhatchee Saturday mid-morning for the first time since Hermine. Stopped by Sea Hag for some shrimp, marina looks pretty the same as before the storm. Didn't get to our spot south of the river until about an hour or so before high tide but as soon as we got to 5' I started chunking some plastic swim baits. The wife and I caught a good number of trout mostly right at 15" - 16" which we tossed back but caught a few little bitty ones, they were very aggressive for the most part but had a few just follow the bait up to the boat. Floated a flat line with a shrimp under a cork out the back but we did better with the artificials. I tried one of the DOA Airhead baits for the first time, thinking it may be a little big for the trout but even the 14" trout would inhale it and I liked the profile in the water. By the time we drifted into the 3' range the tide was slack and the bite dropped off quickly. Water was about 61.5 when we got there and warmed up to 63.5 before we left, I was a little surprised that the water was a little dingy given the limited rain recently and too much floating grass to do much topwater, it was hard to get the swim baits back with grass catching on them.

Parking lot at the county ramp was full and a good number of trucks in the overflow lot across the street.

Ran the boat some as it has been sitting landlocked for too long and then headed to Roy's for a late lunch. Roy's re-opened on Tuesday before Thanksgiving from their Hermine damage, menu and food was about the same as usual, they had a refrigerated trailer running outside so don't think they are totally done with repairs but they had a decent number of people in while we were there and it was obvious many had come just because of the recent re-opening. The little real estate office next to Roys was trashed by the storm and I didn't see any attempts at repair, walls were open to the weather and it looked like it may have even shifted on the pilings. Our waitress said that it was going to be repaired at some point as far as she knew.

It was a really nice day to be on the water!

Nice report on both the fishing success and storm update. Glad you were able to finally wet a line.

I've caught some nice fish on the Air Head (now officially the CAL Swim Bait), but for some reason I don't tie it on as much. Need to use a weighted swim bait hook as a keel or else a regular jig head. The trout and reds seem to like 'em. One trick Capt. Ed Zyak, the DOA staff pro, taught me is to punch a hole in the tail using a hole punch and then cutting into the hole at an angle. With the hole, it won't rip and the resulting wedge really creates a good buzzing action.

The new 2.75 shrimp has a built-in jig weight. Have caught trout on it already, although I still prefer the standard 3-inch version. Old dogs, I guess...

Don't think the new soft topwater PT lures have fully hit the market yet. The PT stands for Poodle Turd and it casts like a bullet and can be worked right through grass, lily pads etc. Jacks and bluefish love it. Haven't gotten it in front of trout or reds locally yet though. I keep forgetting to pack one into the tackle bag.
Just a quick shot to show the buzz bait modification on the Air Head (top), two 2.75 shrimp bodies and the Poodle Turd.

"Poodle Turd"? Is it really called a "Poodle Turd"?

Looks a lot like Mann's Saltwater Ghost, which has been around for a long time:

http://mannsbait.com/product/all-lures- ... ter-ghost/

Officially the PT. Tongue-in-cheek, poodle turd.

Similar shape to the Ghost, but much more dense with a formed hook slot and foam insert for increased buoyancy. Can also insert a glass rattle tube to add noise. The Ghost is very similar to the old Cotee topwater, which was also nicknamed the Poodle Turd.

The freshwater Ghost has been around for years, but the saltwater version was introduced in the Spring of 2015. I tested some and caught a big red the first time I used it. Great action but I lost the rattling beads during the fight. Wish they were available in more colors too. Are you ordering them direct from Mann's? I haven't been able to find any locally.

Sorry for the de-rail zload. Original comments on reaction to the Air Head but got sidetracked a bit.

I think ol' Jimmy has left a few of those PT's out there in the water... You probably don't want to fish with them though.

Glad yall caught some. I am surprised that trout were still out on the flats after the recent cold spell we had. We found some in the Aucilla Friday.

galantnole wrote:I think ol' Jimmy has left a few of those PT's out there in the water... You probably don't want to fish with them though.

He'd better be careful. DEP might be lurking on the site.

silverking wrote:Nice report on both the fishing success and storm update. Glad you were able to finally wet a line.

IMG_6140.jpg

Just a quick shot to show the buzz bait modification on the Air Head (top), two 2.75 shrimp bodies and the Poodle Turd.

Thanks for the pics SK, I'll try the tail cut. I was using a 1/4 swim jig and it swam pretty well and had a good flash on retrieve. It seemed to stay mid-column a little easier on on a slower retrieve probably due to the extra buoyancy in the design. I bet that PT would be the bomb when you can walk on the floating grass during scallop season.

DixieReb wrote:Glad yall caught some. I am surprised that trout were still out on the flats after the recent cold spell we had. We found some in the Aucilla Friday.

I would have preferred to fish the creeks but the admiral said it was a relaxing weekend after turkey day cooking so I didn't get her up early and didn't want to spend all the time trolling in only to get back out right after the tide turned. There were a good number of boats around marker 22 in the channel didn't seem to be a lot of catching going on as I passed through and they had spread out into the shallower areas around that hole later in the day so maybe the little warm up has them somewhere between the flats and the deeper holes. When I see the fleet at the suicide hole I know they are in the river