Lots to Choose From
Lots of nice size Yellow Mouth Trout and Croakers
in the river can be fun and they are easy to catch. Plus they cook up pretty
good. Find a rocky shoreline and you will most likely find some croakers and
yellow mouth trout. Jetty rocks, submerged hard bottom and submerged rocks
piles in the deeper parts of the river will be holding good numbers of these
easy and fun to catch fish.
I like to start by catching some croakers using a
small piece of shrimp. Then I take a croaker and filet the fish then cut
strips about 3 to 4 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. Take this strip and
hook it one time from one end on a Tru Turn #1 or 1/0 hook. I like to rig
this bait so it looks like it is swimming as the current passes over it. The
bait rigged like this looks like a small fish and this will definitely
attract other predator fish like Yellow Mouth Trout and occasionally a very
nice croaker. My rig usually consist of a Shakespeare 6 foot medium custom
rod, a Shakespeare Tidewater T4440 reel spooled with 20 pound test Power Pro
line. From the Power Pro line, I tie on a Sea Striker barrel swivel then for
a leader, I use 30 pound test Bill Fisher monofilament. There is nothing
fancy about my rig and it is easy to tie right on the boat. Take a piece of
mono leader about 2 feet long. Tie one end to the swivel then come down
about 6 to 8 inches and tie a dropper loop that extends out about 4 to 6
inches. Then at the other end tie another dropper loop with an opening about
3 to 4 inches. On the bottom dropper loop slip on a bank sinker that is
heavy enough to make it tot he bottom when fished directly under the boat.
On the top dropper loop slip on the hook.
Be sure you have enough lead to hold bottom and
you are NOT going to want to cast this as you are going to be fishing in
heavy rooks and if you cast this you will likely get hung up and lose your
rig. When you send this down and it hits bottom, stop the line from going
any farther. If you have enough weight, you should be able to gently lift
your rod tip, then lower it and you will feel the bottom. I like to keep my
bait just off the bottom about 6 to 12 inches to prevent the weigh from
getting wedged in a rock.
The croakers are going to slam the bait while the
yellow mouth will thump it a couple of times before swallowing it. When I
start to get a bite I like to SLOWLY lift my rod tip up a few inches to
encourage the fish to get excited and swallow it. When the fish is on the
hook you will know as the rod will usually bend pretty good. At this point
you will want to TURN THE HANDLE until the fish is to the surface. NO
PUMPING, just turn the handle.
The bag limits on Yellow Mouth are minimum 12
inches and 4 fish per person. Croakers do not have a size or bag limit.
Some nice flounder are moving into the inshore
waters and for them I like a strip mullet bait, mud minnow, small finger
mullet, live shrimp or if you wan to use artificials, you cannot beat a
Gotcha 4 inch Curl Tail in white with chartreuse tail, clear flake or root
beer color. This soft plastic can be fished on a lead head jig from 1/4 to
1/2 ounce, depending on water depth and current. The natural baits can also
be fished on a lead head jig or a carolina rig. Try the shallow rocky banks,
mud flats, around docks and creek mouths. Flounder have to be at least 12
inches in length and you can keep 10 per angler.
Bull reds in the river and jetties are on one day
and the next day you have to search for them. Lately, they have been real
tidal specific with the best catches on the outgoing tide.
Reds in the creeks have been hitting shrimp,
Gotcha 4 inch curl tails, mullet and mud minnows. Try to concentrate on the
edges on the falling tide. I like to find an area that holds them, drop my
Minn Kota trolling motor and ease along the edge looking for them chasing
bait. When you find them feeding, and you can get a bait in front of them,
it is almost a sure thing, you will get hooked up.
Now that almost of the fresh water from Fay is
out of the river, I am starting to see a few speckled trout. A shrimp,
mullet, mud minnow or a Gotcha 4 inch curl tail fished on a 1/4 ounce jig
head works well to find them.
The sheepshead are starting to show at the
jetties and some of the jetty rocks in the river. Still lots of small ones
but if you fish hard, you should have enough for your dinner. Best bait is a
fiddler crab or live shrimp on a jig head but the carolina rig also works
when at anchor fishing the rocks.
On nights when you have light wind, you can work
the edges with your gig and put some fine flounder in the box. Try to find
areas that have clear water and not much current.
The snapper and grouper bite is still on and when
we have nice days, getting out and finding some tasty snapper can be fun and
productive to put a good meal on the table.
Don't forget to tune in Saturdays at 8:00 am to
cable channel 12 ION Media Network to watch Fun Fishing.
James Howard with some real nice Gigged flatties
Nice creek red
