Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Dunedin Trout Fishing Phenomenal

Fishing Through the Cold Fronts of February

2/15/2009

Hey friends.
Well we pushed through a number of 'very cold for Florida' fronts this past month. It gave me time to finish work on my new vessel, a custom Dorado 23, pictures to come soon. Also, thanks to those who have shown interest in my music career by visiting www.briancaudillmusic.com and purchasing my debut CD 'Pocketful of Change'. It has been a great past few years, fishing with great clients and making music in between. I think I have figured out how to take advantage of this state!!! Anyway, the fishing has been pretty good around those cold fronts. I had some cancellations, but did run a good amount of trips. Here is what's been happening...

showing off big trout

The name of the game lately is the phenomenal Trout fishing we see every year around this time. The Dunedin area has been my focus for these great creatures. Mostly floating live shrimp under a cork, around the spoil islands. If you find that the water you are fishing is too crowded, don't hesitate to move on to another island or even a shallow flat to the east. There are plenty of Trout in many different locations, you just may need to move around to get them. If you insist on fishing an area already populated, show some friendly etiquette and approach quietly for the upwind side and slip into the fishing zone. Frequently, I will see someone come blasting into a group of other fisherman and no one gets a bite after that. By this time in the season the Trout are pretty well beat up and can easily be shut down by a bad approach. Another tip is when a good bite seems to quit all together, a simple 10 - 20 foot move in the direction you believe most logical to go, can result in further bites by staying with the school. They will sometimes squeeze in very tight to shore or move right off a drop into 4 or 5 feet of deeper water. I recently took a childhood friend, Robbie Lunsford fishing with his father-in-law Jim. It was great to see my good friend after many years, but better to see him hanging into some big Trout. We were able to focus on an area of swift moving tide in 5 feet of water. The fish were definitely feeding better once the tide began to move well. Your favorite jerkworm can also work well on a flat while drifting, but can sometimes irritate a school of Trout. I tend to throw plastics only when I am alone in a spot. It can be a great way to locate a group of fish, then I'll switch over to some live offerings to hold them there. Always remember to handle Trout with care. Good dehookers can mean the difference between life and death among Trout.

Redfish are starting to group up in the usual areas. Docks and oyster bars in direct sunlight have seen several keeper size Reds. I will say they are pretty finicky and need a lot of patience to hook. Pinfish and shrimp are my best baits right now, but Gulp Shrimp worked along the edges of bars and flipped under the docks will get a strike too. I tend to fish potholes on a low incoming tide after locating the Redfish by slowly drifting into an area. However some of the bars I fish need the high tides to concentrate the fish on top of them.

Can you believe March is almost here? We should see the Redfishing getting better and a few Snook to move out of the backcountry with a string of warm days.
For those of you looking for the best Tarpon fishing in the world, I still have good days open around the best moon phases in Boca Grande. The season kicks off starting in May going through June. My new boat is going to be awesome for Tarpon fishing. Please call now to book a Tarpon experience of a lifetime or a great day of inshore fishing with yours truly. I'm ready, let's go!!!

Capt. Brian

Capt. Brian Caudill
727-365-7560
braincandle2@yahoo.com
http://www.captbrian.com/

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