Saturday November 24th, 2007
On the move.
In the last couple of reports, I've mentioned that the bite has been a short but furious one, but, I've failed to mention that the fish haven't been in the same spot twice in the past week. Four charters in the last 8 days and the fish were in 4 different spots. We checked all the spots that had previously produced nice fish but they were gone. We had to keep spot jumping to stay on them. I'm not sure if it's the weather, the moon phases, or the tides, but something has these fish on the move.
I picked up Mark, his son Ryan, and Mark's friend John at 10am this morning. We started late because we had a negative low tide early in the day and I was planning on hitting some high water fish. We tried for some trout near Anclote in Tarpon Springs first thing this morning while we waited on the tide to come in but failed to get a fish to the boat. The big trout have frustrated me over there this week and I quickly tired of trying for them this morning. So after 15 minutes of that effort I told the boys we were headed to redfish country.
We ran about 15 minutes north of Tarpon Springs and began working our way on the trolling motor towards the back of a cove where I did pretty well yesterday. 400 yards before we reached the spot, young Ryan and I both saw fish milling around off of a point. We eased in and set up the boat so that we could cast our baits with the wind. It wasn't 3 minutes before Ryan had put on a professional style display of how to fight a big redfish. He knew when to let the fish take drag, when to horse him, as well as how to turn the fish. Mark must have spent some time teaching his kid how to fish. Nice! Ryan slid the 9.5lb redfish into the net I was holding like he'd been on the redfish tour for years. And with that, we broke the seal on a bite that lasted for about two hours. Everybody got into the game. I lost count in how many fish we boated but it was somewhere between 15 and 20. Every single one was a keeper or better.
The key again today was pinfish. However, John and I had a difference of opinion on whether they should be fished under a cork or freelined. I told him to go with his gut and he proved me wrong. He ended up landing the most fish of the day while freelining live pinfish. So, I would suggest you try both freelined pinfish as well as pinfish under a cork if you're hunting reds this week. John and I did both agree that the key was to keep them out of the grass.
Someone once told me that if the fish aren't where they're "supposed" to be, fish where their not "supposed" to be. They told me that they've got to be somewhere and if they aren't where you think they are then they're somewhere you think they're not. That's proven true this week and I've hit all my "go to" places but we're running into them either on the way there or by just checking places nearby. If you aren't on fish, get on the trolling motor and go check every area within sight. They've got to be there somewhere.
On the move.
In the last couple of reports, I've mentioned that the bite has been a short but furious one, but, I've failed to mention that the fish haven't been in the same spot twice in the past week. Four charters in the last 8 days and the fish were in 4 different spots. We checked all the spots that had previously produced nice fish but they were gone. We had to keep spot jumping to stay on them. I'm not sure if it's the weather, the moon phases, or the tides, but something has these fish on the move.
I picked up Mark, his son Ryan, and Mark's friend John at 10am this morning. We started late because we had a negative low tide early in the day and I was planning on hitting some high water fish. We tried for some trout near Anclote in Tarpon Springs first thing this morning while we waited on the tide to come in but failed to get a fish to the boat. The big trout have frustrated me over there this week and I quickly tired of trying for them this morning. So after 15 minutes of that effort I told the boys we were headed to redfish country.
We ran about 15 minutes north of Tarpon Springs and began working our way on the trolling motor towards the back of a cove where I did pretty well yesterday. 400 yards before we reached the spot, young Ryan and I both saw fish milling around off of a point. We eased in and set up the boat so that we could cast our baits with the wind. It wasn't 3 minutes before Ryan had put on a professional style display of how to fight a big redfish. He knew when to let the fish take drag, when to horse him, as well as how to turn the fish. Mark must have spent some time teaching his kid how to fish. Nice! Ryan slid the 9.5lb redfish into the net I was holding like he'd been on the redfish tour for years. And with that, we broke the seal on a bite that lasted for about two hours. Everybody got into the game. I lost count in how many fish we boated but it was somewhere between 15 and 20. Every single one was a keeper or better.
The key again today was pinfish. However, John and I had a difference of opinion on whether they should be fished under a cork or freelined. I told him to go with his gut and he proved me wrong. He ended up landing the most fish of the day while freelining live pinfish. So, I would suggest you try both freelined pinfish as well as pinfish under a cork if you're hunting reds this week. John and I did both agree that the key was to keep them out of the grass.
Someone once told me that if the fish aren't where they're "supposed" to be, fish where their not "supposed" to be. They told me that they've got to be somewhere and if they aren't where you think they are then they're somewhere you think they're not. That's proven true this week and I've hit all my "go to" places but we're running into them either on the way there or by just checking places nearby. If you aren't on fish, get on the trolling motor and go check every area within sight. They've got to be there somewhere.
Captain Clay Eavenson
813-300-2147
