After a tough Monday of fishing I was racking my brain why. With some idle zone deep thoughts I had remembered that we had a high pressure system that help block hurricane Delta from Florida and big high tides caused by this weeks new moon. Putting the grey matter to work and understanding the environment helped me the next few days, I had better fishing moving further back into keys and gave spots a little more time to produce fish. Big incoming high tides will push redfish further into the backcountry and the last hour of incoming tide is the best bite. Another trick to put a few more trout in the box is to use a cork rig and cast it straight off the bow and work it in one spot. Saying this means just popping it and letting it sit as the boat drifts past it. Casting directly in front of the vessel’s drift works 90% of the time but in a tough bite this will produce trout. On some of the rocky points there has been a decent sheepshead bite. As we get into late fall the bite gets better until the sheepshead move into the rivers and nearshore rockpiles for the spawn. A cork with a shrimp on a jighead will get the bite. The cork sometimes will not submerse but just lean over on it’s side when one takes the bait. High incoming tide will be in the afternoon this weekend with the new moon.
- Nature Coast - March 23, 2024
- William Toney - February 29, 2024
- Nature Coast - February 14, 2024
