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West bay wading detailed report 4/29-5/1/12
Haven't had a chance to fish or use the computer much the past 4 or 5 months. I've lost all my numbers and have been phoneless for a good 4 months off an on with this POS backup phone finally got a new one today. Ruined 3 phones the past year so message me your numbers (you know who you are). Parents have been having some issues so trying to be there for them and handle that situation made fishing a lot less important to me. Didn't realize how much I missed it until I hooked up again for the first time in months....a lot.
Report comes from somewhere between west bay and the causeway. For all you people wanting a good report bored at work or debating wade fishing anywhere in that area I'll detail it as much as I can without giving away any spots.
Wind: 25 mph + gusting to 30ish
Clarity: Variable but good at times
Baits used: Big spooks in bone, black and clown. Corky floaters in pearl chartreuse and pink.
SO 30 mile per hour winds welcomed me back but I figured the bigger trout didn't care too much which is all I was after anyways. Found a cove to duck into with lots of bait and a nice shoreline so started with top-waters around 9am. The late start KILLED me, more on that in a little bit. About an hour in I switched to a floating corky in chartreuse and pearl and casted to absolutely nothing and hooked up first cast ~10 am. It pays to blind cast when working an area as it was ironically one of the first casts I made not to a flipping mullet. The trout ended up going to 6 lb.s and 27" on the boga and was released for another day.
The second day 4/30 I decided to find a new spot to walk in and was greeted to TONS of sting rays. Pretty awesome when you forget your wetsuit AND rayguards...no coffee for the loss. Went to academy to buy some "temporary" ray guards and pants. Hooked up with one trout around 16" and one other blow up. FISHED ALL DAY. NOT WORTH IT.
Third day 4/31 dropped my phone into my coffee. Pretty sweet new iphone ruined thankful I had the 90$ insurance plan on it. Got there EARLY and that was the ticket. Found a slick and hooked up with a possible personal best trout pushing easily 26"+ and felt extremely heavy. Threw directly into 25 mph winds with the bone super spook and he smashed it on the second twitch. Lost him right up next to me when he made his 4th run and shook the spook right out of his mouth. Caught a limit of reds on top waters easily and at one point was real annoyed that they wouldn't leave the spook alone because a lot were smaller in the 15-20" range. Had to walk WAY away from the marsh to escape redfish hell.
Fourth day 5/01 was another average day with one highlight. Finally got out into the water early as the sun rose, this is the key right now by the way, and fished an area I meant to stay away from aka red hell and should have just walked deeper where I knew the trout were. We basically caught the late end of the morning bite which really came back to haunt me. Hooked up with a huge trout on the spook and came undone AGAIN. Finally smartened up and loosened my drag and started actually setting the hook. I'm so rusty right now I haven't even been setting the hook at all. Not sure what the size of that trout was but it was making runs like a redfish so I'm sure it was another big girl.
Summary. Right now the pattern is a morning bite and it usually semi-shuts off mid day. It seems just like the summer pattern of it getting hot and the fishing just coming to a complete shut off with the only difference being that if you really want to you can still grind out a few in mid day sun. All in all I'd say to those of you that want to go, be IN the water before the sun even starts coming up and if around 9 or 10 you stop getting bites just stop wasting your time. It feels just like a summer pattern and if you have a boat you could probably still be on them if you find a deep reef or something.
All fish have been caught on a really fast retrieve with absolutely no pauses. When I would get smacks and would pause it twitching it a few times to see if they would come back they would just turn away. Best baits have been the full size bone spook and the black one for early morning or with cloud cover. Nothing else has even come close and any other color I'm throwing right now is way less productive.
Sorry for no pictures, buying my new waterproof iphone case today and cant wait to try it out.
Report comes from somewhere between west bay and the causeway. For all you people wanting a good report bored at work or debating wade fishing anywhere in that area I'll detail it as much as I can without giving away any spots.
Wind: 25 mph + gusting to 30ish
Clarity: Variable but good at times
Baits used: Big spooks in bone, black and clown. Corky floaters in pearl chartreuse and pink.
SO 30 mile per hour winds welcomed me back but I figured the bigger trout didn't care too much which is all I was after anyways. Found a cove to duck into with lots of bait and a nice shoreline so started with top-waters around 9am. The late start KILLED me, more on that in a little bit. About an hour in I switched to a floating corky in chartreuse and pearl and casted to absolutely nothing and hooked up first cast ~10 am. It pays to blind cast when working an area as it was ironically one of the first casts I made not to a flipping mullet. The trout ended up going to 6 lb.s and 27" on the boga and was released for another day.
The second day 4/30 I decided to find a new spot to walk in and was greeted to TONS of sting rays. Pretty awesome when you forget your wetsuit AND rayguards...no coffee for the loss. Went to academy to buy some "temporary" ray guards and pants. Hooked up with one trout around 16" and one other blow up. FISHED ALL DAY. NOT WORTH IT.
Third day 4/31 dropped my phone into my coffee. Pretty sweet new iphone ruined thankful I had the 90$ insurance plan on it. Got there EARLY and that was the ticket. Found a slick and hooked up with a possible personal best trout pushing easily 26"+ and felt extremely heavy. Threw directly into 25 mph winds with the bone super spook and he smashed it on the second twitch. Lost him right up next to me when he made his 4th run and shook the spook right out of his mouth. Caught a limit of reds on top waters easily and at one point was real annoyed that they wouldn't leave the spook alone because a lot were smaller in the 15-20" range. Had to walk WAY away from the marsh to escape redfish hell.
Fourth day 5/01 was another average day with one highlight. Finally got out into the water early as the sun rose, this is the key right now by the way, and fished an area I meant to stay away from aka red hell and should have just walked deeper where I knew the trout were. We basically caught the late end of the morning bite which really came back to haunt me. Hooked up with a huge trout on the spook and came undone AGAIN. Finally smartened up and loosened my drag and started actually setting the hook. I'm so rusty right now I haven't even been setting the hook at all. Not sure what the size of that trout was but it was making runs like a redfish so I'm sure it was another big girl.
Summary. Right now the pattern is a morning bite and it usually semi-shuts off mid day. It seems just like the summer pattern of it getting hot and the fishing just coming to a complete shut off with the only difference being that if you really want to you can still grind out a few in mid day sun. All in all I'd say to those of you that want to go, be IN the water before the sun even starts coming up and if around 9 or 10 you stop getting bites just stop wasting your time. It feels just like a summer pattern and if you have a boat you could probably still be on them if you find a deep reef or something.
All fish have been caught on a really fast retrieve with absolutely no pauses. When I would get smacks and would pause it twitching it a few times to see if they would come back they would just turn away. Best baits have been the full size bone spook and the black one for early morning or with cloud cover. Nothing else has even come close and any other color I'm throwing right now is way less productive.
Sorry for no pictures, buying my new waterproof iphone case today and cant wait to try it out.
COMMUNITY WITH A LARGE
PROBLEM AND A 
PROBLEM.
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