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The inshore light tackle fun continues as hungry rat redfish and trout are bending rods throughout the area.
These past few weeks casting along mangrove shorelines with D.O.A. paddle tail grubs on light jig-heads has been our go-to technique for spinning and using a combination of flies mostly Clouser’s for fly anglers.
Ultra-lite to light spinning tackle spooled with 10-pound braid tied to 36-inch or longer fluorocarbon leaders is a good choice for casting these jigs a mile, helping you cover water quickly and connecting.
Long casts parallel to the shoreline have been productive using the grubs or pulling back from the shoreline and pitching into and around structure as you move along works as well if the fish are holding closer. Pitching and skipping techniques provide the most fun and an angry redfish on a short leash is always a good time.
Before you go, check your tide charts to plan your trip. If you’re there when it’s high tide and the water’s way back and under the trees, chances are the reds are too and without bait to draw them out, it will be tough. Water’s too low, obviously the fish are behind you probably in the channel.
If you have the option, try and plan around a strong incoming tide, fishing the flats out in front of the bushes and follow the tide and the fish in, as the tide swells and till the fish eventually become inaccessible.
While you’re using your trolling motor or a push pole to run the shoreline for the redfish, have another angler cast the 2 to 6-foot zone on the other side of the boat with the same soft plastics for a hot trout bite.
When prospecting for trout with jigs, if you reel fast and close to the surface, you’ll probably catch ladyfish. If you stay near and on the bottom using hop and fall retrieves, you’ll catch more trout.
If all this moving and casting isn’t your cup of tea and comfort is your game, then take a ladyfish and cut it into one-inch steaks or a nice shrimp and cast them under the bushes and wait for the reds to find it. Fifteen minutes or so with no interest, move on and set up again.
For easy living family trout fishing, nothing beats a livewell full of kicking shrimp, rods and popping corks for the whole family, and smiles all around.
Set up and wind drift a flat in 4 or 5 feet and start popping those corks for fast trout action.
Like redfish, trout are a protected no-kill species. Trout, unlike redfish, are a much more delicate species and can easily die from rough handling days after they’re released.
The most important thing when handling a trout is to have wet hands. Wrapped in a towel, dry hands, held down with a boot all are bad news for fine scaled trout.
Tasty sheepshead are on the way to a dock or bridge near you. Electric knives help clean these hard scaled fish.
Offshore look for tripletail on floats as you run to favored GPS numbers looking for grouper, snapper and other offshore bottom dwellers.
If you’re a new boater in Southwest Florida, always stay close to the markers and in the channel. In some cases with winter’s negative tides, just a few yards outside the marked channel can mean big problems or worse for boats and passengers.
Learn to read tide charts and understand that local weather conditions can greatly alter the day’s printed prediction.
Unfortunately every year boaters die, often from going too fast and hitting stationary objects like markers or other boats, or being injured by running aground at speed
“Go Slow Until You Know!”
Holiday gift certificates for guided fishing trips, boat tours or for our 2-hour, all-inclusive, beginner’s saltwater fly fishing school make great holiday gifts.
Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. Contact him at 239-282-9434 or captgeorget3@aol.com.