Wednesday November 21st, 2007

Timing is everything... lately.



Have you ever told a joke that would have been funny two minutes ago, but at the moment you chose to blurt the joke out, it was too late to garner a chuckle? Well... I had bad timing today in one spot today. Luckily, I hit another spot at just the right time.



I picked up my charter today and I made the bone head decision to not catch bait prior to picking them up. The big trout bite had been on fire and all you needed was a 1/8th oz. jig head with any soft plastic on it to load up. My guys jumped in the boat and I made the fatal flaw of announcing that, "we might catch 100 keeper trout today." They were excited, and so was I, until we showed up at the spot and only got one bite in an hour. Granted it was a very nice 22" trout but I was about 99 fish short of meeting my prediction. Those fish will probably be in those holes again on a lower tide but I had scheduled this trip around high water. Bad timing on my part.



Well, now that I made the great decision to not catch bait before picking up my clients (I almost always catch bait prior to pick up) I had to get some pinfish in the well. Luckily it only took about 10 minutes to load up and off we headed towards the mainland in New Port Richey.



It took a little time on the trolling motor to find a nice sized school of mullet, but when we did, we put the Power Pole down and started slinging baits. It wasn't to long before we were getting slammed by mid-slot redfish. We boated 8 in 30 minutes and then we had to get off of the flat before we were high and dry.



We only got two more bites after that rush today, another redfish and another really nice trout. That's the second trip in a row where the bite lasted less than 30 minutes. Granted, we have done well in those short time periods but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if the bite lasted a little longer. All I can say is that if you know where fish are, stay on them. They are going to bite eventually and if you aren't there when that brief window is open, you may miss out. Again, look for milling mullet. Throw live or cut pinfish, 10" under a cork, into the mullet schools, and if your timing is right, you could be in for a fast and furious bite.