I got a chance to fish the big jetty in Port A Saturday. The wife and I were there for a surfing session, but I never make the trip without fishing gear. After catching a few small waves I picked up a pint of live shrimp from Woody's ($9.50 .... ouch!) and walked out on the jetty. I have a couple of spots that are not too far out that I always like to try. Today though it was on and off rain with northeast wind so I didn't stray too far from the beach. I fished the channel side only 50 yards or so out from where the rocks meet the sand.

The current was moving in quickly. The water was blue green, and there were even a few green sea turtles swimming around. I fished live shrimp on the bottom pretty tight to the rocks. My first cast got bit on the drop. I whiffed the hookset and came in with just a shrimp head. The next few casts made it to the bottom and just sat. When I pulled in to check the bait I was picked clean. At this point my best guess was that the Sheepshead were light-biting and I just wasn't feeling the bites. Time to change tactics.

I rigged with a heavier sinker (2 oz instead of 1) and downsized my hook from a 1 aught to a number 1. I grabbed one of the smaller shrimp, pinched off the tail, and then threaded the hook in through the tail and out at the legs. The idea was that with the heavier weight I could keep a bit more tension on the line to feel the bite. The pinched tail and smaller hook would camouflage the point to fool the sneaky convicts. Well, the new setup was the ticket. My first couple of drops I at least felt light bites but still got robbed. Finally I got a bite that started swimming off to the side. This time when I set the hook it hit the spot. After a short fight I was taping my first keeper at 16".

I went on like this for an hour or so more and filled my limit. My throwback to keeper ratio was about 1:1. I only hung up and broke off once. That in itself is a victory when bottom fishing tight to the rocks!

So, the fish are definitely there. I've fished there in the past when they just clobber the bait and hook themselves. Today required a different approach. I think pinching the tail and hiding the hook made the biggest difference. Since the bite was pretty rapid, I wasn't too worried about keeping the bait alive. Otherwise I would have been hooking the live shrimp through the horn like most people would. I didn't see any other stringers come off the rocks. But, with the bad weather there really weren't too many guys fishing.

SHOREBOUNDANGLER

Fine job. It takes a skilled angler to make those adjustments. Tight lines!

Nice report. We cancelled our trip to Port A because of the rain in the forecast. Should have gone!