I had nothing special to do today so I got some bait and headed out doing what I love best. It was a calm day with some afternoon breezes forecasted. As I headed out I noticed the moon was still out at 7:30.
I was going to check out the Empire jetties and then go look for some snapper and maybe cobia. My plans got changed quickly. As I approached the area I saw the pogie boats working the area. With 6 of them working the entire area was messed up as far as fishing goes.
I spent a lot of time looking for some trout but all I found was a lot of hard heads and what I thought was trout ended up being Spanish mackerel. As I was getting ready to leave the area all together I managed a nice 17 inch trout.
This kept me working the area for a long time after that. I weeded through a bunch of hardheads and picked up an occasional trout.
I did loose some trout and the bite from them was so light I had trouble setting the hook. I was going to leave with 6 of them but gave up with 5. My last was this fat 23 incher.
It was almost noon and the wind was picking up as forecasted so I headed out to get a pair of keeper snapper. Being a bit bouncy at this time I figured it would be hard getting a line on the rig but I had no trouble at all. Apparently the empire rigs have been fished hard. I had to weed through a lot of shorts and the triggers and angelfish were also steeling the bait. They were so thick the mangroves did not have a chance.
I switched to larger baits and still had the quick bites but these were bigger fish. As I was getting my 2 keeper red snappers I was blessed with a nice mangrove. My first keeper red snapper was only 22 inches but it went in the box. Once I had my 2 keepers I headed in looking for some redfish.
I had places to go but wanted to find some other places. Unfortunately the west side is loosing land so fast and this is where the red fish hang and feed. Some places I fished several years ago are gone and what is there is smaller and changed a lot. I was only able to pick up some shorts but that was fine with me. just something to pull on besides the hardheads. We have to find a way to get people to keep the hardheads so there won't be so many.
Had a relaxing full day out there. I brought home a few fish to share with the cats and the neighbors.
Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.
CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM
