# Maniac Mullet getting it done



## Capt. Adam Jaynes (Mar 6, 2008)

Fishing was so easy for so long I had really gotten spoiled. Our water was clear and salty way up the river due to the drought and any day where we did not catch limits and at least one trout in the 25″ range or better seemed "tough." All of this rain that we've been getting for the past month has resulted in a lot of changes but fortunately we are still catching fish. The trout fishing has gotten much more inconsistent but that is pretty typical of this time of year. The majority of the lake is pretty filthy from the rain and the wind but it's settling rather quick when the wind does slack a little. It was looking pretty good in Coffee Ground and decent from Sydney to Pleasure Island but I am sure that changed after how hard the wind blew out of the south today. It's easier said than done but I wouldn't let the clarity bother you too much, we are catching fish in water that I can't even see the trolling motor in. My main concern when fishing dirty water is making sure the bait is still there. If the bait is there so are the trout.

When fishing deeper water I pay a particular amount of attention to my Lowrance looking for schools of shad and other bait fish. Aaron and I got on our fish last Thursday when scouting around for the Gulf Coast Trout Series by first locating large schools of bait using my electronics in 12-15′ of water. We started vertical jigging red shad Trout Killers and quickly picked up 15-20 fish before moving on to another location. We found some bigger fish hanging on a ledge in 8′ of water after first locating bait again with the HDS 8. My second cast with a gold/chartreuse Maniac Mullet produced a five pounder and Aaron followed up with a 6lber on a red shad Maniac Mullet.

I put my waders on in the garage Saturday morning before we ever left for the ramp as it was already storming. We had zero intentions of getting out of the boat but with how much it was raining I think there was little difference! Somehow I managed to forget the net at the house, fortunately it didn't cost us any fish or Aaron might have started to look for another tournament partner. Our game plan was simple, go to spot "A" and pick up three fish that could make the trip to the weigh in with us before moving to spot "B" and trying for a big bite. Mother nature had different plans&#8230; We did get off to an auspicious start when Aaron landed a trout on his third drop. It was a little small to make the 18″ minimum for the tournament but it was a fish. We landed a few more trout before putting the first one in the livewell for the tournament. As soon as we shut the lid on the livewell lightning sent us scrambling for cover and kept us there for about 40 minutes. When we got back to fishing the bite was a little slower but we were able to put the two more trout that we needed in the livewell so we could go try for a big bite to upgrade our weight.

The water at our second stop looked quite a bit worse than it did on Thursday when we were last in there but the bait was still showing up on the graph. It didn't take long and I was hooked up with a decent fish on a gold/chartreuse Maniac Mullet but it didn't help us out any. I missed two more good bites before having to leave for the weighin, either one of which might have been the fish we needed to get paid but we'll never know. Before leaving we noticed one of our trout was belly up, not good when it's a live fish weighin. We then noticed why it was struggling, the fish was regurgitating it's previous meal but it had gotten stuck. I checked the fish again when we made it to the ramp but this time she was upright and looking healthy, but unhealthy for us after she lost the weight of what appeared to be about a 12″ trout!

The biggest game changer for me over the last couple of months has definitely been Tidal Surge's new Maniac Mullet. I was skeptical at first, as I always am with new baits that get an alarming amount of attention. I can honestly say that it wasn't just hype. What impresses me the most is the number of strikes from larger trout that it is able to draw. The Maniac Mullet is also very user friendly. You do not have to possess the technical ability of a professional fisherman to catch fish on one, if you can fish a tail you can fish the Maniac Mullet. I have predominantly fished the fast sink as the majority of the trout I have been catching have been any where from 4-15′ of water for the most part.

Shawn and Dana have recently come out with the new slow sink which has been landing some incredible fish as well. Joe and Roger Friedrichs put together a three fish stringer of 19.09lbs to bring home a first place check of $6026 with two trout over 7lbs all caught on the slow sink Maniac Mullet. If you haven't tried them out yet, I highly recommend you add some to your tackle box. Give Daley's a call and they'll have them waiting for you when you get there!Keith sent me a text earlier today to let me know that Daley's will be putting on their first annual big trout tournament on March 24th. It is going to be a live fish weigh in with a $100 entry fee for two man teams with 80% payback. I will post up more details as soon as I get them but go ahead and mark your calendar for this sure to be fun event.

Capt. Adam Jaynes
www.justfishsabine.com


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## Capt. Adam Jaynes (Mar 6, 2008)

Correction, Daley's tournament will be on March 31, NOT the 24th.


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