# Rockport report, 2/9/2015



## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

Left about 2:00 again, and it was such a nice day that I decided to stay in the flats and scout. I took a first, long cast to sort of shake out the line. Right after it hit the water, I see a nice red right in front of the boat. So I reel like a madman, barely get it back in time to get the spoon in front of her. And just like that, I had the first fish in the boat.

I think I caught a dozen fish, and missed about as many. (I've got terrible tendonitis in my left elbow, and setting a hook is nearly impossible at certain angles.) No monsters, but no undersized fish either. The smallest was 20", and the biggest was 26".

Most people I saw were fishing in 4-6 feet of water. I caught all of my fish in 10 -18 INCHES of water. They were spread out along the shoreline - I never saw more than a couple together. I only caught two or three on blind casts. The strike zone was small, and they were VERY spooky. You couldn't land a lure anywhere near a fish without sending him running. But you still had to get it very close before one would turn and hit it. Most of the fish were sitting dead still, like they were just sunning in the shallow water. I saw several doing head-stands. Not tailing, not rooting in the mud - just head down, tail up, and sitting dead still. I don't know what that was about.

I caught about half the fish on a 1/4 oz. gold weedless spoon, and the rest on an Assasin in plum/chartreuse. I threw a Corky Devil for a bit, but the fish mostly spooked from it. I kept three of the smaller fish (20", 21", 24", pic below) for the grill. The bigger fish I put back for you to catch.

Last time I was out, there were a lot of mullet, but most were very large. This time I found quite a few small schools of finger sized mullet along the way, and a few really big schools of good finger-sized. I never saw a single mullet flip like a fish was after it, and the fish I caught didn't seem to be hawking the bait. Mostly, they were in long "guts" that were just a few inches deeper than the surrounding water. They weren't exactly lethargic, but they weren't moving like spring/summer fish. I don't think I caught a single one on anything but a moderate, steady retrieve. Cast and reel medium. Any attempt to put any other action on a lure just spooked the fish.


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## pocjetty (Sep 12, 2014)

I'll answer a couple of questions I've received, for the group:


It was really just a generic bit of shoreline. More important than the exact location was the fact that I ran a good way specifically looking for some water with color to it. It wasn't muddy, by any means, but it wasn't the gin-clear stuff that was on most of the shoreline. And the fish were STILL incredibly spooky.

The Assassin was a 5" Die Dapper (paddle tail) on a 1/8 oz. weedless head.


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