# Slow weekend



## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

With the low tides, west winds, high pressure, and high temperatures, I knew the fishing was gonna be slow, but I had to try.
I tried to go gigging Friday night, but the low tides had everything messed up. The bait was so thick I could only see about 6" with my light. I did come across a soft shell crab and that made the trip worth it. I baked it with my redfish and shrimp for dinner and it was great.
Saturday we tried to surf fish, but never even got a bite. Ended up drinking beer all day and going to bed early.
Tried the surf again on Sunday and only caught a hardhead. Went home and took a nap, then went to another spot in the afternoon.
I was determined to catch something, anything, so I started fishing dead shrimp on bottom. Right away I started catching mangrove snapper one after another. It's amazing how something so small can fight so hard. I must have caught 2 dozen before I ran out of shrimp.
When it got dark the trout started popping, so I tied on a Trout Support lure in PlumTreuse and went to work. I was getting hits almost ever cast, but just couldn't hook up. I dug through my tackle box and found a little trebble hook and stuck it on the swim bait hook as a trailer, that was the ticket. I landed about a dozen nice trout and lost twice as many, but it was fun. The trout only hung around for a couple hours, then they just shut down.
I released everything because I just don't have any room left in the freezer, I hate having that problem.


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## SaltwaterSlick (Jun 11, 2012)

Man, you're one fish-catching son of a gun!! Those little mangroves sure are good fried up whole!! 
Great report as usual. Thanks for taking the time to report!


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## WishIcudFish4Livin (Jul 15, 2017)

I kayaked this past weekend Greens Lake during the day and Tiki at night. Couldn’t catch anything at Greens, except a lone flatty at a pinch point during moving tide, although bait was everywhere. 
I’m new to kayaking and night fishing the underwater lights. But I like Sharkcum’s idea of tying a treble hook to TSL. (Sharkcum, can u show or explain how u rigged it?). I think this would be very helpful by increasing the ability to grab those trout that are striking the lure, to taste it or hog it from other trout nearby, but not eating. I saw this ball hogging activity all night long. And when one would do it, the entire group of trout would move off the light for 5-10 mins. Maybe trout always do this...I don’t know. While I managed 4 keepers over the entire night, I must have missed dozens more due to the tasting, not eating fish. I was using a chicken or the sea color 4” paddle tail on a 1/8” chatruess jighead. I think a weightless bone colored TSL would do a better job imitating those little silver minnows scooting along just underneath the surface that the trout would suck up in large gulps. With my rig, those trout were just slapping at it, using their mouths like baseball bats beating up a foreign intruder.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

WishIcudFish4Livin said:


> I kayaked this past weekend Greens Lake during the day and Tiki at night. Couldnâ€™t catch anything at Greens, except a lone flatty at a pinch point during moving tide, although bait was everywhere.
> Iâ€™m new to kayaking and night fishing the underwater lights. But I like Sharkcumâ€™s idea of tying a treble hook to TSL. (Sharkcum, can u show or explain how u rigged it?). I think this would be very helpful by increasing the ability to grab those trout that are striking the lure, to taste it or hog it from other trout nearby, but not eating. I saw this ball hogging activity all night long. And when one would do it, the entire group of trout would move off the light for 5-10 mins. Maybe trout always do this...I donâ€™t know. While I managed 4 keepers over the entire night, I must have missed dozens more due to the tasting, not eating fish. I was using a chicken or the sea color 4â€ paddle tail on a 1/8â€ chatruess jighead. I think a weightless bone colored TSL would do a better job imitating those little silver minnows scooting along just underneath the surface that the trout would suck up in large gulps. With my rig, those trout were just slapping at it, using their mouths like baseball bats beating up a foreign intruder.


 It's very simple, I just put the point of the Trokar through to eye of the trebble hook, no tying involved. There's nothing really holding the trebble hook on, but it never came off.


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## WillieT (Aug 25, 2010)

Great report as always. It does make me feel a little better knowing that you really are human and donâ€™t catch them EVERY time , although I know that doesnâ€™t happen often.


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## DA REEL DADDY (Jun 7, 2005)

I can eat me some mangrove snapper. Thanks for the report.


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## c hook (Jul 6, 2016)

*lmao*



WillieT said:


> Great report as always. It does make me feel a little better knowing that you really are human and donâ€™t catch them EVERY time , although I know that doesnâ€™t happen often.


if he doesn't catch he doesn't eat, it's a rule he made for himself. going without food isn't an option for him. :biggrin:


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## WishIcudFish4Livin (Jul 15, 2017)

sharkchum said:


> WishIcudFish4Livin said:
> 
> 
> > I kayaked this past weekend Greens Lake during the day and Tiki at night. Couldn't catch anything at Greens, except a lone flatty at a pinch point during moving tide, although bait was everywhere.
> ...


Thanks for the picsI'll give this setup a try.


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## jeffreythegiraffe (Feb 9, 2016)

Great report and nice pictures! Made my mouth water with the softshell crab picture! What kind of sauce is on top? lol Did you already read Tobin's note about fishing weedless in saltwater which is at the bottom of the TS lure page? I found it pretty interesting. It looks like you came up with a brilliant way to increase the hookup ratio using that treble hook setup.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

jeffreythegiraffe said:


> Great report and nice pictures! Made my mouth water with the softshell crab picture! What kind of sauce is on top? lol Did you already read Tobin's note about fishing weedless in saltwater which is at the bottom of the TS lure page? I found it pretty interesting. It looks like you came up with a brilliant way to increase the hookup ratio using that treble hook setup.


 It's basically a alfredo sauce with a seafood kick.

Melt 1 stick of real butter in sauce pan.
Add 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and stir until cheese starts to melt.
Add 1/2 heavy whipping cream and stir until blended well.
Add parsley flakes or chopped fresh parsley, Tony's, Old Bay, and Seafood Magic. Basically season it to your taste.
If you have some small shrimp, crawfish tails, or crab meat, you can add it to the sauce to, but it's not necessary. 
It goes great with any baked, broiled, or grilled seafood.


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## Captain Dave (Jul 19, 2006)

WTG John.. Dang Mangrove are excellent table fare.. 

You can call that dish a Cardiac-Grove.. lol Bet it tasted awesome..


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## gotmuddy (Dec 19, 2013)

shoulda zoomed a little closer, pretty sure I know right where that is! lol maybe I can check it out next month when I come down.


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

SharkChum is a great fisherman and I'm stoked he's giving my bait a shot. I do like the treble stinger for clean water. Nice work. I like it. 
From the pics looks like the Trokar is pushed a little too far flat with the plastic.. should look like this... and just barely ***** the plastic over the point, or if in clean water with no grass, sometimes I won't do that, I'll just leave the point exposed. With some practice with it, shouldn't take ya'll too long and you'll be in the upper 80% to low 90% hook up ratio.


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## sharkchum (Feb 10, 2012)

troutsupport said:


> SharkChum is a great fisherman and I'm stoked he's giving my bait a shot. I do like the treble stinger for clean water. Nice work. I like it.
> From the pics looks like the Trokar is pushed a little too far flat with the plastic.. should look like this... and just barely ***** the plastic over the point, or if in clean water with no grass, sometimes I won't do that, I'll just leave the point exposed. With some practice with it, shouldn't take ya'll too long and you'll be in the upper 80% to low 90% hook up ratio.


 I don't think the problem is with the bait,or how I'm rigging it, I think the problem is with the fish. The fish haven't been hitting aggressively where I've been fishing, they just hit out of anger, a reaction strike. Most of the fish I hooked Sunday were hooked in the head and the body, not the mouth. I had one come up to the lure and try to hump it, it didn't even try to eat it. I went this morning and had over 20 hits and zero hookups. I switched to a rip-n-slash and got about 10 more hits and finally snagged one in the back. This tells me the trout aren't trying to eat my lure, they are just attacking it out of aggression. 
I see this happen a lot in areas with to much bait, and the places I've been fishing have been loaded with millions of shad, finger mullet, and glass minnows. There is so much bait, that all a fish has to do is open it's mouth and swim, and get all the food they want. Trout are gluttons, they will eat till they puke, then eat some more, but when they get full, they don't seem to hit lures as aggressively, which results in fewer hook up. I know a lot of people think if you find the bait, you find the fish, which is usually true, but it doesn't always mean your gonna catch the fish. Just like hookers and blow, to much of a good thing isn't always good, ask MarkU.
On top of that, last week was high pressure and this week is the full moon, both of which have a effect on their feeding behavior. 
I think by next week I'll be giving them whiplash.


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## jeffreythegiraffe (Feb 9, 2016)

Thanks for the pointer on how to rig the Trout support lures Tobin. I just got some in and plan to give them a go tomorrow morning in the surf. It's fish Friday for me tomorrow since I work a 9/80 schedule.  Any tips on how to work them?


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

sharkchum said:


> I don't think the problem is with the bait,or how I'm rigging it, I think the problem is with the fish. The fish haven't been hitting aggressively where I've been fishing, they just hit out of anger, a reaction strike. Most of the fish I hooked Sunday were hooked in the head and the body, not the mouth. I had one come up to the lure and try to hump it, it didn't even try to eat it. I went this morning and had over 20 hits and zero hookups. I switched to a rip-n-slash and got about 10 more hits and finally snagged one in the back. This tells me the trout aren't trying to eat my lure, they are just attacking it out of aggression.
> I see this happen a lot in areas with to much bait, and the places I've been fishing have been loaded with millions of shad, finger mullet, and glass minnows. There is so much bait, that all a fish has to do is open it's mouth and swim, and get all the food they want. Trout are gluttons, they will eat till they puke, then eat some more, but when they get full, they don't seem to hit lures as aggressively, which results in fewer hook up. I know a lot of people think if you find the bait, you find the fish, which is usually true, but it doesn't always mean your gonna catch the fish. Just like hookers and blow, to much of a good thing isn't always good, ask MarkU.
> On top of that, last week was high pressure and this week is the full moon, both of which have a effect on their feeding behavior.
> I think by next week I'll be giving them whiplash.


Yeah, spot on about how they hit when there is all that bait... they just sort of play with any lure and don't suck it into their mouths. If you had 10 fish slap at a treble hook lure and only got a hook in one that really shows the fish were certainly off. Good info.


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## troutsupport (May 22, 2006)

jeffreythegiraffe said:


> Thanks for the pointer on how to rig the Trout support lures Tobin. I just got some in and plan to give them a go tomorrow morning in the surf. ...Any tips on how to work them?


Sorry for the late response, ... you're probably out in the surf right now.

No wrong way to work them. I think the easiest is just like fishing a bass worm. Cast out, let it sink (or not) and give it that slow arcing pull sweeping the rod up slowly, finishing with a couple twitches. Then a pause and repeat. Or walk it right under the surface. Finally, you can just slow real it. They think its a mullet trying to just sneak passed them. Usually when I sight cast it, I cast 5 feet past the fish and just slow reel it into their bite window.

For those that fish FatBoys and Devils I work the bait a lot like i do when I use FatBoys and Devils.. You can slow way down or you can walk it super erratic, but really don't have to. I've had several reds chase it for 20' after a cross wind took the bow in the line and ripped the lure across their heads, the profile was close enough to a mullet that it looked like a fleeing darting mullet and they went right after the bait skipping on the surface until it finally dropped into the water and then they ate it. I wish I had that on video LOL.


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