Redfish in the backwaters

The day was supposed to be a redfish scouting trip, but the strong west wind forced me to stay on the leeward side of the islands. I caught a nice slot redfish at low tide to start the day near Atsena Otie Key. After that, I found some shell bars where many groups of large black drum were schooled up in shallow water. I didn't have any bait, so I experimented with different rigging options for a Gulp! shrimp and found a setup that worked. After landing a pair of nice drum, I fished for trout and Spanish mackerel to end the day, putting a stud mackerel in the cooler for dinner. It was a fun day overall, despite the wind, with four of the major inshore species all caught on artificials: redfish, black drum, Spanish mackerel, and speckled trout!

After seeing Spanish mackerel feeding actively on the flats 2-5 miles offshore last week, my plan yesterday was to target them in the morning during the lower part of the tide. Later, with the stronger part of the incoming tide, we'd move over the grass beds and scattered potholes to target trout--or so I thought. Waves were forecasted to be less than a foot, after all. But after launching and making most of the drive to the end of the grass flats south of Snake Key, soaked with spray and getting tossed around in 1-1.5' waves, I decided to have us turn back around and get some relief from the wind and waves back on the north side of Snake Key. After getting the trolling motor down in about 3.5' of water, Adam hooked up with trout on three consecutive casts and the fast action proved to be the best remedy for the dark, windy, and wet conditions. We put four trout between 16" and 18" in the cooler before dolphins came close and slowed the trout bite. We were catching them all on 3" Zman Minnowz in the Pearl color on 3/16 and 1/4 oz jigheads. Having stashed a couple by-catch ladyfish in the cooler, I asked if Adam wanted to try fishing for redfish at some nearshore spots around Snake and Atsena Otie keys, but Adam said, "I think it's a trout day." So I stashed the trolling moto and made the drive to the flats and cuts northeast of Deadman's Key. Action was fast and furious on ladyfish and trout, but most of the speckled trout were undersize. We added a 16" sand trout to the cooler and landed some by-catch founder up to 12.5". All of a sudden, Adam's light action trout rod was pulled down hard and the 2500-class Shimano was screaming drag. I thought he'd accidentally snagged a big stingray or one of the manatees we'd seen on accident, but the shimmering slab of silver that flashed broadside through the leading edge of a wave removed all doubt--he'd hooked a tarpon! It made a lunging jump at line's end and threw the hook, giving us a show and giving away it's roughly 70-pound size. We called it a day with a hundred or so fish landed. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny Florida afternoon. All fish were caught on artificial lures, with the Yo-Zuri 3D Minnow hooking a ton of fish in water 3-4 feet. The ladyfish couldn't resist it and although sometimes a disappointing catch, I stashed a bunch away to use as one of the best cut baits possible for redfish.