It was a tournament weekend here (Babes on Bay), but I timed it perfectly, somehow. Didn't get to the dock until 6:45, sun was up, only 1 boat ahead of me to launch at Goose Island.
I headed straight to a patch of scratch I've been productive with the red fish before, only to find a trout bite, an aggressive one at that. I'd limited by 8:15, maybe 30-45 minutes in the water. I've fished this place 3 times now, and every time, my wade is interrupted by a gator. This time was different. I had the stringer on me, and the gator wanted me to scratch her belly, so she sauntered over, or swam slowly and forced me to go to plan B. I shuffled back to the boat, the gator kept stride. She parked less than 10 yards off the bow, rising and sinking, for 20 minutes, maybe more. The bite dried up (I was plugging from the bow now), but the solunar major said it was good for another 1.5 hours...
Orange & chrome skitter walk got it done.
Later in the day, I went to the other side of Blackjack, to another area favored by reds and gators. Saw no gators, but had something bumping my black+gold cordel broken back. Repeat strikes, all non-committal, all in the same spot. I switched rods and threw a chartreuse plastic rat tail, rigged weedless. Put that red in the box on ice w/ the trout.
Incoming tide, winds 15-20, off color water, partly cloud, all water was between thigh and waste deep, soft bottom & grass
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I headed straight to a patch of scratch I've been productive with the red fish before, only to find a trout bite, an aggressive one at that. I'd limited by 8:15, maybe 30-45 minutes in the water. I've fished this place 3 times now, and every time, my wade is interrupted by a gator. This time was different. I had the stringer on me, and the gator wanted me to scratch her belly, so she sauntered over, or swam slowly and forced me to go to plan B. I shuffled back to the boat, the gator kept stride. She parked less than 10 yards off the bow, rising and sinking, for 20 minutes, maybe more. The bite dried up (I was plugging from the bow now), but the solunar major said it was good for another 1.5 hours...
Orange & chrome skitter walk got it done.
Later in the day, I went to the other side of Blackjack, to another area favored by reds and gators. Saw no gators, but had something bumping my black+gold cordel broken back. Repeat strikes, all non-committal, all in the same spot. I switched rods and threw a chartreuse plastic rat tail, rigged weedless. Put that red in the box on ice w/ the trout.
Incoming tide, winds 15-20, off color water, partly cloud, all water was between thigh and waste deep, soft bottom & grass
