WEDNESDAY’S SCOUTING REPORT

By: Capt. Chris Martin

While on a Wednesday scouting session, I dialed-in several areas that needed to be investigated, especially with the bull tides we’re seeing right now. The top water bite was more of the “slap, swing in a miss”, so it was necessary to work the other portions of the water column. Interior back lake drains with swollen tides gave up scores of trout while working 6-inch Gambler flapp’n shad chicken on a chain tipped with 1/8 oz. screw lock jig heads. While scouting sandy shorelines in other areas, I found shrimp jumping nervously out of the water 100-150 yards off the salt grass, which resulted in fast-paced trout action. Norton tequila gold sand eels rigged on a Norton screw lock worked best. The best lure action was away from the shoreline and was a slow, but steady, retrieve – it felt like a heavy weight on the lure, or a slow pull on the line. I hope this helps!

Date – Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Time of Day – 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm

Water Temperature – 84 degrees

Air Temperature – 88 degrees

Wind Direction – Southeast

Wind Speed – 10-15 mph

ES Custom Boats Mercury Marine

THE GUIDE REPORT

TUESDAY – Sept 4th

Capt. Stephen Boriskie – Today was day #2, but it was a shorter day for these gentlemen. They had just as much fun, however, catching today as they did yesterday. Before we called it a day, one of the guys hooked a Gar on a live shrimp on a croaker hook. Imagine that! Anyhow, it was an interesting ending to a couple of fun days on the water with good people. We’re really looking forward to the fall season and the fall fishing pattern – it can’t get here soon enough!

Capt. Jeremy McClelland – We have had some great fun the past few days with customers from age 6 to 60 – everyone’s been getting in on the action! The fish have been cooperating for the most part, with the most recent activity coming from the Redfish and the Black Drum. The trout are here, and in numbers, but many times we have to go through quite a few before we locate a slot fish. But that all seems to change from day to day, as well, because the other day some of our guests found numbers of nice size trout, even a couple of “Bigs”. Once this heat is broken for good, and the fall pattern sets in, we’ll be looking for greater numbers of larger trout. I can’t wait!

WEDNESDAY – Sept 5th

Capt. ‘Lil John Wyatt – I have been fishing with different groups the past few days, and the fishing action has been nothing but steady! If things continue at this pace, we’re in for a great month of fishing in September. We’re seeing Speckled Trout, Redfish, Flounder, and Black Drum almost daily. We continue to swap between croaker and live shrimp, but the results have almost turned out the same regardless of the bait. As they bay water starts cooling a little bit later this month, we’ll start fishing more over grass and mud. Fall is always a transition worth waiting for around here – the weather cools off, and the fishing heats up! Get ready!

HIGHER TIDES BRING FALL ACTION

Twice a year, at the September equinox and the spring equinox, the earth’s equator is aligned with the orbital plane of the earth around the sun. This is when we experience extremely high tidal ranges that generally peak in September, October, and sometimes even into the early part November, with the absolute highest tides occurring a day or two after the full or new moon nearest to the equinox. This is good news for us because favorable fishing conditions commonly exist around higher tides, specifically in coastal marshes, and especially following such extreme slack-tide conditions like those we’ve had here during the last part of the summer.

The trout, redfish, and flounder will suddenly all be able to go places that were previously unavailable to them. The trout, and particularly the redfish, will once again start looking for food on outgoing tides, tides that will dump an assortment of food out of the grassy areas and upon adjacent flats. When this happens, anglers need to be ready to take advantage of some of the hottest action of the year. Toss top water baits for trout during the first hours of light, but later switch to soft plastics, working them slightly above the bay floor. While wade fishing for the trout over grass, place your focus from the middle to the outside edges of the grass, as you’ll often find larger trout to be just on the outside edges where there’s sand.

The next few weeks will offer anglers who may be new to the sport of artificial fishing a fighting chance at boosting their confidence while fishing with lures. This time of the year is truly a magical time in the outdoors, a time that can certainly raise the bar for anglers of all levels wanting to improve their skills