For the last week we’ve been experiencing a strong east wind in the morning upwards of 12 knots, which has made for difficult paddling conditions. Instead of letting the wind keep us off the water, I’ve altered my tactics and spent much of my time fishing the other side of Tampa Bay known as the “southshore” to stay lee of the early morning east winds.
Yesterday, June 3, I got George from Montana out on the South shore of Tampa Bay in the kayaks. We spent the first few hours of the morning going over how to “walk the dog” with a MirrOlure topwater. George enticed a few fish to strike his topwater but with no solid connections, but that’s okay, learning is part of the process and for those with patience, persistence will pay off! As the sun grew hire, I opted to tie on a subsurface plug called a MirrOlure MirrOdine. George was able to translate the techniques I had taught him for working a topwater to using the MirrOdine. It didn’t take long before George was hooking into snook, at first they were small. But eventually he was able to land his biggest snook ever at 26″!
After the tide slowed and the snook bite with it, we stopped on a sandy shoal for a quick break and lunch. We then began drifting deeper flats still throwing the MirrOdine where George was able to hook into several trout and ladyfish. Before long the heat became unbearable and it was time to head in.
By Spencer Goodwin