Monday me and Jose, aka Zay on the forum, decided to head out and take advantage of some warm weather. We went out a little later in the morning with hopes that the fog would be gone. No dice.... Visibility when we first got out there was around a 100 feet. By time we made the turn at the Navy fuel docks, we decided to turn it around and hit a dock line for some Sheepshead instead. Good call too because by time we got to the range beacons, visibility dropped to about 15 feet. Thank god for GPS. We wasted an hour and before long, we could see the other side of the river. With the fog lifting, we went back towards the big rocks.
We started off hitting a couple different rock piles working shallow areas first to no avail. Couldn't buy a nibble. The water temp was sitting around 53 degrees. We tried some deeper rock piles and got pretty much the same results. Eventually, we went to "Plan B" and worked on some Porgy's. The Porgy's have all but vanished... We hit several of their usual haunts and thoroughly struck out yet again. I know we had a big moon phase the night before but dang, the sonar was marking very little and the fish were nowhere to be found.
Eventually, we decided to anchor up on one of my favorite deep water rock piles and set up the big rods for Black Drum and Bull Reds. The depth here was right at 80 feet and the spot often holds good fish year round. We set up a 5 rod spread consisting of Blue Crab, cut bait and Fresh dead Shrimp. I feel it's a good idea to start off with a bit of diversity in bait to figure out what the fish are dialed in on for the given day. After the first 40 minutes we were starting to get nervous with an impending skunk looming on the horizon. Next thing I know, my lightest rig gets slammed big time and we get a line tight for the first time all day. A bit of time passes and an over slot Red comes aboard. A few minutes pass and Zay reels one in too. We start getting hit by a mix of Sea Bass, Whiting and annoying Oyster Toads with an occasional decent sized Sea Bass or Black Drum mixed in. Zay brought in a heck of a nice Sea Bass that was right at 16 inches. Great fish for the Inlet. For whatever reason, the Blue Crabs and cut bait got zero takers. Every fish ate Shrimp. That's how it goes sometimes.
Well, eventually the fog started building back up and it wasn't long before we decided to pack it up and head in. Tough day but we managed to pull off a decent trip. The moral of the story, bring more than one game plan. Far as bait goes, when you're fishing the big rocks, it's better to have a little bit of everything than a whole bunch of one thing. You never know what the fish will be in the mood for.
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Danny Pardue