Whitebait Thick in the Hernando Beach Channel

Last time I was out I had a hard time finding bait. Mud minnows have been working great lately. But last week I could not find a single mud minnow. As luck would have it, I run in to another angler coming in from a camping trip on the channel island. Basically I wrote off fishing in the cuts due to the dredging. He reported that the whitebait was all around the channel and the snook are still there.

So I ran out through the channel and picked up about 200 nice whitebait with my little net. (The mud minnow net (it's in rough shape)). I made a couple of stops in the cuts while I waited for the tide to come up a bit. Lost a few baits to the pinfish and headed back to Centipede Bay.

With a 12mph NE wind the channel stays calm.

Most of the inshore waters are protected, but the wind still can cause problems. I typically fish in area that I need to cast towards the north-east so when we have NE winds these area can be changeling. That is why it is import to know areas that that can take advantage of the wind direction.

So we headed to an area on the north side of Centipede Bay, where I like to site fish. This area is very shallow and the redfish tend to spoke easily in shallow water. But with a good north-east wind at my back I can manage to anchor far enough away and still make the cast. It was not long before we caught the first fish.
This little redfish was about 19 inches, a little too small for me... Next summer, I'll come back and invite him to dinner...


The next fish was very interesting. I had a knot in my line and noticed it when I cast out a bait. One thing that really bugs me is to have the line knotted. So I reeled in about half the line to where the knot was. Leaving the bait swimming around about 20 ft from the boat, while I worked on getting the knot out. Now the one thing I learned the hard way, is that fish will strike at the most inopportune times. As I worked the knot out I heard a pop and looked over to the bait and there was this redfish chasing my bait. Just as the knot came out the line pulled tight and the hook set. This one was 22 inches just the right size for dinner...

The key to this trip was knowing how to use the wind to benefit the fishing trip. I could have easily added lead to the line and fished against the wind, but each trip should be planned to take advantage of the weather and tide.

Good Luck
Zippyjr

Tide : 2:38pm - 2.7ft late raising
Water Clarity : Very clear
Moon Phase: 94% off full
Temp: 83 F
Water Temp : 81 F
Wind: 12 mph NE
Bait: Whitebait
Results: 2 Redfish and 1 Ladyfish

Let the Dredging Begin

We needed to get some ghost shrimp for a our seahorse and the rule is I can't go out on the boat with out fishing. Since the low tide (-0.1L) was in the middle of the day, we really could not get back in to Centipede bay to fish for redfish. So we thought we may try to catch a snook or two in the Hernando Beach channel.

We picked up about 30 nice sized whitebait around marker 2A in the Bayport channel. Then we hit the Bayport Tri-pod for some live chum. The whitebait was very thick, one cast and I had more then I could use.

As we headed to the Hernando Beach Channel, we noticed a big crane on a barge at the end of the channel. My first thought was maybe we should head north and try around Pine Island. But, curiosity got the best of me and we headed towards the crane.
We approach at lunch time and asked a few question. The most important question was, when will the pumping will begin. I was told in about two weeks, they will start pumping the sand out of the Hernando Beach Channel. I'm certain this will drive the fish away from channel. After all, if someone came to your house and was going to vacuum for 8 hours a day, five days a week, I think I would leave too.

After a brief conversation we headed to the first cut and caught 4 trout (18-24 in), several jacks and a couple of short mangrove snappers. So it appears these fish really did not mind the crane ripping up the bottom 200 yards away.

We hit a few other cuts and caught more jacks, but this time we did not catch any blue fish. Perhaps they have continued their migration and left the area. We then hit a couple of grassy shallow areas to get some ghost shrimp and headed home.

Good Luck
Zippyjr

Tide : Incoming -0.01 12:07
Water Clarity : Clear
Moon Phase: 74% full
Temp: 92 F
Water Temp : 85 F
Wind: 10 mph W
Bait: Whitebait
Results: 4 Trout, jacks and 1 snapper.