March 20---Shimano Snookin'

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So, as part of the "real job" we had to go out and take some pictures with the new Shimano Voltaeus fishing rod. We were looking for big snook, even though Mother Nature was telling us to stay home and let the winds die down. Unfortunately, we didn't have until June to wait, so it was off to the Sailfish Point flats with a live well full of beautiful pilchards, a couple Rapala X-Rap Subwalks and the Voltaeus rod and Shimano Symetre reel (borrowed from one of my other rods).

The winds were nasty the water was all choppy and very un-fishy like. We were even chumming with smaller live pilchards and weren't getting any pops or splashes from feeding fish. After stops at about 5 different spots on the flats, we finally got a little action. Then it was on.

The first snook (pictured above, please notice the lovely rod) came to the boat and started a quick feeding frenzy that included another snook and a few jacks. We were light tackle fishing so, the reels were zipping the entire time and fish were biting as soon as the baits were hitting the water.

The moral of this story is: Even when the weather looks like it wants to snow and the wind feels like it wants to rip out of your boat, fish can be found with just a little bit of patience.

The bait is here...whay aren't you?

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FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY! The pilchards moved into the river this past weekend and that means fishing time is here. I got out early Sunday (after a LATE Saturday night, thank you Melissa's birthday party) with Mike. We netted some beautiful baits and headed for the flats.

Because we're greedy, we fished for only big fish -- snook and trout -- which means we passed up all the spots where there were lots of fish, aiming instead for a trophy. It didn't take long for one to railroad a bait into the pilings of a dock and a few more swirl and pop our baits, only to miss them completely. Apparently the snook and trout are out of practice still.

Pressed for time because he had to get to the beach to meet his family and I had three people waiting on me for lunch, we finally ended the day with three decent-sized snook (one at the top of the 32-inch slot) and this trout, which weighed between 4 and 5 pounds.

With the weather warming all week long, the bait will continue to stack into the river and good things will continue to happen for the rest of the summer. That means many more pictures and a lot more posts here. So check back every week for more updates.