I had a trip scheduled for Wednesday January 18th with a group from the Villages retirement community and I told them to meet me at the boat ramp on the Waccasassa river in Gulf Hammock, Fl. During the winter months the speckled trout and redfish run way up into the river seeking warmer water.
There is a great number of mullet in the river as well. Mullet are vegetarian and are usually caught with a cast net. When I arrived at the ramp my group was there waiting in their van and out of the rain. Yes, it was raining a pretty good drizzle. We thought for sure the rain would let up shortly and we could shove off and fish the river. We waited an hour and the rain never let up and even coming down a little harder. At that point I cancelled our trip and agreed we`d try again soon. Have you ever been fooled by the weatherman? After my group left I saw a young man drive up to the bank and get out of his truck with 2 fishing rods and a cooler and a bucket. A few minutes later he was casting his line out and tossing some kind of mush onto the waters surface. It was still raining. Not much wind and not cold either. I started walking over towards his spot on the bank and noticed his rod bending and fish thrashing in the water. Not just 1 fish, but 2 fish on his line. Mullet. He had a leader with 6 small hooks about a foot apart with a small float above them. Each hook had a small slice of plastic lure on it. A 6ft. leader.
I met Leroy Middleton there and watched him catch eight mullet before I was just too wet and soggy, and left him there to take the boat back to the house. Leroy was from Gainesville and is a tree cutter. Since it was raining that morning he couldn`t very well cut trees so he told the boss he had something else he had to do. Fishing. What else? I think his boss knew. Leroy is a master at snatching mullet with rod and reel. I could not detect with my eyes the slight vibration of his float as a mullet took the piece of lure hanging in the cloud of chicken feed he`d thrown out. Leroy could feel the little nibble and whipped his extra long rod up and back and reeled `em in. It was still raining. Current moving in stronger now.
I asked him if I could take his picture and he was glad to oblige. That`s Leroy with 2 fresh mullet on his 6ft. leader. He was still tossing and snatching as I drove away, in the rain. Friday the 20th the forecast is sunny and 65 degrees. We`ll see.... It`s a beautiful river full of fish, call me at 352-221-5463 and go to:
http://www.inshorefloridafishing.com.
thanks, Capt. Dan | 
