Cedar Key Fishing - St. Paddy`s Day

The forecast was for sunny skies and light winds and mid-70s`. I thought finally the spring season is here. It sure didn`t feel like it Sunday March 17th. The wind never blew below 8-10 mph and the sun peeked out only a few times during our 4 hour trip out fishing the `flats` for speckled trout. The temperature stayed in the high 60s`. The all important water temp was 62 and 63 degrees F.

Low tide that morning was at 11:30am. We shoved off the dock at 11am. By the time we were fishing the tide was in between goin` and coming. It started out slow with a few small bait fish. Then someone caught a catfish. Then the 1st trout came over the side. I had changed our location once already. It started about 1 hour into our trip. That is, the speckled trout were biting real good. For almost 3 hours it was real quick action. 1 trout after another, sometimes 2 at a time. They weren`t all `keepers`, minimum 15 inches, but each one was almost big enough. We ended up with 9 trout in the cooler for the 4 men to take home to their home in central Florida. A nice community by the name of `Stonecrest`. I measured at least a dozen that were a quarter inch shy of 15in. I`m sure we caught 30/35 trout at only 2 stops. I was real busy netting and measuring fish and filling the bait trays.

I heard Tom call out, "how we doin` on time, captain"? I looked at my watch and we were 30 minutes past our quittin` time. I love it when we get real busy. I had 1 more spot to investigate on the way back in. A redfish spot up against a long oyster bar, so we anchored up and headed that way. The wind was still up and the water a little choppy but we tossed some large shrimp I`d saved just for reds out next to the bar and waited. We waited 10 minutes with no bites and if the reds are there it should take no more than 5 minutes to get hooked up to one of those beautiful rusty sundown colored fish.

We headed back in and at the dock I filleted 9 big plump speckled trout and slipped the fillets into a ziplock bag with ice and into the guys cooler. I caught 1 too and prepared it for the evenings dinner. Folks, the trout are back. It`s just gonna get better as the weather warms and the water temp creeps back up to the 70s`. Then we`ll have lots of redfish and mackerel and speckled trout all around the mangrove islands of Cedar Key Florida. I`m looking forward to a great spring season. Call me if you`d like to float over the shallow grassy areas and angle for a few special fish for your dinner. It`s always an adventure. thanks, Capt. Dan 352-221-5463

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