Up Close and Shallow

We went out past North Key aproximately 2 miles and anchored up on the western edge of the North West channel, and real quick from the first cast, caught many ladyfish. They are great fun to catch, but not a fish I would prepare for dinner. Too many bones.

I had the Haire family of 6 from Gainesville aboard and each one caught at least 2 ladyfish. We stayed there a while hoping we`d see a mackerel or a few speckled trout, but it was lady after lady fish. With no fish in the cooler to fillet and take home for dinner we headed back inside and up close to the keys. In about 4 ft of water over spotty bottom, we put several keeper trout in the box.

There`s a picture of Steve Haire holding 1 of the speckled trout we ended up with. 2 mackerel came out of nowhere and ran off with Gena and Mary`s lines. They managed to reel in those underwater rockets close enough for me to net them, and then into the cooler they went.

My last story I wrote how we`d fished `out past the keys`. This story is how we caught all our fish up close and not far from the dock. This time of year, on the incoming tide, the fish in the outside waters, ride the current in and poke around the keys looking for food. You don`t have to ride far from the dock to catch a lot of good eating fish and have a great time doing it. We didn`t catch any redish this time out, but I saw Capt. Carl Robinson with 3 nice big reds.

Cobia are being caught on the flats as well these days. Cobia are real fighters and you need a big pole to go after them. A `keeper` size is 33in. minimum. Next time out I`ll concentrate on redfish and cobia a little more. Trout and mackerel are everywhere and easy to catch. Next time the tide is coming in and the winds are light I`ll be going out and fishing up close and inside shallow. Call me if you`d lke to go, 352-221-5463 and visit,

http://www.inshorefloridafishing.com
and check out the pictures, thanks, Capt. Dan