Hey dudes and dudettes. I’ve been night fishing and it’s been pretty amazing. The heat of the day dissipates and the fishing really turns on. Just plain old wide open fishing, non stop. Fish jumping in the boat, monster fish spooked in 8 inches of water, can’t stop catching ladyfish good. The tides have been ripping and when you get to the spots where there’s some flow, lookout. It’s pretty crazy, actually. You start out and the water is completely still. Paddle about a mile to a narrow spot in the intercoastal and…blam. Fish everywhere.
A quick note about dock lights. Dock lights here are tough to fish with lures. In my experience, these snook usually are fat and happy. A little glow in the dark piece of plastic is a hard sell. You’ll get some half hearted strikes but, really, the legend of just pulling snook after snook up from beneath the lights is just that, a fantasy. The reality is the little buggers are easy to spook and surrounded with perfect little shrimp to eat. Hucking and chumming white bait works, of course, but that’s really not very sporting. Chumming for snook is easy. If I ran a charter I'd do it all day long. Fat Jimmy Johnson from Newark needs to catch a fish... However, as a sportsman from Sarasota, I refrain.
I know the snook lights within a mile of my house well and, man, it’s hard work to pull a snook out. You basically get 1-3 chances to present your lures and then its pencils down, they’re on to you, move on.
Headed out at sunset… tide was medium, zipping out, heading to an extreme low @ midnight. Wind was out of the north/variable @ about 10 knots. I headed out and went straight to my spot where the tide moves the fastest. Hooked up right away and there was a ton of surface action. It was mostly ladyfish (I think) but I caught a potpourri of fishes and quickly rang up an inshore slam. The wind and the tide were balanced almost perfectly and I was able to just sit in the same spot without drifting or even changing position. I moved around from boil to boil catching fish everywhere.
Well. Lets get to it.
Hippy! Front and center! This picture is crazier than that time you were camping in Oregon and found that driftwood that looked like Jerry Garcia riding on a giraffe! Check it out.
This is a hot spot for snook. Don’t paddle under it, though. I predict the whole thing will be just below sea level in about 2 months. A couple weeks ago it didn’t look like this. It’s so decrepit that I don’t like to get close to it. You can watch it slump more and cave in more every day. I’ll start taking pictures of it and we can have a marina collapse pool. I’m predicting hurricane Helene, Sept 25 takes her out. Place your bets!
Redfish! Caught a bunch of these up to about 20 inches. They were hitting right on the surface, shouldering the ladyfish out of the way. It was hard to catch big fish because there were so many small, angry fish.
Terpo! On the davits! You’re for real. Don’t forget your friends. You’d never get this photo because it’s your boat. I love that hull style.
Wouldn't be a fishing report without a catfish...
Mangrove snappers were freaking everywhere too. I caught one that had to be about 3 inches long. I should’ve kept them because there were so many. Cleaning fish at 1:30 AM in the dark with mosquitos is just not worth it.
Hey hippy! The compost pile is doing fine and your ladybugs seem to be controlling the aphids. Now look at this freaking photo! I know. I know. The channel marker is manmade. But otherwise it’s nice, right? Play your pan flute to indicate “yes.”
Mirrolure. I like this little lure. It’s a suspending one and though I like the auditory gratification of night fishing with a topwater, this one really catches fish. Same lure was catching snook under dock lights. Solid.
Hippy shots are where you find them. This ladyfish was crawling with hippy mojo.
Snook on a glow shrimp under a docklight. Imagine, if you will, about 20 slot fish all stacked up and Lil’ Dummy here goes for the lure. The big ones are wayyyy beyond this. That’s how they got big.
This is an awesome snook light. It’s amazing, really. Some lights only have mullet. Some are empty. Some are always teeming with snook. This one makes sense to me but many seem to have no rhyme or reason.
Redfish under the lights. This lure had no tail to speak of and still was catching fish. The puppetmaster doesn’t need no stinkin’ tails.
The ladyfish were everywhere and pretty big. I love catching fish. People say they would fish all day and only want to catch one fish if it's a good one. I disagree. I love steady action. Call me crazy.
Caught a bunch of these too. This was a pretty typical one. Had a couple big ones shake off next to the boat. Trouts have soft mouths. You can’t horse them.
Fun night fishing but I’m ready for fall. That’s the best time to be a fisherman in SW Florida or anywhere (besides Antartcia). Gets cooler and all the fish have been getting big all summer. Bring it on.
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“When I found the skull in the woods, I called the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.”
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