CEDAR KEY PADDLING

Love is in the air! Can you see it? It looks like a fish, and hopefully it looks like Cedar Keys’ water is finally clearing up.  The Suwannee has been dumping so much rain water, it has our beautiful brackish waters looking all sunburnt and still brackish.  The bite has been tougher, but if you know where to go, you can still catch a nice limit of sea trout using a popper: two and a half to three feet of fluorocarbon, and a jig head.  On that jig head, hook a live shrimp, starting at the inside of the tail, stabbing it through the back side.  You are hooking the tail so when you pop the shrimp every five to ten seconds, it naturally pulls the shrimp backwards.  You can also use artificial plastics and get good results, but nothing works like old faithful live shrimp.  Don’t forget about those sheepshead.  They love a fiddler, and even better, an oyster, if you can keep it on your 2/0 j hook.  That bite is super soft, so lite tackle is a must, and hold on for a great fight when you hook up.  As you read this, I hope our waters are clearing back up to normal and warming up, so those of us who do not have an airboat, can go back to chasing tails.  Hope to see you at the shop or on the water, and as always, take a kid fishing!