A big question on all the Internet message boards lately is, “Where are the mid-range trout in the heat of summer?”
One of the indicators of either fishing too shallow or fishing in the wrong part of the bay for the season is catching mostly undersized trout. So, if you’re catching nothing but “dink” trout in August, then fish a deep structure with a current.
I don’t like catching dinks, so I’ll focus on upper-slot redfish and sight casting to the big shallow trout I see while I’m fishing for reds.
The summer heat finally forces redfish to go in search of food in the marsh and grass flats. Shrimp are now mostly gone, except large white shrimp, so while there are main-bay, open-water redfish chasing those fish-big shrimp, some reds will now begin to work over juvenile white shrimp and shad in the marsh and grass flats. They’ll also be eating mullet and crabs when the opportunity presents itself.
Redfish are simple. They use current to feed, and the faster you learn about where the niche is, the more consistent you’ll be catching redfish in shallow waters. Follow a current from a marsh cut to the bank of a marsh pond it’s flowing too, and you’ll find redfish. Also look for eddies behind the structure and where the current edge crosses structure, and that’s good as well. Big trout are similar in the summer in shallow areas. They are there for the big mullet and to eat little trout but are in small niche areas of their own.
Tobin created the TroutSupport.com weedless, snagless, long casting, walk the dog soft plastic for fishing shallow grass, shallow oysters, rocks, and mangrove where reds and snook live.