Welcome back yak fans. Thank goodness spring is about to begin. I’ve had more ups and downs fishing this winter than a roller coaster ride. But, having said that, I have to think back and realize that I’ve also had at least one day for the personal record book (that day with the 14 snook). Lately, the bite has been good though clearly cursed. What I’m rambling about is that with the super-clear water we’ve had lately, I’ve literally sat in the middle of 150+ reds in about 4 different schools swimming around me and couldn’t catch a cold! This, to say the least, is FRUSTRATING. There are several reasons for this as follows; a. they get spooky in clear shallow waters; b. if you can see them, they can see you; c. they keep shutting down due to all the fronts; and d. they just want to be a pain in the butt and drive me crazy. But, for every problem, there is a solution and the solution is dirt. Once you get back into the dirty, cloudy, dark waters, the bite is turned on . That means, back in the creek mouths and in the basins at the turns, incoming tides seem to be the best; but, both ends have been producing some nice fish. This pattern seems to be holding as my latest report (actually received as I sat working on this month’s tale) was from my buddy Lew who, while fishing in some of my favorite spots, proceeded to continually call with updates. By the time he got to 20 reds, I told him to quit calling me! By the end of the day, he caught 35 reds while I sat at a desk–there ain’t no justice. I’ll let him live, though, because a good fishing buddy is hard to break in. Later in the day, his frustration gave me a warm feeling of satisfaction–I mean, come on, he’s not supposed to catch fish when I’m not there, right? Moving on to the trout bite, as you will hear in the other reports, is turning on nicely. Your best bet is something under a cork or on a jig head. Gulp shrimp, gold bream little johns, and shrimp are bringing in upper and over slot fish. That’s it this month. Lew finally quit calling, and I’m going to load up my yak. Tomorrow is my turn. Lew has to work and I can’t wait to call him. ‘Til next time , Bruce
