For weeks, a few of my friends and I were floating the idea of fishing near Cedar Key whenever we had the chance. However, the trip didn't leave the groupchat until Marcus started rallying the troops and I called a guide to check for availability. Soon, Jeremy and Chopp were ready to join us on what was sure to be an epic inshore fishing trip out of Suwannee, Florida, a small fishing town on Florida's Big Bend region. I had fished in a town near it, Steinhatchee, but not in a while. After waking up early to get set, it was nice to be back driving through old Florida to get to the town.
When we got there, we picked up some beer and water and met Captain Brent, who led us onto the boat. It was a beautiful center console boat, perfect for inshore fishing. It was rather cloudy, and the ride out to the spot in the morning reminded us that it was still winter in northwest Florida. That being said, the scenery was beautiful. It was one of the last days of duck hunting season, something I've never tried but knew from other hunters heading out that day. We saw flocks of duck fly across the creeks we were running through to get out to our first spot. Eventually, after about 15 minutes of riding, we made it deep into a creek that Brent had targeted for today.
Brent told us that today there were negatives tides; this meant that the tides were a little more extreme than usual. The cold weather and the low tides at the time meant that we would be best off casting and retrieving lures and shrimp over deeper potholes as we drifted through the creek. Brent made it clear that while he knew what to look for due to textbook signs, he also knew a lot of where the fish would be and at what spots due to experience. It helps to be out on the water with a seasoned guide.
The gameplan was to cast with the wind out into the creek, let the jighead hit the ground, and then slowly retrieve. However, we had to do our best to keep from getting stuck on rocks, which happened quote a bit. Sometimes in funny ways, like when Chopp was told explicitly not to reel by the captain at one point before he got stuck because he reeled in.
While we were casting and retrieving to no avail, I switched from lure to shrimp, taking a small live one and hooking it by the base of the tail up through its body. As I baited the hook, I said "if I was a fish, I'm not saying no to this." Sure enough, I soon felt a hit and set the hook after what felt like a few hits on my line. The fish took drag as I reeled it in. We saw the fish and brought in a solid 18 inch Speckled Seatrout, my personal best. I was really excited to have brought in such a big seatrout, and we were all pretty excited to finally have one on the board, and it opened up the beginning of a great day of catching.
It wasn't long after until Chopp got two Seatrout of his own. First a barely legal 15 incher, but the next one, on shrimp, was better sized. Now it was more than just me to catch, so we were onto something. But still, the bites came in waves. We weren't catching much more, except one time when I had a few missed hits in a row on one retrive until I hooked a Ladyfish and reeled it in by the boat. As Brent suspected, it probably followed the lure all the way to the boat. That's why you don't give up on your retrieves.
The next wave was marked more by misses than catches. I had my lure torn up by another Ladyfish or a small trout by the surface at one point, and all four of us around the boat were missing bites here and there. The frustration started to mount until Jeremy broke the ice with a solid keeper Trout. He then followed that up with a catch of our third species of the day, a Redfish. Always a fun fish to catch in these waters, we were all glad to have one on board, even though it was short. Marcus was then the only fisherman on the boat without a fish, but he soon finally ended that slump with a Redfish of his own that he caught on shrimp. This Redfish was unique because it had a noticeable mutation; while Redfish are known for its trademark spot, or "false eye," by its tail, Marcus' fish was of a relatively rare variety that had tons of spots near its tail. It was a cool looking fish to see on the boat. Both Redfish were caught by a pile of rocks in the creek, which made fishing for them both risky but also potentially rewarding.
Normally, when fishing the area, I had used popping corks over a shrimp or shrimp imitation lure. Brent said that historically those are bad in this area in the winter. Again, good to know from someone with experience on the water. He also said that fishing was generally much better in the springtime around March. Before we left the spot, Brent suggested we try trolling for trout before trying another spot for Redfish. The four of us were buzzed and satisfied at this point, looking forward to the change of technique to see if we could get anything new. Jeremy and I manned the back of the boat, holding rods with lures equipped with diving noses while Brent drove the boat forward. This was one of my first times trolling inshore. At one point, when casting my lure out to begin trolling, my lure got hit but unfortunately did not result in a hookset. Later, as we were trolling, Jeremy thought he was hung up on the rocks and gave his rod to Brent to check out. Brent, however, reeled in the line thinking he would get it unstuck, only to see a Redfish at the end of the line.
We kept on trolling, missing a few hits when driving slowly forward, but without much more success. We decided to head over to a spot Brent knew to hold Redfish on our way in. We got our rods set and casted out towards a rock pile in the middle of the channel; the way Brent made it seem, we were inevitably bound to get stuck at some point. But it was worth the chance to catch a nice Red. Waiting for our lines to get bit, the five of us were hanging out, telling stories, and enjoying our time on the water. Brent was a great guide, and a fun guy with whom to be on the water. He also knew what he was talking about when it came to fishing. A fish hit my rod relatively hard, and I set the hook. Excitedly, I reeled in the fish which put up a nice fight. I got it to the boat and we landed it, a keeper Redfish of 20-21 inches. Despite getting stuck a lot at this spot, we were all glad to end the day with a keeper Red to end the day.
Brent cleaned our catch for us and we parted ways, having spent an incredible morning on the water. We took our abundance of fish to one of the only restaurants in Suwannee, overlooking the estuaries we had just fished. They cooked our catches the way we asked - the Redfish and half the trout blackened, and half the trout fried. We prepared for a feast, and sure enough, we got one. The fresh fish was delicious, especially the blackened fish, and we went home happy and satisfied from a great day of inshore fishing.
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