Well, has it been hot enough out there for you
I was tempted to go Sunday night after the "googans" got off the bay
I checked the weather and it said that at 7pm it was still going to be 88* in the shade
So I put my trip off until this morning. It was still 80* at 6am when we met at the boat. I had lots of ice with plenty of water and soda's. I have been carrying a small towel, pre moistened and kept in my cooler to wear around my neck or wipe the sweat off my face.
I saw on TV, through the miracle of technology, the special material towel (or neck buff) that keeps you cool with the snap of the towel
I bought one from Lowes; after all, if it's good enough for Jimmy Johnson (#48 Nascar), it should sure as shooting work for me
Headed across the bay to LP Buoy and dropped 7 lines. Trolled for a while with only a couple shorts to show for our efforts. Tide should be rolling shortly, so I made my way up to another spot I had had success last week with Jeff. Sure enough, fish were there. Three times I circled the buoy and caught a keeper. First pass, only a 22. Second pass, a 34
Third pass, another 22. Then the bite died. Fish were on the screen, but no takers. I hate that
Same speed, same direction, same lures, same spread.
I made a big loop and tried going the opposite direction. No bites.
Now I may be attempting something stupid, because the hoses have produced some quality fish, but I am convinced that I would have done better with a few umbrella rigs with buck tails on a couple rods. Hoses have been catching bigger fish, but there is not much to attract a bite (not like umbrella rigs). I would go through a small school of fish and say "Watch your deep lines". We might pull a fish out of there, but not multiple hookups. I am going to swap out a couple hoses for umbrellas to see what happens. Maybe one side of the boat hoses, other umbrellas.
The blood on the decks was more from all the dead flies we swatted, than fish
Man, they were nasty today.
So we only ended up with 3 keepers, but the 34 made my buddies day (he's a sailboater).
Fish are spread out more each week. Lots of charters still pulling boards and taking a lot of fish from the area. The "herd" is getting thinned out I'm afraid.
Still fish to be had, but maybe you have to work harder for them.
5th