Tough Conditions Make Us Better Fishermen

The summer pattern has truly set in. Afternoon water temperatures have reached 90° on multiple occasions recently. If you’re not already aware, I have a love-hate relationship with summertime trout fishing as it is the most difficult time of year for me to stay on quality trout.

I often mention working deeper waters that lie adjacent to early morning and nighttime feeding areas. It stands to reason that once bay waters reach the upper-80s to 90s, speckled trout would start seeking cooler water temperatures for feeding as well as just staying alive. In extremely hot water, the effort to simply keep enough water moving through their gills would seem laborsome, so no surprise that they just lie low with everything in neutral as they wait out the heat.

As I write this month’s article, Tropical Storm Alberto is churning in the southern gulf and headed toward Mexico. Our weather experts are calling for a 3-to-4-foot storm surge and as much as 8 inches of rain. We definitely need the rain and the tides, whichever way they end up being. Rain and a good tidal flush is always welcome this time of year.

I look for shoreline coves or large pockets of water with heavy to broken grass bottoms that lie in close proximity to deeper water. Deep might only be 3- to 5-feet, depending where we are in the bay system. It is important to understand that in my experience trout will not stray too far from a stable food source and preferred bottom structure. It is just not cost effective to have to travel very far to feed.

The drop-offs that border such shallow coves and pockets typically have little to no bottom structure. Even the smallest amount of bottom grass or scattered shell can therefore concentrate numbers of trout in the area. The way I see it, the more eyes and mouths looking at the lure the better our odds of having one of them pick it up.

I preach constantly that we must be of the mindset that we can make them eat when they don’t really want or perhaps need to eat. I wholeheartedly believe I can make that happen if I can get the right lure in front of them. That “right lure” thing can be a problem at times, but over my years of guiding I have come up with a select group of lures that I feel provide anglers the best opportunity of getting bit under these circumstances. I’ll touch on this later.

Confidence coupled with patience rules the success equation this time of year. A single bite, one that might not even result in a hook-up, tells us plenty and reinforces one’s confidence. The bite tells us of the depth the fish are holding in and also their aggression level. It also identifies that invisible line that you hear experienced trout anglers talk about so often. All of this intel allows the angler to basically fine tune the cast and the presentation.

Just today around noon, we found water temperatures of 88° on a shallow flat. The wind was blowing from the southeast at about 15 mph. Due to the lower tide, the wind had created sandy to near-dirty water color in the 3- to 5-foot depths. We had a steady bite on some decent trout while slowly dusting a MirrOlure Lil John XL along the bottom. I had to explain to my group how I wanted them to line up and crab along the line along which we were receiving bites.

Any type of bite should stop you in your tracks. You want to make multiple casts to the area where the bite was received. I often find that the fish will be holding along a very specific line. Remember that if it’s the water depth that is holding them, those depths can vary along shoreline drop-offs, something we must be continuously be aware of. Many times depth changes can be noted by the color of the water. Darker green means deeper in most cases. Quality polarized glasses makes the job easier and Jay Ray and I are now wearing the new Water Land brand of sunglasses. The frames are light, and the lenses are ultra-clear, with both polycarbonate and glass lenses available. Believe me when I say you are handicapping yourself with cheap eyewear.

Once I establish a line that I believe in, I get my guys arranged at a slight angle to that line. The lead angler must concentrate and bend his cast a little more crosswind than the guys that are staggered behind him. Imagine the stagger sequence on a running track and the staggered positioning of the runners. I like my anglers in a similar set up. Depending on the distance of shoreline and the flat area available will determine the number of waders you can arrange properly in this situation. If the setup is not right, there will be someone that is not able to cast to the proper line. If you do it right, though, everyone is able to place their casts in the proper area, resulting in a more productive wade and the ability of the group to stay with the bite.

In a previous paragraph I used the term “dusting” when referring to the action that we were imparting to the lure. In the accompanying video I demonstrated this as best I could. Dusting is literally dusting, meaning that I am just barely tickling the bottom with my lure, adding a quick and sharp twitch occasionally. I add the sharp upward twitch to aid in making the lure react as it would if a predator was in pursuit. In my mind, I imagine that the trout is slowing following the lure, and then when I give it a sharp twitch, the trout perceives this as a reaction to her presence and she picks it up. This is a technique I use throughout the year and is put into play during non-feeding periods, especially with extreme hot and cold water temperatures.

Right now I am throwing mostly MirrOlure Lil John and Lil John XL plastics and the Texas Customs Double D lures. These two lures provide not only feeding strikes, but also reaction strikes during periods when the trout are not actively feeding. You don’t always have to catch them, just the fact that they react and show themselves by something as slight as just bumping the lure can be enough to get the ball rolling on finding out what they will eat.

Our water is clear more often than not, so I am staying with basic clear-water bait colors, which to me are Bone Diamond, Pistachio, Cajun Croaker, Opening Night, Watermelon Red Glitter, Golden Bream, and Clear Gold and Red Glitter. With the Double D, I still like Pearl Harbor, Plum Nasty, Truth, and Sea Grass in the cleaner waters. When we have stained or dirty water, I will go to soft plastic colors like June Bug, Purple Demon, Chicken, Morning Glory or Root Beer. White Pearl is also a good color in dirty water. I seldom throw anything but a 1/16 ounce jighead but in deeper water, where we need the lure to fall quicker, an 1/8 or even a 1/4 ounce jig works better. I remember my very first batch of screw-lock jigs made by Terry Oldham were 1/4 ounce on 3/0 hooks. Caught tons of fish on the plastics of the day with that set up. My Double D colors for the dirty stuff are Gringo, Black Copper Dog, Crown Royal, Double Bubble and Pearl Harbor.

I am seeing a slight increase in the quality of the trout I am catching. We are still a very long way from being back to where we were prior to the ’21 freeze, but I am seeing some decent numbers of what I call recruitment age trout. I try and not target these fish as I believe the mortality rate is higher on the smaller fish.

Dolphins remain a problem and dealing with them is frustrating. The best remedy is to just leave the area when they start showing signs of aggression. Aggression is not towards us but the trout or redfish you have on your line or stringer.

I had a dolphin follow me around the fingers of Carlos a few days ago while I was carrying a redfish on a stringer back to the boat for a client. She or he literally followed me from finger to finger. I’d walk across the finger and it would swim around the point and meet me on the other side. Brilliant they are, and I believe becoming a bit lazy. Zero answer to this growing problem so we just must learn to deal with it. A floating basket or bait-saver bag works in preventing them from eating your released fish, but remember that you can legally only have three trout 15- to 20-inches in your possession.

I can’t wait for cooler weather, and we are just now getting started with the hotter weather patterns. It seems it is hotter every year, but I know that it’s just my age showing and I cannot handle summer heat the way I once could. I am a believer that periods of tough catching ultimately make us better trout fishermen. When we are forced to the point where every cast must be a cast with purpose, and every twitch of the rod tip must produce the proper action on the lure, and we reach a level where we can repeat this action with each cast, we simply get better. Getting better produces more strikes, which in turn furthers our fishing education on the where, when, how, and why of fishing.

May Your Fishing Always Be Catching -Guide, Jay Watkins