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Sunrise speck

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megalomaniac

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Oct 28, 2005
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Mississippi
What a beautiful morn! Took the skiff out front to the MS sound. Started off good with a couple specks and 1 red, but then just couldn't put a pattern together. Crazy high tide (2.5ft change from last night).

Ended up with 4 specks, 1 red, 1 flounder, and 1 huge fish (bull red or black drum?) that come off halfway to the boat.
 

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Iglow said:
Looks like we were out at the same time but 500 miles apart! (Cumberland river) That's awesome!!! I've got a bad itch to go try redfish with a fly rod.
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You may not want to do the fly rod reds. After years of frequent trout trips around middle TN and six straight years of heading out for a week or ten days in ID and MT, it all came to an end when I was introduced to saltwater fly fishing. TNdeer gave me a tarpon trip as a retirement gift, and the rest is history. Now, almost all of my extra time and money heads down to the Gulf to play with tarpon and redfish. Flats boats, and time in a guide's skiff, doesn't come cheaply. Thus, I continue to work at age 70 to deal with my addiction. As Mr. Brandt says, it is like shooting it into your veins!

Beware the saltwater fly trips unless you are a stronger man than me.
 
megalomaniac said:
What a beautiful morn! Took the skiff out front to the MS sound. Started off good with a couple specks and 1 red, but then just couldn't put a pattern together. Crazy high tide (2.5ft change from last night).

Ended up with 4 specks, 1 red, 1 flounder, and 1 huge fish (bull red or black drum?) that come off halfway to the boat.
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Wednesday or Thursday morning the tide was really high and we saw about a 5' long fish in the canal while we were walking along the beach. Wasn't a shark and the water was pretty dirty so couldn't really tell much about it.
 
scn said:
And, congrats to Mega! All of the hard work that went into refurbishing that skiff is certainly paying off!
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Ty! It's really working out well and running like a top! She will only do 23 mph loaded down with 2 people, but that's plenty fast enough for me, esp when going thru the twisty bayous. Getting about 10mpg. Anytime I run into 3 or 4 other boats, at least one compliments me on my boat. It's tiny, but a head turner! Had some .7f chop as the day wore on, and it's an unbelievably dry ride for being so low to the water.

I was targeting trout today, as the bayous I usually fish for reds were so flooded, I'm sure most of the reds were inaccessible deep in the marsh grass. I still can't figure out trout aside from the fall/ winter bite when they stack up in the holes back in the bayous.
 
I did some speck fishing with a guide at St Andrews bay/Back bay with spinning stuff and really liked it , really really liked it. I think if I had the time and money it would vault very high on my list. Is there any wade fishing in the panhandle?
 
Iglow said:
I did some speck fishing with a guide at St Andrews bay/Back bay with spinning stuff and really liked it , really really liked it. I think if I had the time and money it would vault very high on my list. Is there any wade fishing in the panhandle?
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I'm in MS, and there is some decent wade fishing right off the beach around Gulfport near structure from what I hear. Mostly very early AM and right at sunset.
 
Iglow said:
I did some speck fishing with a guide at St Andrews bay/Back bay with spinning stuff and really liked it , really really liked it. I think if I had the time and money it would vault very high on my list. Is there any wade fishing in the panhandle?
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Yes, there are a bunch of wading opportunities in the Panhandle!

You are going to find redfish, trout, pompano, jacks, and spanish macks in the surf virtually everywhere you go. The biggest obstacle in catching them (on the fly) is finding an isolated enough stretch where you can have a backcast without hooking a tourister. They have no concept of a fly rod. I can still see the 30" snook I had dead to rights at Sanibel except for the lady on her phone standing behind me. You can normally get some good fishing in if you go EARLY. In addition on the ocean side, you stand a chance at some big fish off of the jetties. Landing one with all of the rocks is a challenge, but with them being next to the channels you can add some king mackerel and huge jacks to the above list.

There are wading opportunities in all of the bays down there. You may have to scout for some firm bottom instead of sucking mud, but each bay should have some firm stretches. It isn't like LA where firm bottom is at a minimum.
 
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My best friend lives on coast in Big Bend of FL. Literally has a canal dredged from the Gulf to under his house. Boat stays in water year round. Always spend a week or two in spring down there catching specks & black fish (best eating fish in Gulf imo). Their red fishing is just so-so, but happen to have another friend that lives a few miles from Matagorda Bay in TX. Got a October trip down there this year to catch big bull reds in surf. Been several years since going, so looking forward to it. Of course I reciprocate with smallmouth trips below Wheeler & deer/turkey hunts for them.

Glad Mega has something to do now that turkey season is done 😂. Effort on skiff is paying off in spades!
 
scn said:
You may not want to do the fly rod reds. After years of frequent trout trips around middle TN and six straight years of heading out for a week or ten days in ID and MT, it all came to an end when I was introduced to saltwater fly fishing. TNdeer gave me a tarpon trip as a retirement gift, and the rest is history. Now, almost all of my extra time and money heads down to the Gulf to play with tarpon and redfish. Flats boats, and time in a guide's skiff, doesn't come cheaply. Thus, I continue to work at age 70 to deal with my addiction. As Mr. Brandt says, it is like shooting it into your veins!

Beware the saltwater fly trips unless you are a stronger man than me.
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There's definitely a lot of truth to this.
 
7mm08 said:
Don't do it!!!!

Just sold my home in TN to live on an island surrounded by them and trout. Flounder are a bonus.

Megalomaniac will start looking for a home soon if he keeps it up!

Broad River, SC
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I'm good where I live... only 75 miles from the coast and don't have to deal with hurricane homeowner insurance rates. Only takes me a little over 1.5h to pull the boat there. If I want to fish a whole weekend and stay down there, I can get an air bnb for $75.

What I'm really hoping for is a slick calm day so I can run the buoys hunting for tripletail!!!
 
tellico4x4 said:
My best friend lives on coast in Big Bend of FL. Literally has a canal dredged from the Gulf to under his house. Boat stays in water year round. Always spend a week or two in spring down there catching specks & black fish (best eating fish in Gulf imo). Their red fishing is just so-so, but happen to have another friend that lives a few miles from Matagorda Bay in TX. Got a October trip down there this year to catch big bull reds in surf. Been several years since going, so looking forward to it. Of course I reciprocate with smallmouth trips below Wheeler & deer/turkey hunts for them.

Glad Mega has something to do now that turkey season is done 😂. Effort on skiff is paying off in spades!
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What's a black fish? Tripletail?
 
megalomaniac said:
I'm good where I live... only 75 miles from the coast and don't have to deal with hurricane homeowner insurance rates. Only takes me a little over 1.5h to pull the boat there. If I want to fish a whole weekend and stay down there, I can get an air bnb for $75.

What I'm really hoping for is a slick calm day so I can run the buoys hunting for tripletail!!!
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Awesome!

Those spawn of satan hurricanes spawn tornadoes inland too…..
We are retired so going to give it a shot. We loose the home we take the check and move back to TN. We bought the beach house in 2019 so we have almost doubled our purchase price.

RIGHT now I'm a 2 min golf cart ride to the flats, 5 min ride to the boat ramp, or 5 min ride to a pier or the beach to fish.

Spots & specks are addictive!!
 
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