Many limits of trout and redfish have been in the last couple weeks around the Big Bend area of Florida. We're catching some really nice trout and slot reds and filling the cooler pretty fast on some trips. Some days we have to work more to get a limit, but some days we're getting a limit in just a few hours.
Plan your trip around the tides and winds and you should be successful this time of year. Fish the incoming and outgoing tides and take a break when the water isn't moving. A slight wind helps to keep the water and fish moving as well.
As far as live bait goes, we're using a balance of shrimp and pinfish currently. Shrimp start working much better when the weather cools, but we still like to have a few pinfish on the boat this time of year. The pinfish tend to stay on the hook a little better, but we're catching nice fish on both.
The artificial lure action has caught fire within the last month and we're also having good luck throwing suspending hard baits. We caught quite a few on the Unfair Slow Suspends several weeks ago, including a 30" red which was photographed and released. If you're not getting bites on artificial, try altering your retrieve. Sometimes a twitch and pause retrieve works well while other times ripping it through the water will get the attention of nearby fish.
In addition to the trout and reds, we've also noticed a significant amount of rock bass in the area over the last month. In the shallow flats we've been catching a bunch of small ones while trying to get our limit of trout and reds. These little ones are nothing more than "bait stealers," but we do occasionally get a keeper.
This fishing report is brought to you by Captain Jason Witherspoon of Spoon Fed Charters in Keaton Beach, Florida.