Rainy Daze
- September 24, 2007
- 0 Comments
- By Story/Photos By Matt Badolato
This has been a wet week all across the state, especially here in central Florida. We had some monsoon like storms from that tropical wave that passed over us, not to mention the near epic waves we were honored with last wednesday night. Heavy inundations like we've had the past few days as well work wonders for the fishing in our part of the state.
When a big storm dumps its contents along our shores, all the water must run off to somewhere. Thanks to hydrodynamics, when it rains around the freshwater tributaries that flow into the Indian River, thousands of gallons of water are pushed through the creeks which flushes out a multitude of nutrients, baitfish, crabs, and other forage for a wide varitey of predators awaiting downstream. All of these tributaries such as Crane Creek, Eau Gallie River, Goat Creek, Turkey Creek, and the Sebastian River host a large population of resident snook, tarpon, monster jacks, and bull sharks-all of which come out to feast after a heavy rain.
Early mornings after a night-long rain are the perfect time to hit a creek and target tarpon and snook. The current will be running toward the river and the fish residing in the creek will be stationed at many ambush points inside the tributaries, waiting for unlucky prey to flow downstream past their lair. Some of the more notable ambush points and some good places to start a search for fish would be mangrove points, seawalls, docks, (deeper finger docks are the best) underneath sailboats and yachts, oyster bars, and bridge pilings.
When fishing around moored sailboats and yachts, remember that people usually live inside of them, so don't be smackin' lures and live mullet up against the side of their house early in the morning. You wouldn't want someone standing in the street in your neighboorhood and casting a pompano rig against your window while you're tryin to sleep in! Without a doubt sailboats hold fish; they provide shade, a feeding area for predators, and serve as giant algae wafers for hungry mullet. Try tossing a live mullet, plug, or weedless jerbait near the keel of the blow boats as big snook like that piece of structure and you're sure to get a heart-stopping strike.
If you have a trolling motor on your canoe, john boat, or flats skiff, try and fish every piece of structure you can after a heavy rain. Live mullet or menhadded(pogies) hooked through the lips, a diving plug such as a Yo-Zuri crystal minnow(or any other favorite), a weedless jerkbait such as a bass assassain, or a DOA shrimp or DOA Baitbuster are all good choices in the creeks. My personal favorite would be the DOA shrimp(in gold or glow) because fish absolutely love 'em, you can easily skip them under any low-hanging structure, and you don't have to worry about two or more treble hooks getting stuck on boat owners' ropes and rails.
Fishing on the grass flats is often productive after heavy rains. The falling rain oxygentates the water and stirs up shrimp and crabs, a dinner bell for trout, reds, and snook. After an afternoon thunderstorm the river is often slick calm till dusk, and fish will easily be seen thrashing through the schools of mullet making their way across the flats.
Well, try the brackish stuff if you've got the stuff and you'll catch some stuff.