Last year by May 12 we had 11 days over 80 degrees. This year we have not had a day over 70 degrees. As a matter of fact, we are in the midst of the longest rain streak in history. It has now rained 15 days in a row.
Record Rain Streak. It was still drizzling at 6:30 when I decided to head out. I was dressed like it was mid Feb., complete with a wool cap.After a lot of trial and error, I have concluded that the ideal condition for the shoal is 2 hours after a low tide. So when I noticed that low tide was 5:30 I just knew that tonight would be different from the miserable results this week. I anchored at around 6:30 and immediately went to work with Popa. After 45 minutes or so, I decided to switch over to a white twisty to see if the fish were there. Sure enough, on my 2nd cast, I picked up a very nice 22 that actually took a good deal of drag. I proceeded to land several undersized fish. So the fish were there. Why are they not slamming Popa? As the magic 7:30 rolled around, I switched back to Popa. It did not take long to hear that sweet "thwack" of a big fish hitting a plug. The fish went straight down, so I did not get a good look at it, but knew it was big by the sound of my drag screaming. A week ago I was fighting a 150 pound Tarpon for a 1/2 hour at a time. Tonight the fight was maybe 5 minutes, but in Popa Dogg world, it was as good as it gets...A nice 26. She was still filled with eggs, so there was only time for a quick pic before releasing her to make some babies. .
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26 inch female on Popa |
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First glance of blue sky in weeks |