Last evening I was standing about waist deep in the waters leaving the Gulf County canal on the Highland View side of the bridge. I had the whole place to myself, a rarity, under normal circumstances. The wind was favorable, and the tide was just right. I could see walls of bait pods approaching from the opposite shore. On a surface level, conditions were ideal for hanging a nice fish. After 45 minutes I had nothing but a few foul hooked pinfish and some runt size ladyfish. In my peripheral vision I took notice of a gentleman with his dog in a gas-powered cart driving down the small stretch of beach. He came to a halt and took a swig from the silver beer can sitting in the cupholder. He let his dog out of the cart to relieve himself right there on the beach, called the dog back, and rolled away. Amid this red tide we’re experiencing, I couldn’t help but think to myself that this was the perfect metaphorical imagery of our current fishing situation.... trashy.
Let’s look at the current numbers of positive red tide samples (seen above left). It appears that the lower numbers shown last week have increased, especially towards the back of Saint Joseph Bay. This is certainly not what we were hoping for. Furthermore, after speaking with a number of guides this last week, they have indicated that it is tough to get good fish out there and are taking their clients to areas in the Indian Pass area that have not been afflicted by the red tide. Over my two days off I fished four separate times in peak tides where feeding activity should have been at its highest. Every time I went, the fishing seemed to be lackluster; there were plenty of pinfish and small jacks attacking the bait, but very few target species such as trout, redfish, and flounder.
While inshore fishing is challenging now, the offshore bite is on. I received some great photos from brothers Herbie, Kerbie and Wes Buell, along with their friend Chad Selman. They just took their new boat on its maiden voyage and loaded up with monster AJs, Red Snapper, Gags and Red Grouper. These fish were all successfully released after being photographed, and you can see some of them (above middle, above right). That’s how a maiden voyage should go. A catch like that can almost ease your mind about the price you paid for a boat and the bottomless pit that comes along with it to throw more money into. These guys caught these monsters on public numbers. I have to say congratulations to them; that was a great catch!
To all you inshore anglers, I know things seem bleak at the moment, but we have to keep our chin up. It’s not like, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” We don’t fish because we hope to catch this or hope to catch that; we fish simply because we have to. I will be out there at any given chance; that you can count on. We’ll keep an eye on the numbers and ride this thing through. When things finally do pick up, you’ll be the first to know. As always, I hope to see you out there.
-Jeremiah Beasley