Chug Bugs For Sea Trout

Fishing Chug Bugs for sea trout often works when everything else fails.

This evening after my doctor's appointment, my wife surprised me with a new member to our household.

 

 

I'm not sure if we're going to keep him yet, it depends how he gets along with Elmo, Garfield and our other critters.

Anyway, after getting over the shock of potentially having another mouth to feed, we decided to take Elmo and make a quick drive through the wildlife refuge.

I grabbed a few rods while Karen got some bait out of the freezer and we headed for Peacocks Pocket road.

The wind was blowing briskly and the temperature was 80 degrees as we entered the area.

Since it was quite late and we only had about an hour's worth of fishing available to us, Karen wanted to fish her "tree" to see if she could pick up a cruising redfish.

I didn't argue so I drove up to her sheltered "spot" and pulled off the roadway.

Reds in October especially in this area can be very productive using shrimp or cut bait.

As my wife settled herself to wait for a redfish, I took two rods with me and started blind casting the opposite bank of the marsh canal.

One of the rods was rigged with a white DOA shrimp and the other with a Chug Bug.

I took the DOA shrimp rig with me in case I spotted a cruising red in the canal but started casting with my Chug Bug.

This is my "go to" bait this time of year because I can cover a lot of water in a short period of time.

To make a long story short, I had four follow ups from sea trout, two hits and two fish landed in about an hours time.

The fish were just in at the slot but I returned both to the water to grow up and fight another day.

Casting into the wind and using a moderately fast jerky retrieve with the Chug Bug seemed to do the trick this afternoon.

I saw two reds cruising the canal but the DOA didn't seem to interest either fish.

As the sun was setting Karen was ready to head for the house.  She didn't get any hits and it started to get "chilly".

For Florida weather, 78 degrees is "chilly" I guess.

Anyway, the mosquitoes were getting to me and Elmo and I was tired from driving in from Georgia so I made one last cast before heading for home.

All the time we fished the refuge we saw only one other vehicle in the area and they were sight seers admiring the gators.

Hopefully, tomorrow after I mow the lawn and take care of some business we can get out and hook up to a redfish or two.

The "Hunt for Reds" in October registration tents were set up at Mosquito Lagoon Bait and Tackle this afternoon, so we can expect lots of anglers tomorrow.

Till next time, Tight Lines.