ROCKPORT

Reported by CAPT. JARED McCULLOCH

 

Like Hanging Out with an Old Friend

 

 

IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE to get out and wet a line until now, I don’t know your pain, but help is on the way. It’s late spring / early summer and it feels just like hanging out with an old friend. All the spots you remember as being good are almost guaranteed to be good. We have to wake up early to make sure the bait stand has enough croaker and shad but it’s always worth it somehow. Keep an eye out for mixed shell on bottom or old structure for trout to push their stomachs on. Even hard sand can hold some healthy trout, push up tight and find some reds nearby as well. Don’t overlook keeping a fast-sinking cast net in the boat. If you run by a fresh group of shad, turn around and get some fresh shad. If you have more of a round livewell try to keep a couple alive to use. A live shad could reignite a dead bite. 

There are always windy days down here and this stretch is no different. Don’t be afraid to get in the middle of the flats and pothole some gorgeous trout. You’ll be glad you didn’t take the rough ride across and still have plenty of success. By June, as the trout bite heats up, it always feels like the redfish start to disappear. They technically are those white igloos who have a way with them! Push off the islands and work the next set of potholes out, or further out, finding deeper structure that people haven’t been on, can hold a nice bounty of reds seeking refuge from the props. 

For the wading crew, I rarely ever see it anymore, but the Fulton shoreline should be looked at from google maps. It feels too simple but all the grass, old shell, old rocks, old piers, and hard sand; a fish would have to be against something there! I like tans with silver or gold specks, DSL lures so even when there is a bunch of smaller trout you have to work through, you still have a lure on your hook. 

Good luck out there and slow the boat down, no telling how many times just cruising barely on plain has something caught my eye, from shad being chased, to mullet flipping, to mud boils, dolphins pushing in groups, color changes in water, a little eddy. It could be your next honey hole!

 

 

 

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