INSHORE
The temperatures have been slowly rising this week and as the temperature rises the number of species we have been catching this week have been rising also. I was scheduled to fish the flats on Monday with father and son David and Ryan Hyte, but due to high winds we ended up fishing in and around the docks for redfish. Our tally was well over 20 redfish with most of the redfish caught by the elder Hyte. It just goes to show that a son is never too old to get a wiping from the old man. This was pretty much the story for the entire week inshore due to the high winds with (the lowest tally of 16 reds caught yesterday).   One of the fish caught  yesterday exemplified the cliché, "It's better to be lucky than to be good", while fishing with Rob and Brian. After fishing the inner costal waterway with Rob and Mike for close to an hour without so much as a nibble, I made the decision to make a long run to several docks I fish several weeks ago. It was well worth the run.   After fishing a couple of  docks, we found a dock loaded with 4 pound reds. Rob hooked the first fish, but choked and let the fish cut him off on a sharp oyster. Shortly after that, Brian kicked the skunk out of the boat with a nice 4 pound fish, and then proceeded to school Rob with two more fish in the 4 pound range. As it started to slow down a little, both guys ended up snagging the dock with Brian casting his Gulp shrimp over the dock. We easily removed Robs gulp, but Brian ended up having to step onto the dock, and in the process his gulp was lowered into the water. This was too much for the 7 pound redfish just below the bait. To say the Brian was surprised, "surprised" would have been an understatement. After about five minutes of horsing the fish from out under the dock, Brian landed the largest fish of the day. The finally tally for the day was that Rob probably caught more fish, but Brian ended up with the better fish story of "The big one that didn't get away".       

OFFSHORE
I ran two light tackle offshore trips this week. The usual delinquents were in attendance (Red Snapper, Amberjacks, Grouper, and Triggerfish),  but we added reel screaming Bonita to the lineup this week.  They showed up in large schools busting up on small minnows within easy casting range around the boat to the point that it made any thoughts fishing for bottom species impossible.  The fish were averaging 8 to 10 pounds, and on 15 pound test tackle they were easily running out 50 to 100 yards of line. They pulled even harder when resident bottle nose dolphins decided they wanted the Bonita for a snack.  I don't have much more to report about the off shore bite because with most folks in town for spring break and not want the hassle of lugging fish back home after electing for the fast action reel screaming fight of Bonita.

Tight lines, 
Captain Rob Cochran