Tania and I both had Monday off for the holiday, so we did what we love doing together, we went fishing! We arrived at the dock about 6:30am, but we were fourth in line. It was a beautiful day and it looked like many folks had the same idea Tania and I had.

We got on the boat and were checked out about 7:00am and had wet lines by about 7:15am. It was an hour and half into outgoing tide; however, the current hadn’t changed yet, so we started drifting south near the waste treatment plant. I had a yellow 1/4oz pompano jig and Tania was using a new 10g jig we just bought at BassPro. Within 30 seconds of Tania dropping her line she was fighting something nice. I hadn’t even finished tipping my jig with shrimp when I was having to get the net.

The first fish in the boat was a 15-inch Sheepshead. I was pretty excited we had a targeted species in the boat so quickly. The rest of the first drift Tania caught about 10 short Mutton Snapper. I say short but they were between 12-14 inches, if they would have been Lane or Mangrove Snapper, we would have had a cooler full.

Almost as soon as we started our second drift, the current started to shift directions. The bite slowed down and I believe it was due to the current slowing down to change directions. Even though the bite slowed down we still caught fish, one being a 10-inch Pompano and I lost two rigs due to the Spanish Mackerel hanging around. After the second drift we moved over to the Smithsonian Dock.

Shortly after casting both Tania and I hooked up. We had a double header and both fish were black and white. Once again, I was excited; however, Tania caught a short Sheepshead, and I caught a short Black Drum. We fished here until we ran out of bait, during which time we caught roughly 15 short Snapper, three short Sheepshead, two short Black Drum, one short Black Grouper, one 11-inch Mangrove Snapper and one Mojarra.

We were out of bait, and it was only 9:00am so Tania suggested we drift again since her jig seemed to be better than shrimp. We did one drift heading north from Causeway Cover Marina with only a few bites. Well Tania was getting bites with her jig, the pompano jig was unproductive for me and I believe it was due to not having any shrimp to  tipping it with.

Tania suggested we go to the turn basin and try a drifting there. This was a good idea! Tania was catching fish as quickly as she could get the lure down. We ended up doing four drifts north from South Causeway Bridge to the barge at the north end of the turn basin. In that drift I caught a catfish and lost a ladyfish. Tania lost three large fish of those we saw one and it was a very large Spanish Mackerel. She landed a plethora of fish to include two Pompano, 10.5-inchs and 13-inches, an 11-inch Mangrove Snapper, a Pork Fish, a couple catfish, a Blue Runner, and a Jack Crevalle.

After our fourth drift we started to head back to the marina. It was only 11:00am, so we stopped at the rocks in the marina. While Tania was jigging up fish, I prepped the boat to return to the dock. After about 15 short Mutton Snapper, Tania’s arm got tired and was ready to head in.

We arrived back at the dock about 11:30am. It was great to have such a productive day after the luck we had over the past few weeks. We pray all who make it out this week have a safe and productive trip. May the Lord bless you all with tight lines and good times.