Tania and I went on our anniversary fishing trip on Friday morning. We reserved a boat at the Bradenton Freedom Boat Club. I was excited to go trout fishing, and Tania was happy to spend time with me. When we arrived at the club, I found out we had arrived at the wrong one; there are so many Freedom Boat Clubs in Florida. Fortunately, the club had a pontoon available, and they said we could fish on it, so I said we would take it so we didn’t have to spend the next 20 minutes driving to the other location.

Once on the boat, we pulled up to the fuel dock to get some shrimp for Tania, as I had planned on fishing with artificial bait all day. Once we picked up the bait, we headed to the flats near Holms Beach. Since I saw so much bait there the night before while Wade was fishing, I was sure we would catch something there.

We started drifting northwest near the Kingfish boat ramp. We put a shrimp under a cork popper, and then Tania started with a Slam Shady 2.0 on a #3 1/8oz owner twist lock. I was using the Optimus lime mulligan. It didn’t take long for the puffer fish to take the tail off my bait, but I continued to throw it. About halfway through our drift, we lost several baits on the cork popper, and I finally landed the first trout. It was only about 10 inches long, but it was the targeted species.

We did about three more drifts in this area, each time catching trout, but they were all small. We did have some excitement on the cork popper when there was a big blow-up on the popper, and then it went under, but whatever it was, it didn’t get hooked. I was using a circle hook on the cork popper. Since we had not hooked anything on it while drifting, I went to change out the hook to a J-hook, but I was traveling light. In the tackle bags I had brought, I forgot to add some J-hooks, so I ended up putting a 1/8oz weedless football jig on the end of the cork popper, and this paid off as we finally started to catch fish with the cork popper.

Until I changed the hook, Tania had not caught anything and was getting frustrated. However, once I changed the hook, she finally caught a fish; however, it was a catfish, and she was not happy. I was getting frustrated because I was really enjoying myself and catching fish, but honestly, I got more joy from watching Tania catch fish than from catching them myself.

After the third drift, I decided to move since all the trout we caught were between 10 and 14 inches, and I wanted to bring one home. We started fishing again when I saw a ton of bait around us. We spent the rest of the morning drifting north through the bait. We caught lots of fish, mostly pinfish, but I did land a 16-inch trout to bring home, and Tania landed a small 10-inch trout.

We returned to the dock at about noon, as I promised Tania we would only spend half the day fishing to explore Anna Maria Island more. All in all, we had a great morning fishing. We saw cormorants all around us eating well; we saw a five-foot bull shark, as well as catching a bunch of trout and numerous other fish. It was nice to successfully fish in an area I had never fished.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers. We hope your fishing adventures are safe, blessed, and full of tight lines and good times! Until next time, keep casting and chasing those dreams on the water.

The Treasure Coast Chapter of Salt Strong now hosts monthly meetings in Fort Pierce on the 4th Thursday of each month. These meetings offer a range of benefits to members, including a 20% discount on tackle, access to Smart Fishing spots, and insider information on local trends. Additionally, there will be monthly tournaments and guest speakers featured. If you’re interested in learning more about Salt Strong, click the links below to receive a FREE pack of Slam Shady or a 30-day test drive.