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I had a banner day at Slower Lower today. I launched around 6:20 am to a low tide and by 8am I not only had a Slower Lower Slam (rockfish, red drum, speckled trout) but I had 6 different species in the boat. Water temperature barely reached 73°F all day.
I tried topwater at first light to no avail so I quickly switched to my new favorite fishing method - shallow water trolling. I trolled 3" Zman Minnowz in electric chicken and 3" Zman Slim Swimz in space guppy on 1/8 oz jigheads for the remainder of the day. I quickly figured out that the fish were keyed in on the edges of weed beds immediately adjacent to dropoffs where the depth went from 2-3 feet to 10+. The first fish on the day was this chunky 13" speck. The picture almost does it justice but this thing was fat. I could clearly see the outlines of baitfish in its stomach:
Not long after that I landed this chunky 17” red drum:
After many passes over this spot (and several fish in the boat) the bite kind of died off so I went in search of another weedy ledge and boy did I find one. There was about a 30-yard stretch of water where on every pass I made both of my rods would go down at the same time. The majority of these fish were 15-18” rockfish which put up a fun fight on my 6’0” light- and 6’6” medium-powered rods:
I spent the better part of an hour catching rockfish two at a time at this location. Among them was this nice 22” rockfish, this ended up being the biggest one of the day:
Speaking of great fights… just as my lures went over the edge, the drag on my 6’0” light rod started absolutely screaming. As I reached for the rod my other rod went down too. The first fish seemed bigger so I focused my attention there… after nearly 10 minutes of gaining a little line, losing twice as much line when the fish ran, and trying to keep forward momentum so as not to lose the 2nd fish, I landed this nice 22” red drum, my second largest ever. It had an iridescent blue tail and 5 spots on one side, 1 spot on the other:
Fighting this fish on a light-powered rod while my other rod was bouncing in the holder was so chaotic in the most fun way possible. Easily the highlight of the trip. I did land the 2nd fish too, it was an average-sized rockfish. I’m not sure if it was the chaotic fight or if the fish simply moved on but the bite completely ceased at this spot after landing that drum.
I found a third weedy dropoff and again, right on cue, both my rods went down at the same time. This spot was not quite as consistent as the previous one, but I did manage to land several rockfish and some pretty little speckled trout:
By now it was 1 pm and I had been trolling for nearly 7 hours and my knees were aching so I called it a day. And what a fun day it was. This could very well be my best fishing day of 2021 – it was certainly the most entertaining. I finished the day with 26 rockfish, 4 speckled trout, 3 red drum, 2 white perch, 1 lizardfish, and 1 spot.
I tried topwater at first light to no avail so I quickly switched to my new favorite fishing method - shallow water trolling. I trolled 3" Zman Minnowz in electric chicken and 3" Zman Slim Swimz in space guppy on 1/8 oz jigheads for the remainder of the day. I quickly figured out that the fish were keyed in on the edges of weed beds immediately adjacent to dropoffs where the depth went from 2-3 feet to 10+. The first fish on the day was this chunky 13" speck. The picture almost does it justice but this thing was fat. I could clearly see the outlines of baitfish in its stomach:
Not long after that I landed this chunky 17” red drum:
After many passes over this spot (and several fish in the boat) the bite kind of died off so I went in search of another weedy ledge and boy did I find one. There was about a 30-yard stretch of water where on every pass I made both of my rods would go down at the same time. The majority of these fish were 15-18” rockfish which put up a fun fight on my 6’0” light- and 6’6” medium-powered rods:
I spent the better part of an hour catching rockfish two at a time at this location. Among them was this nice 22” rockfish, this ended up being the biggest one of the day:
Speaking of great fights… just as my lures went over the edge, the drag on my 6’0” light rod started absolutely screaming. As I reached for the rod my other rod went down too. The first fish seemed bigger so I focused my attention there… after nearly 10 minutes of gaining a little line, losing twice as much line when the fish ran, and trying to keep forward momentum so as not to lose the 2nd fish, I landed this nice 22” red drum, my second largest ever. It had an iridescent blue tail and 5 spots on one side, 1 spot on the other:
Fighting this fish on a light-powered rod while my other rod was bouncing in the holder was so chaotic in the most fun way possible. Easily the highlight of the trip. I did land the 2nd fish too, it was an average-sized rockfish. I’m not sure if it was the chaotic fight or if the fish simply moved on but the bite completely ceased at this spot after landing that drum.
I found a third weedy dropoff and again, right on cue, both my rods went down at the same time. This spot was not quite as consistent as the previous one, but I did manage to land several rockfish and some pretty little speckled trout:
By now it was 1 pm and I had been trolling for nearly 7 hours and my knees were aching so I called it a day. And what a fun day it was. This could very well be my best fishing day of 2021 – it was certainly the most entertaining. I finished the day with 26 rockfish, 4 speckled trout, 3 red drum, 2 white perch, 1 lizardfish, and 1 spot.
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