MAY TROUT

5-6-2011--Trout are everywhere. Some areas only hold small trout but many places are holding 2-4 pound trout. My last report showed a great day on trout for Monday. Tuesday I didn't have a charter but took a relative back to the same places we fished Monday but we started late and quit at noon which was exactly between the minor and and major feeding times. The bait, birds and dolphin were all gone and so were the fish. I found out later that other people caught redfish that morning but we only tried for trout with very little success. Wednesday, with three fishermen I moved to a different area and found lots of trout. We kept three limits and released several while wading with Norton sand ells. Thursday with four fishermen doing all catch and release the fishing was fantastic. At 7:50 AM I caught my 10th trout and all the others were doing about as well. One of our fishermen used top water lures and caught trout that averaged even larger in size. Another in our party tired of trout, moved back to the more shallow water and quickly caught three redfish. Today (Friday) I had a couple for half a day. We fished the same areas with shrimp and a popping cork but the trout weren't as plentiful and the average size was smaller. We caught lots of skip jacks and undersize trout and several keeper trout. I didn't count them but probably had about 10 keepers at the end of the half day charter. This whole week when we kept and cleaned fish I noticed that most stomachs were empty. Some had small bait fish such as perch, minnows and croaker but none had shrimp in them. Three of the local bait stands got their first croaker today. Hopefully, I will be able to get croaker for my next charter on Sunday. If not I may spend most of the day fishing for reds with menhaden.