I've had some luck in the tidal creeks and mouth of the Bull River around Tybee Island and Wilmington. The grasses and oyster beds have some nice redfish and speckled trout. The flounder fishing is very good. I've gotten some nice sheepshead fishing docks. Sometimes I'll fish with thawed shrimp or cut mullet, but I've had a lot of luck with DOA shrimp under a Ragin' Cajun and Berkley swimbaits.

That’s one happy kiddo!

At $140.00, that lure better fetch me a beer, tie itself on the line, and catch a bass bigger than my boat.

Thanks for all the advice, gang. I caught a dozen or so speckled trout, 5 of them were keepers. Also landed a couple of decent redfish and a flounder. I also caught way too many ladyfish. I used a variety of live and artificial baits and had the most luck with Berkley Gulp jerk shad in firetiger and nuclear chicken.

I usually put in at the Burton Mill ramp. I've had luck picking up stripers along the riprap points using pearl white paddle tail swimbaits or craws on a flipping jig. I've caught multiple species fishing around docks using pumpkin seed flukes and rooster tails. I've landed the limit a few times on spots at the Holiday Marina seawall, but it's definitely boom/bust fishing there. I use either live baitfish or swimbaits that mimic whatever is in season when fishing for spotted bass.

Hey, y'all. I'll be fishing inshore at Alligator Point, FL for the next few days. I'm hoping to hit some speckled trout and redfish. Do you have any advice on jigs/lures/colors you've had success with in the forgotten coast area?

Thank you for sharing your poem. It put a smile on my face on a hectic day.

Thank you, Mr. Samples.

Good info, ilovesinclair. I know what I'm picking up before this weekend!

Louisiana, 1980

Just me and my Dad
Sitting in a jon boat
on the Pearl River
Where the sunrise makes the water
Sparkle like shards of glass

We are armed with cane poles
Rigged with bobber, sinker, and hook.
There's a cage of wriggling crickets
That we dip below the water's surface
Every now and again
to protect them from the heat

We putter downstream
And fish the grassy banks
Where the bass hide to spawn.
As the sun moves
Higher in the sky
We are driven out by fancy bass boats
With roaring engines
and rooster tail wakes
That make it hard
to hold our position

And so we go down a side-channel
Too narrow for prouder boats
We pitch our lines under brush
and against cypress knees
On the hunt for bluegill,
stumpknockers,
and sac au lait.


The sun dapples the water
Through the live oak boughs,
thick with Spanish moss,
that arch gracefully over the lazy current

Sometimes we talk
But mostly we sit in silent companionship
and fish
Just me and my Dad
In a flat-bottomed jon boat
Enjoying our time together
in the middle of Nowhere, Louisiana

Nicely done!

What a beauty! (The fish, not the angler )

Now that's a fish!

Thanks, mate.

I can't safely wade right now due to a recent knee replacement. Any recommendation on places with decent bank fishing for trout?