For the last couple of days I have been wading south from Cypress Point instead of my normal northern tendency. I also went and visited Capt. Mike Cole at Tampa Fishing Outfitters to get his advice on picking out a couple different and new topwater plugs. It was well worth it. Yesterday (Wednesday), I started the day with a new southern heading, and was immediately rewarded with a few nice trout. Throwing a bone colored Rapala Skitterwalk, I was making progress toward my destination, the mangrove/beach shoreline along the north eastern Howard Franklin Causeway, along the way i managed to land 11 trout in just under an hour with one of them being about 26 inches and probably 7lbs, (the biggest and fattest trout I have ever caught). Upon arriving within casting distance to the shoreline of choice, I observed a gentleman throwing a jug of some sort who I witnessed landing a few nice large fish, snook I would guess, I tried to talk with him, however, he was not in the talking or "Hello-ing" type of mood, I guess. Never the less, I was excited and optimistic. Being in a fresh area with so much potential and a heralded history of nice snook, had me on high alert. I tried to be as polite as possible and headed the other direction to make my own attempt at landing a nice fish.

Ok, I will get to it. So I walked all the way to the eastern most edge of the beach. With the wind at my back, I started my dissection of the shoreline. Within minutes I had action, a few missed blowups, that got my adrenaline going. Then one was buttoned on good. I landed the nice fish which measured in at around 26 inches. It hit so hard that it left a very distinct mouth-shaped battle scar on the Skitterwalk.

Thursday, my 27th Birthday, I went out with the same plan and the same weapon. Starting the day with a nice 18 inch trout, i was on the right track. A few minutes later, I realized I had a little bit of a bummer strike...one of my boxes of plugs that I brought out had floated up and out of my shorts pocket and was now being blown/pulled toward the bay, crap, there went like 55$ worth of plugs. Its ok I thought, It is my birthday. No need to be too upset and ruin the outing. I pushed on. After almost losing two tubes of procure (by them floating out of my pocket while walking through a trough), casting off my skitterwalk when my bail slammed shup, and subsequently chasing it down and re-tying. I had made it once again, to my fabled stomping grounds. Almost immediately, i hooked up to a nice big snook, probably 30 inches or so and after a 4 or 5 minute battled it threw the plug, while only ten feet away. I then cut off my frayed section of leader and re-tied once again. I for the next hour kept chucking that Rapala and landed three smaller snook (8, 17,and 20 inches). About twelve more missed the plug along the way, Very exciting.

Okay, now for my birthday present from the big guy upstairs, all of the anglers that have shared the knowledge they have amassed, and all of you guys/and girls who share on our online community...I was in the same area that I lost the big fish earlier that day and it happened in amazing fashion. She hit once, missed, hit twice, knocking the plug four to five feet in the air, and on the third hit which seemed like she was waiting for it to land, she smashed it, heading directly away from me and was hooked up good. She jumped, then jumped again, and then just ran, peeling drag like it was her job. I was freaking out. Gently palming the spool and backing up toward the shoreline, I tried to finesse the beast into a quick submission, she was not having it. Finally i was on the shore and had made it through her best. I had just landed the biggest snook I have ever caught, and on a topwater plug to boot. She was about 34 or 35 inches and beautiful. I brought out an ipod to get better pics if i caught a worthy fish and she was definitely worthy. :@))
Happy Birthday to me.




sorry for those who frown upon lipping large fish it was the only way for me to get a pic with my hand in it for scale, so i did one next to my six and a half foot rod for scale as well...
Thanks for reading.

Nice fish! Congrats! :thumbsup:

Good fish, good story.

Enjoyed the report.

Great report! +karma!

That's awesome, I'm glad you tried the south side of Cypress Point, I assume this was morning. Most of the time people wade north,
but when I have waded the south side, I have seen many boats drift the shoreline when the tide is incoming.
I will be out there this evening/weekend depending on weather. I guess I will pull out my bone skitterwalk. I think
it is hard to determine which color works best. :thumbsup:

Excellent report and very nice fishing! Sorry about the plugs, though.

Thanks guys, and thank you for the karma bump boggs. Barry, it looks like I will have to go shopping for some new ones huh, lol. Yeah augi, it was morning, both days, but the big one was caught at like 11am ish.

good to see the big guys are still feeding into the heat of the day. Great fish!

thanks austin, but it was actually relatively pretty cool yesterday. but i was suprised to still be getting strikes that late in the morning. I sure was happy that i did though.lol

nice fish, but be careful...there have been reports of big bull sharks spotted up that way for the past 2 weeks roaming the flats.

Thats what I heard as well, lostmans. I was feeling pretty eerie while wading through a neck deep trough. duh dun..duh dun...duh dun....was all i could hear in my head...lol.

artifishent1 wrote:
A neck-deep trough? Are you serious? ;-[]-

I don't go out past my waist...if the water is murky, not past my knees lol

But I'm pretty soft... :laughing:

great report and happy belated bday! being consistent is the key to landing the un-forgettable fishes! congrats :thumbsup:

Nice catch Arti! What an awesome Birthday gift!

DavidT wrote: Im with you lol I dont like wading in deep water!
I have this mental image of you wading with nothing but your head sticking out with a pole above your head!