Slamming in the Sound

Redfish, Speckled Trout, and Snook make up an "Inshore slam."

On Monday, I launched my kayak and fished the Gasparilla Sound area of Charlotte Harbor. I can generally find a pattern to consistently produce trout here, and I have one specific spot accessible from this launch that I can consistently target snook. While I have caught the occasional redfish here, I have not been able to find a consistent pattern to target them. I almost always catch 2/3 of a slam here and most often it is the redfish that I am missing. For that reason, it was much to my delight when I found a pattern that was able to produce three quality slot sized redfish, with two being at the upper end of the slot limit.

As a matter of fact, today was the exact opposite of what I generally find here. Methods that generally produce trout for me are what I found successful to catch all three of my redfish today. I also caught a surprise snook in an an area I have never even hooked a snook before. Making it even more bazaar, was the fact that I had an incredibly difficult time catching any trout at all today. As a matter of fact, the only one I was able to manage was a small fish that I had to work very hard for, drifting the same flat multiple times just for that one fish to round out my slam. Just when you think you have an area figured out, it can, and will, surprise you.

That, to me, is the excitement of fishing.