where oh where did Ketchn go ?

to make a long story short ....the emerald coast , been out of town a while and stayed somewhat silent on my wanderings for multiple reasons . but you know I found that salty fish are right similar to freshy fish in the like for the handtied carrot jig .
mind ya I don't know anyone that would enter the surf with a crappie rod and a handtie and pitch it in the surf , but then again there is always silly old me around . so I tossed said jig with an old 7 foot Berkley cherry wood on some mr crappie 6 lb hi vis and was quite busy with the multiple species that tried to take said jig away from me ......
now all that said I lost touch with the crappie bite here locally and had to go out and pitch said jig in the fresh water some yesterday to get myself tuned back into the "non" bite summer crappie here in texas .....
so lets go over the dynamics that created such a similar situation (ketchn fish that is )12 hours away from each other and in completely different types of water ....
first and most important for sure ....BAIT ...both locations had tremendous amounts of baitfish visible ....the surf was full of some kind of small bait and the predators were there in numbers to consume them ....the dock I hit yesterday had schools of shad swimming around it in a similar fashion ....with loads of crappie and bluegill consuming them as well .
I did ketch me a few small sharks on some cut bait with a bit heavier rod in a 20 lb braid and an old shake my spear ugly stick combo someone gave me back when as well on a big buck tail tipped with said cut bait .....and of course strips a pinfish on said carrot jig made them salty fish go bonkers to...
heck I even ketched me a crab of some sort as well ......:Rofl
and man are the fleas in the sand large down that way .......
I managed I think 8 species or more in the salt water in 2 mornings of about 2 hours each ....first light to 7 am in the salt water ....
and btw ....a chart crappie nibble on a bright orange handtie will drive young pompano totally nuts in the surf as well .....just saying .....
stay tuned ,but don't stay thirsty yawl .....
p.s. didn't load up all the photos because I suppose the Nikon photos are a bit large for the uploader , but I did get the phone ones to load .....
and ...will post the crappie trip later when I have time
and one more thing ...YES we body surfed EXACTLY where I fished later in the day as well .......:Rofl

Looks you all had a whale of a time. Blessings

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That smile on your little one says it all!!
Glad you all enjoyed the coast.


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Looks like fun! Reminds me, I need a vacation!

Them pompano are very tasty. Glad you had a good trip.

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WTG Outlaw! You are always having way more fun than the rest of us and yes would not think to toss a crappie jig into the surf but why not? fishing first and then having the kids out body surfing? fantastic.

Looks like your having a lot of fun at the beach in FL. Hey them pompano are suppose to be cooked with the head on because there is a gland in the head that is suppose to make them better, more buttery I believe?

Skip

WTG! What an amazing adventure. Everything & anything can be caught on crappie gear! :)

Looks like y'all had a great time! Thanks for sharing.

Seems like you thump em wherever you go..Thanks for the post

That surf was so full of fish every morning it wasn't even real yawl .....clouds a baitfish all down the shore and every kind a salty after them till sun up or so .....heck I even seen lady fish busting em up in the surf while folks was swimming right by them around high tide at lunch time .....we had a blast when we swam with our lil goggles ....we could see lots of fish of several species milling around in the surf .....you could go under and put your hands in the sand and stir it up and a half dozen baby pompano would come right to ya and let ya touch them ! My other half said WOW are they smooth fish :Rofl