Topwater baits producing nice redfish, specks
Capt. Newman Weaver has been proving over the past week, in a fishy sort of way, that the early bird is still getting the worm – even if it’s piloting a flats boat.
Weaver, who runs Kingfisher Guide Service out of Georgetown, has been getting into the marshes behind North Inlet pretty darned early – sometimes meeting his fishing parties at 5:30 a.m. That’s giving him about 2-1/2 hours of good fishing for redfish and speckled trout before the brutal heat of late July has been taking over.
“We’re getting great fishing from about first light until 8 o’clock,” said Weaver (843-545-7639). “It’s been redfish and trout – and it doesn’t matter what tide it is, but the time of day.”
To top it off, the action has been on top. Weaver has been drawing strikes from both species using a Rapala Skitterwalk and a MirrOLure 5M – topwater lures that can be walked or twitched. The MirrOLure is a double prop bait, but Weaver has been taking the front propeller off.
“You throw that topwater bait as far as you can throw it away from the boat and work it back,” Weaver said. “A little later in the morning, when the sun gets up, you can see fish swirling behind it, coming up short. That’s when I start throwing a Catch 2000 (a jerkbait that works a few inches under the surface).”
One reason the bite has been so limited to the first two or three hours of the morning has been the presence of bait.
“There is so much food in the water for these fish, they only need to feed 30 minutes a day, and then they’re done,” said Weaver, who referred to the tepid water and abundance of baitfish as a “gumbo” for gamefish.
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