One of the greatest accomplishments in a day of inshore fishing is catching an INSHORE SLAM! The inshore slam consist of a snook, redfish, and trout all caught on a day of fishing. That is pretty much my goal on a daily basis while fishing the flats. There are some days where we catch one to multiple inshore slams which makes for an amazing day! Some days for what ever reason only one or two of the species will eat which is still great but, falling short of catching the slam.
Most of the tournaments on the central west coast of Florida are Slam Tournaments due to challenge of catching all three species. I recently just won the Kayak fishing Classics Johnson Outdoors Championships in Tampa Bay, FL where only 5 people out of all the anglers caught a inshore slam. Inshore Slam Tournaments are generally scored by whomever has the longest measured inches of all three fish. Even if an angler has two fish which measure longer than someone who has all three species, the angler with all three species usually wins.
Most people know that any given day, most fish are going to feed heavily an hour before and after sunrise and sunset. For me, on a day where I am trying to target all three species, the first fish I will target will be a trout. I usually head straight to my trout spot and try to catch a good one right off the bat. Most of your bigger trout like to feed early. Then I try and bang out a snook. Snook are another fish were I seem to catch the bigger ones in the twilight stages of the day. Last but definitely not least is Mr. Redfish! I seem to catch redfish easier through out the day. This is just a guide line on how most of the to anglers in this area plan their trips on the quest of catching a inshore slam. A lot of the times I will catch one the three species while targeting another species which ends up being a bonus!
Good luck on your quest of landing a INSHORE SLAM! Happy Holidays! Be Safe! Tight Lines and Tight Knots to everyone!
Summertime Fun!!!
The morning started out threatening to rain, as it always does about every summer day! We decided to paddle on while it began to sprinkle lightly. I always say the fish are already wet... if my clients don't mind it, I sure don't! Unless there is bad lightening or wind... By the time we reached the first spoil island the rain had blown by and I was already seeing tons of bait moving. I really wanted to stop but, headed further north so we could ride the wind back. We reached the first spot where tons of mullet were coming through in between two spoil islands but, no bites. Deciding to paddle over to the other island was a good idea because Austin had his soft-plastic get smashed! After a few seconds of drag ripping out, the huge snook came up and gave a big head shake. When the fish spit the lure out, our hearts sank. Not soon after though, Alexzandria hooks into a nice red fish. Ended up being a half inch of being on a dinner plate;) As we paddled around the island, we could hear fish busting bait in the mangroves. Picking up another red fish that was an inch short, we continued on the hunt. As we came around the corner, Austin hooks into nice snook. It was jumping all around his yak, so I paddled over as fast as I could with the net! Unfortunately it came unglued before I reached him:( We started making our way back towards the launch but, it seemed like every spot I wanted to hit had lots of boat traffic. The weekend warriors! Making a quick little pit stop to a spot that I didn't plan on going to because of the way the wind was blowing, ended up being a great idea! Austin ends up hooking into a Monster Red fish! After a long red fish sleigh ride I decided to attach my yak to his, to slow the fish down. Finally wearing him down he landed the beautiful red fish. Wow! Nice fish but, to big for the dinner plate!lol! Right after that Alexzandria caught a trout that was and inch shy!Lol! Unfortunately we weren't able to get them a fish for dinner plate because the fish were either to small or to big. None the less a great day on the water with great people. Thanks again Exude soft plastic and MirroLure for making this day a SUCCESS!
