By Rick Frazier, Times Correspondent
Sunday, May 22, 2011
What's hot: Normally, a cloudy and windy day is a recipe for failure, unless you're drifting the shallow grass flats for speckled trout. That's what 11-year-old Jordin Webert and her grandparents, Guy and MaryJo, found out recently off Pinellas Point.
The trio caught plenty of fish using a simple but effective trout rig: a 3-foot section of 20-pound fluorocarbon leader, a long-shank 1/0 hook and a clip-on 4-inch weighted cigar float.
Using a long leader is crucial for this rig because of the clip-on float. Placing the float on the leader instead of the main line will prevent the float from chaffing the main line. The float will also aid in casting distance. Longer casts equals more bites. Another important function of the float is to keep your bait from hiding in the grass.
Technique: Cast downwind with this rig and slowly collect the line while drifting toward it. When the float goes down, quickly reel the line tight and set the hook.
Results: On this day, we used live shrimp, hooked under the horn so they could swim naturally.
"Look at your shrimp jumping out of the water, Jordin," I shouted. "Something is going to get 'em!"
The float went down and the blond-haired girl was pulling in another keeper trout.
Rick Frazier runs Lucky Dawg Charters out of St. Petersburg and can be reached at (727) 510-4376.