Tails, Blowups & Bent Rods: One Epic Inshore Slam

First Stop: Topwater Trouble

We hit the inside edge of a long oyster bar tucked into a quiet bay near a creek mouth. It’s a spot we usually save for mid-morning, but with the tide flooding in early, we figured: why not?

Jake ties on a bone-colored Spook Jr. and I go with a glass ghost skitter walk.

First cast — WHAM. Jake’s rod bends and he lets out a yell that probably woke up the pelicans. A snook crushed the plug mid-walk and went airborne like a tarpon.

Minutes later, he’s holding a slot snook, grinning like he just robbed a bank.

My next cast? Redfish. Not a monster, but a solid mid-slot fish that bulldogged around the oyster bar before giving up just enough for me to scoop it with the net.

Two casts, two species. We looked at each other and just laughed. “It’s gonna be one of those days.”

Mid-Morning Madness

With the sun rising and the tide peaking, we moved up into a skinny grass flat where we’ve spotted tailing reds before. The wind laid down, the water slicked out, and sure enough — tails.

Lots of them.

I grabbed the push pole and started creeping in. Jake grabs a rod with a weedless rigged paddle tail and launches a perfect cast into the school.

Boom. Instant hookup.

As he’s fighting his red, I sneak a cast behind the school and — I kid you not — a trout skyrockets out of nowhere and nails my lure right at the edge of the flat.

Now we’re doubled up, hooting like kids. His red is peeling drag toward the mangroves, mine is shaking like a speckled torpedo.

We land both. His red goes just over the slot and mine is a fat 23-inch trout. The slam was complete before 9 AM.