In my house I have a white eraserboard marked off with dates, names, lengths and weights of fish caught over the past five years. These “notable catches” range from personal bests to some real Baffin Bay behemoths. One can quickly see that we catch big trout in my favorite bay system year round.
But one thing you will also notice is the weights vary throughout the year. Thirty inch plus trout can weigh anywhere from seven pounds to well over the ten pound mark.
One other thing you will notice while perusing this “wall of fame” is the fact that there is a time of year when the numbers of these bigger trout are caught a little more frequently. Happily these two coincide in the months of March and April.
The big female trout are at their peak weights for the year in preparation for the spawn. Rising water temperatures trigger the instincts of trout to procreate and the Big Girls need all the extra weight they can pack on to get them through early spring
Springtime is a wonderful time to be on Baffin Bay. The bay just seems to come to life before your eyes. Those bitter cold morning boat rides slowly begin to fade away and we look forward with great anticipation to the time we can retire our waders for another year.
Even our tactics change we are in pursuit of our finned friends. As the water warms up to the sixty-five to seventy degree mark, we dust off our seldom used topwaters for some explosive and consistent action. The Corkies we used all winter are still effective as these big fish become efficiency experts.
They are opportunistic feeders and will go for an easy meal anytime. But, you will find that they like to live large and eat large as well. Many of the fish caught this time of year will have large mullet tails and even smaller trout tails protruding from their mouths.
Large plastic swimbaits such as Stanley Thump N Mullet are also an effective way to take a trophy trout. The tails on these baits produce a lot of vibration under just about any retrieve speed. I like to pull them through the water by lifting my rod tip and then let them flutter back down through the water column slowly as I reel the slack line in. Aggressive strikes on the fall are common. Rigged weedless or “rockless” in Baffin, these baits are fast becoming a favorite with me and my clients.
One thing that never changes about Baffin is the fish attracting ability of the serpulid rock formations found here. These are the most consistent places to locate concentrations of baitfish and predators. They afford hiding spots for small crabs, shrimp and baitfish while also providing great ambush points for trout.
Time spent wading nearby and probing these rocks is well spent. Be sure to try your best to walk around these rocks during your wade. There are several reasons for avoiding directly walking on them. They are fragile and can and do break. They are also serious trip hazards and believe me, you do not want to fall on these rocks. They are very rough and covered with barnacles which can remove large amounts of flesh like a cheese grater. Its best to back up and ease your way around these obstructions.
Sandbars and drop-offs will be focal points depending on the weather. I love those cool days after a cold front with light winds and sunshine that really seem to warm up the flats and shallow bars. Big baits work well this time of year in these situations. Large topwaters, Corkies and other suspending baits take top billing as the big trout look to be more efficient in their eating habits. I like to wade just off the bar and make long casts on top of it working my lure towards the edge. Many of the hits we get here are just as the water depth changes a couple of inches and the strikes can be aggressive and vicious.
The overall condition of the bay is good right now. We survived a possible fish killing freeze event with virtually no damage. The warming trend behind the big freeze seems to have triggered a substantial bite from big trout as well as redfish. It seems every dropoff, sandbar and drain is teeming with redfish and they are very indiscriminate eaters right now.
As much as I love to pursue trout, the steady action and hard pulls that the reds provide are hard to pass up. The best thing about that is that the same lures we are using on the trout are working quite well on these bruisers.
So dust off your rods and oil up your reels. It’s an exciting time to be here in God’s country. Hope to see you down here soon. Capt. Aubrey Black
Phone 210-355-5091
e-mail: captblack@captblack.com
website: www.captblack.com
Blog: www.captblacks.blogspot.com/
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