We had caught a number of fish, mostly trout with a few mangrove snapper, ladyfish and saltwater catfish mixed in as we drifted this same area. But as the tide came up, the trout just seemed to quit biting. We were used to this and we moved off to find some different fish, usually some snapper in one of the cuts.
But one day while we were fishing this same incoming tide pattern, another boat came and fished right in the same area we were in. Only, after we drifted our area and cranked up to run back and drift again, we were not followed all the way back. This "other " boat would not run back as far as we did, and on the successive drifts, would always drift farther than we did. After several drifts, we were no longer fishing together; the other boat was moving away from us with every new drift.
As we began to see the trout quit biting around us as they always had in the past, we watched the other boat drifting further and further from us. They, however, were still catching fish.
On several later fishing trips to the same area, we saw that boat quite often, and eventually made friends with the fishermen. They had learned something and taught us something that made us better trout fishermen instantly.
These trout would begin on the outside of the grass flats on low tide, and move in, feeding with the tide. When we thought they had stopped feeding, they had actually moved away from us with the tide.
Keep this in mind when you are trout fishing. If the flats you are on have a significant amount of tidal flow, the fish will be moving with the tide, looking for forage. Stay with them and move with them, and you can catch fish for the whole tide.
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