When it's working it's great. I found a spot with oversize redfish, using live hand-picked shrimp for bait. I was catching several per trip consistently. Then one day nothing - my shrimp were being devoured by small snapper and pinfish. I thought maybe the fish moved on, then I looked over the side of the boat and noticed silver dollar size pinfish flashing in the grass. One throw of the cast net brought a dozen pins, and grunts. Making this story short as short as possible. The reds bit for a little over a week on big shrimp then wouldn't touch one. For the next week and a half they devoured pins and grunts - go figure.
This tells me that I need to head out with several different baits when possible, and to adapt if necessary. When fishing with two or more anglers, switch up baits, one with a shrimp, one with a pin, and maybe even one with a chunk of cut mullet. All will catch reds at one point in time, and all will not catch reds at one point in time. Just think, if I would have arrived at this spot when the fish weren't interested in the shrimp - I would have caught nothing and never came back. That's about forty oversize reds on several trips that my anglers would have missed out on.
Tight Lines & Good Times, Capt. Terry Frankford
Reelin & Chillin Charters Inc.