One of the things I like about being a fishing guide is scouting.

I'm sure the average Joe just thinks we go out and drop a line and hope we catch fish.

Frankly its just not that easy even though we tend to make it look that way at times.

Most guides spend many hours on the water just scouting out area's to see if they are holding fish.Just this past week I have spent close to 30 hours scouting.

You see fish move. They can swim and if the conditions are not just right in an area you once caught them at before they will leave.

It could be there food source is gone,or possibly the water is just to dirty.Who wants to swim around in dirty water and go hungry?

To get to the point my scouting paid off. I have been on a great Mangrove Snapper bite for months now. Along with them comes a variety of other species such as the occasional  Grouper,Spanish Makerel, Lady fish and catfish.

They are all fun but my clients often want to target snook and redfish,trout too!

The snook and redfish bite has been hit or miss for a while in the area that I fish. Mostly I think its because of high water temperture combined with a lot of rain and some dirty water.

Well the water temp has dropped slightly,the rain has slacked slightly and the water is much cleaner and a food source is abundant.

That is when I key in on scouting for reds and snook.

Today after spending many hours looking in a lot of different areas it payed off.

With a very high tide I targeted spots near oyster bars. After three stops I found them. Redfish galore! I was fishing alone and was so happy to be on the amount of fish I was I stayed and in about 1 hours time I caught over a dozen reds. All were legal size with the largest going 28".

I mixed it up a bit and got a decent sized snook a few trout and some spanish mackerel to make it a very nice day of scouting.

The next time you hire a guide and you have a great trip you can be assured he has put many hours into that trip.

Great job Steve and good report and well said.