This time of year is a great opportunity to catch what I call a “Margarita Slam”. This is a brackish water mega-slam consisting of:
- Redfish
- Trout
- Flounder
- Striper
- Largemouth
Its a cool accomplishment, and very possible in two of our rivers that are fed by fresh water, the Ashley and the Cooper. Twice this fall I have been a largemouth short when fishing in the Cooper river, but today I set out to achieve the slam!
I started out the day far upriver in the fresh water. I had a largemouth take on a jighead but didn’t have a good hookset. I could tell it was a largemouth because it jumped. So, I threw a bone Spook Jr in there and got him to come up and take it! 1/5 of slam complete
Next, I had a very subtle take and hooked a flounder that was not even sammich size. I tagged and released it and forgot to get a pic. He was 12.5″ and all I have to show is the tagging report. It was caught on the TroutEye jighead. A414 is a Flounder. 2/5 of slam complete
Well, redfish and trout are pretty plentiful and eating actively this time of year. No issues bagging them. Had about 6 trout today. Nothing big but a few keepers in the mix. This one was 15″ and caught on the TroutEye jighead. 3/5 of slam complete
Three redfish today, including one kept for dinner. Biggest today was 24.75″ (see tagging report). Also caught on TroutEye jighead. 4/5 of slam complete.
And….The grand finale. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull this off. Hit a few of my striper spots and it was very slow. Keeping to one of my favorite sayings “A spot ain’t worth much, till it’s time to be there”, I waited for a tide change and lo and behold, I found a few striking bait. I tossed the bone Spook Jr in the general area, and started walking the dog. About 6 feet later SPLASH! Striper on! There is NOTHING like a striper strike on topwater. And to complete the Margarita slam. She went 24.5″. Took a fin-clip for DNR and set her back. She had a twin fish following her all the way to the boat too. So fun and gratifying!
And that is how you complete a Margarita Slam! By the way, why do we call it that? A Margarita is both Salty and Sweet!