Robert and Terri Carlton of Macon, Georgia, joined me this week for a couple days out of Lanark Village. Again, conditions were tough Thursday with stifling heat, little water and blustery wind. We tried numerous flats and deeper water behind Dog and St. George Islands and only saw a few fish which refused to eat in the 82+ hot water. It was very frustrating, to say the least. A big school of Spanish mackerel gorging on glass minnows saved the day and we quickly boated several in some fast and furious action on light spinning gear. Matching the hatch, I had Robert and Terri cast small diamond jigs with a trace of wire leader and the macks pounced on them eagerly. When I'd unhook one, it would spit up wads of glass minnows. They certainly don't eat like birds, that's for sure. We finished the first day with a few shots at redfish along the shoreline, but the ADL spoons and DOA jerk baits didn't interest the fish. What a difference a day makes. With calm winds and a cooler start to the next morning, we anchored up for shots at rolling tarpon to start the day. Terri was casting DOA CAL shad tails over the grass flats as Robert waited with the big rod and she quickly landed several nice trout. With the 'poons sparse, we ran out to Dog Island Reef, stopping first at a marker. Robert boated a spunky 10-pound cobia fooled by a lime-green Whip-It eel. We let it swim off to grow some more before setting up a drift on top of the Reef in six foot of water. The temperature was a relatively cool 80 degrees and that slight difference had the fish fired up. Over the next couple hours, it was non-stop action for the variety DIR is known for. Hard-pulling bluefish were the first to the party, followed by Spanish mackerel, a few hardtails and some very nice trout. All the fish were taken on DOA CAL shad tails in gold/glow, silver flake/glow and Stark Naked pinned with 1/4-ounce red or chartreuse jig heads. Robert scored the biggest trout at nearly 3.5 pounds, while Terri added several more pushing 20 inches. We caught more than 20 bluefish and limited out on trout, emptying my supply of CALs in the process. A few more fish were caught on DOA 5.5 jerk baits in glow and new penny. When the bite finally slowed, we ran to several more markers in the hunt for a bigger cobia, but nobody else was home so redfish were next on the To-Do list. Terri had the hot hand with the reds, losing one nice fish before landing another–a 25-incher on the CAL New Penny jerk bait. With plenty of water at this point, we finished up the day on the hook casting to cruising tarpon. Robert wasn't able to cross this species off his bucket list, but he did have shots at 14 up to 120 pounds. It was another great day along the Forgotten Coast that truly showed the quality and variety of the fantastic fishing potential we have here. 
