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Fished yesterday with Daniel (Dpop) Popovich, my tournament partner. We needed to check a few spots for upcoming events. We launched the boat about 6:30, made a short run to the spot we had fished two weeks ago with his wife Shannon. The poor, misguided reds that were there two weeks ago, hadn't moved! Even with the giant tides.. I shut the boat down and dropped the trolly in the water to start our first drift, lining up on what little bait I could see in the low light. Had a couple of small blow ups and started hearing noises up tight to the shoreline. We eased in to check them out, and Daniel made a cast right near to the bank. We both heard the blow up, but couldn't really see the topwater, about 3 seconds later, with no more clicking, it became evident that she had eaten it. The fight was on, and the first fish of the day was a 26 inch red.
Our first pass down the shoreline produced at least 12 to 15 reds and several nice trout, all on she dogs. Another boat came in behind us and got right up on the shoreline, so our second pass we only fished a portion of the shoreline. We still had lots of blow ups and hooked several more of both species. Since this was a fun day and one were we needed to see more new water, we fished on around the point from where we normally do. We were rewarded with blow ups most of the way, and occasionally Danny would pick up his spinner bait rod and yank one out of the grass. We found a few new reefs for poking around, and another marsh lake that we will have to go back to.
One of the main purposes for this trip was to fish a small pond that we had beeen eyeballing for a while. The tides were high so there would be no problem getting in and looking around. The wind had picked up and was blowing from the back of the pond towards the entrance. I was going to idle to the back to avoid fighting the wind the whole time, but that plan got voted out when we saw how much bait was stacked on the wind protected bank. We trolled up to it and second cast had one blast my she dog. We worked our way to the back, and landed 12 reds. That number was pretty impressive given that it's only about 150 yards across. Most of these fish were in the 22-24 inch range, but we did pick off a 25 and a 27 in there.
We were going to head in early, having accomplished what we came for, but decided to check one of our favorite redfish drifts. It's a shell and mud shorelilne that typically produces some upper slot reds. The water was very dirty so I just kept right on throwing the dog. Danny was on his spinner bait and pitching to the grass. I had several gigantic blow ups and landed a couple of good reds. The highlight of the drift was reaching a section of shoreline where the grass is more broken than solid with pockets behind the shoreline. As we neared these areas, you could see and hear the schools of fish just destroying shrimp and finger mullet. We tried hard for an hour or so to catch them as they came through the flooded shoreline grass. Very tough fishing getting a cast just right and not getting hung up before a fish can find it. There were several times we could see schools of reds coming and when they hit the broken stuff it was nothing but backs and tails. We caught a few, and missed a bunch for not being able to get the hook set. The biggest school had at least 30 fish if not more.
We decided to drift this shoreline out farther than what we normally do, learning new stuff again. As we came around the point, there were schools of finger mullet so I of course, kept the she dog on...
We caught a few more fish down this strecth and learned a few small holding spots. The best fish was sitting in a 15 foot wide indention along the grass, and she just flat hammered the dog. Another solid 27 inch red! Finished up the drift and called it a day.
Total number of reds would be in the 40 to 50 range, wasn't keeping a great count, but it was way up there. Probably 10 trout, and one nice flounder that came from the little pond. Most of the reds were 22-24 with a scattering of them over 25. The best trout were early and there were probably 4 over 20 inches with the biggest about 22.
GOTTA LOVE FALL!! Even without a real front reaching the bay, the amount of rainfall and cooler days from the clouds are already perking the fish up. Fishing has been great lately.
Our first pass down the shoreline produced at least 12 to 15 reds and several nice trout, all on she dogs. Another boat came in behind us and got right up on the shoreline, so our second pass we only fished a portion of the shoreline. We still had lots of blow ups and hooked several more of both species. Since this was a fun day and one were we needed to see more new water, we fished on around the point from where we normally do. We were rewarded with blow ups most of the way, and occasionally Danny would pick up his spinner bait rod and yank one out of the grass. We found a few new reefs for poking around, and another marsh lake that we will have to go back to.
One of the main purposes for this trip was to fish a small pond that we had beeen eyeballing for a while. The tides were high so there would be no problem getting in and looking around. The wind had picked up and was blowing from the back of the pond towards the entrance. I was going to idle to the back to avoid fighting the wind the whole time, but that plan got voted out when we saw how much bait was stacked on the wind protected bank. We trolled up to it and second cast had one blast my she dog. We worked our way to the back, and landed 12 reds. That number was pretty impressive given that it's only about 150 yards across. Most of these fish were in the 22-24 inch range, but we did pick off a 25 and a 27 in there.
We were going to head in early, having accomplished what we came for, but decided to check one of our favorite redfish drifts. It's a shell and mud shorelilne that typically produces some upper slot reds. The water was very dirty so I just kept right on throwing the dog. Danny was on his spinner bait and pitching to the grass. I had several gigantic blow ups and landed a couple of good reds. The highlight of the drift was reaching a section of shoreline where the grass is more broken than solid with pockets behind the shoreline. As we neared these areas, you could see and hear the schools of fish just destroying shrimp and finger mullet. We tried hard for an hour or so to catch them as they came through the flooded shoreline grass. Very tough fishing getting a cast just right and not getting hung up before a fish can find it. There were several times we could see schools of reds coming and when they hit the broken stuff it was nothing but backs and tails. We caught a few, and missed a bunch for not being able to get the hook set. The biggest school had at least 30 fish if not more.
We decided to drift this shoreline out farther than what we normally do, learning new stuff again. As we came around the point, there were schools of finger mullet so I of course, kept the she dog on...
We caught a few more fish down this strecth and learned a few small holding spots. The best fish was sitting in a 15 foot wide indention along the grass, and she just flat hammered the dog. Another solid 27 inch red! Finished up the drift and called it a day. Total number of reds would be in the 40 to 50 range, wasn't keeping a great count, but it was way up there. Probably 10 trout, and one nice flounder that came from the little pond. Most of the reds were 22-24 with a scattering of them over 25. The best trout were early and there were probably 4 over 20 inches with the biggest about 22.
GOTTA LOVE FALL!! Even without a real front reaching the bay, the amount of rainfall and cooler days from the clouds are already perking the fish up. Fishing has been great lately.
LIVIN THE SALT LIFE 
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