Have you ever seen so many trout. Between the trout and the flounder, you can hardly catch a red fish.
I started out last week by chunking and winding with a Gotcha 3 inch Shad Body paddle tail minnow that I had threaded onto a 1/4 ounce lead head jig. You know a lot of people make a lot of fuss over the color of the head on a lead head. I have tried red, green, yellow, pink, blue, white, chartreuse and just plain unpainted and I can't tell a difference in the plain unpainted and the fancy colors. Now, I imagine on certain days under certain conditions the fancy painted heads might or might not work better to produce strikes but day in and day out, the plain unpainted work just fine.
I was working a long bank that has oysters from the shoreline to about 20 feet out with an occasional small feeder creek. I had run up current and was using my Minn Kota 3-X trolling motor to slow my drift as I worked with the current. This particular area has a pretty strong current and instead of fighting the current, I like to use my Minn Kota to slow the boat as I go with the current. Think about this for a minute. When on the trolling motor, you do want to be moving, of course. But why do you want to fight a strong current when you can point your boat into the current and use the trolling motor to slow down your backward drift. You still have good control over the boat, you do not use as much battery juice and it is so much easier to fish with the current as against it.
The morning was just right with a slight breeze to keep the no see ums away and a high outgoing tide. I just knew I was in for a fun day. See, I had not had a day to myself for a long time and I was looking forward to doing what Jim wanted to do today. My first few cast had been in the right spot for a big ole red to be laying but no big ole red on the hook. I worked down the bank a few more yards and what was that on the bank. It looked just like a fish pushing and right toward me. I waited until I could cast my Gotcha 3 inch Shad Body just in front of this nice fish.
The anticipation of making a perfect cast and hooking up on a big red was enjoyed as the fish came into casting range and with my All Star medium light action rod, I flipped the bait about 5 feet in front of the fish.
As the fish came closer, I twitched the rod tip in a way as to make the bait quiver but not moving it out of the fish's path. As the fish came to the bait, I felt that distinctive tap as if some one had thumped my rod tip. I took up the slack line and set the hook as the fish pulled my 10 pound rest Power Pro through my guides and out the tip.
You know, there is no other sound like Power Pro screaming from the reel and over the guides as a nice fish pulls it from the spool as it fights to keep from coming to the boat. After several minutes of spine tingling fun, I made my way off of the casting deck and into the boat to net my nice redfish.
But, wait a minute, I don't have a redfish, I have a very nice trout. Now this is supposed to be a redfish spot not a big trout spot. Wait, it is almost like I am complaining because I have just landed a five pound trout and not a redfish. No complaining here. I am very happy with a big trout although, the way the water was pushing and the area I was in, I thought BIG RED. After a "Jimmie Houston" kiss and a thank you, Mr. or Mrs. trout was gently released so it make more trout for us to catch. Back on the Minn Kota and more chunking and winding, in search of a big red.
I had several more fish hooked up and to the boat but all were trout and three unlucky flounder that had an up close and personal experience with very warm cooking oil and some tartar sauce.
I had fished this entire mile long stretch of bank and brought eleven trout and three founder to the boat but NO BIG REDFISH. Where are my redfish that are supposed to be on this bank? I fished a few hundred yards more with four more trout, one blue fish and a monster whiting, that joined the flounder in the box but still no reds.
Okay, enough of this, I know where there a some reds and I am going to catch some, TODAY! I came down from the casting deck, made my way to the helm where I fired up my Honda 225 and off I was in search of redfish in shallow water.
As I made my way up the ditch and toward a shallow creek, I knew I was going to have to do something special to get these finicky reds to play with me. My boat, is like a floating tackle store, the options were almost endless but I wanted to do something that I had never seen anyone else do, so maybe the fish would say, this guy is pretty crafty, lets play with him.
Just as I got close tot he creek I wanted to fish, the light bulb went off and I had an idea. As I got ready to enter this small very shallow creek, I used my Bob's Machine jack plate to raise my big Honda up for shallow water running. When I have the Honda jacked up all the way and running full tilt buggy, I can run this monster boat in about 6 inches of water and that is what I needed to get in this creek. As soon as I made my it thought the creek mouth, the water dropped off to a deep three feet and I was off of a plane and on my way to create a redfish catching rig.
I had brought two outfits rigged with ten pound test Power Pro and I knew on these light rigs, I could cast a mile with almost no weight, so I got out a six inch Gotcha Shad Body in mullet color, black back with silver sides. I tied on a Daiichi 5/0 Copperhead hook, screwed the shad body through the cork screw and hook and I was ready for an almost silent cast to big RED FISH. I made my way to the front deck, slipped over the trolling motor and eased down the bank.
I had to make a practice cast to be sure I could cast a long way and to see how this combination looked as it was worked thought the water. Just as I had thought, JUST RIGHT.
I am easing down the bank when I see what looks like a swirl right up on the edge. I make a cast just in front of it, get up my slack line, twitch the bait a couple of time and KAWANGA, I am hooked up!
Right away, I know this is no trout, as I can see the red as it screams down the shoreline pulling line from my very small Pflueger spinning reel. After several minutes, I made my way to the net and in the boat with a nice 25 inch fat red fish. I tried to take a picture of him and I but I have not figured out the trick to taking a picture of the fish and me when by myself, so here is rendering.
I worked this creek all the way from one end to the other. I saw and caught several more nice reds and all on the rig I started with in this creek. This outfit from the rod and reel to the lure is a dynamite setup for spooky fish in shallow water.
Keys are to stay as far away as you can from the fish, go very slow on the trolling motor and make very accurate cast. This bait / hook combination works just like a wounded mullet and the redfish love a wounded bait.
Local Action:
Lots of trout in the creeks and at the inlets. If you fish the inlets try a big Gotcha trout grub or paddle tail. I like mullet color or chartreuse fished on a 3/4 ounce jig head up near the rocks on the ocean side. Live shrimp, mullet or mud minnows also work. If in the creeks for trout, the best lure is a 4 inch Gotcha curl tail, WHITE with CHARTREUSE TAIL fished on a 1/4 ounce lead head jig. Shrimp and mud minnows also work for these plentiful fish.
Flounder have been showing up for about 3 weeks and are here pretty good but will continue to get thicker as the water warms. Just about anything fished on or near the bottom will work for these flat fish. The slower you work your bait the more you will catch.
Lots of redfish at the jetties and herds of Spanish and Blues. The best way I have found for the numbers is trolling a Gotcha Mackerel Tree behind a #1 planer. Here are some killer links for fishing Clark Spoons and using planers. Check these out.
http://www.seastriker.com/downloads/clark.pdf http://www.seastriker.com/downloads/planerguide.pdf
Capt Jim with a couple of Spanish caught on Gotcha Mackerel Trees and Sea Striker Planers
The ocean: the stream is producing big numbers of wahoo and mahi. Drag an Island Lure with a big ballyhoo of strip bait. I like bright colors like red and black or purple. The new orange and black Island Lure works great for wahoo. Also try dragging a Sea Striker cedar plug for Tuna, Wahoo and Dolphin.
The deep water Grouper and Snapper bite has been pretty good with limits of both and some nice Triggers, Beeliners and Cobia mixed in.
Moms and Dads: Remember mom and dad, spend some time with your sons and daughters taking them fishing and you will not be looking for them come Friday and Saturday nights, as they will be home in bed waiting to go the next day. (I am not just saying this because it sounds good. I MEAN IT, YOU WON'T BE LOOKING FOR THEM.)