Jon (Tall 1) from CTFisherman came down here for what was planned as 2 days of fishing. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. With the wind blowing I figured we could tuck into a canal where the bait and trout were the day before. The angle of the wind was blowing right down the canal and I had to beach the bow and set the power pole just to hold. Conditions were better than any other places I had traveled through but the fish were not chewing. We gave this a good half hour before picking up and running.

I made a long move to another place I knew the water would be flowing through. Once there I found the water stained but not as muddy as expected. Jon got the first bite and lost it. At least something alive here. It was my turn to feed one next but soon Jon had a bent rod. This was his first ever redfish and it was a good sized keeper. It had 4 spots on one side and 3 spots on the other.



At least the long run taking it head on turned into a positive note. As luck would have it we got the fish to feed. By 9:00 we had limited out on redfish. We did some catch and release our best fish there. It was this 31 inch beauty weighing 11 pounds which we released after the pictures. These fish were gorging on pogies.



After landing well over a dozen the winds made me move. even with the power pole down and the Cajun anchor I was still being blown onto the reef. There was no way I could have stayed anywhere in that area. I made a long run across the rough open water and went to Joshua's for a break. After about a 20 minute pit stop I headed back out for our fishing adventures.

Our next stop was the first place we tried earlier. With the bow back on the grass and the power pole buried we started drowning live shrimp. once again it was a no show. As I was thinking where to next Jon hooks up. I jump to the net and lands his first ever speck. There was no question about this beauty being a keeper. Jon is a big man at 6'10". He makes all fish look small. This fish bought us more time at the spot and we managed a few rat reds.



I tried another place north of Empire. Once again the holding in place was a big problem. The winds were getting stronger. I knew the boat would be going just about head on into the seas on the way back but my boat can handle that quite well once I can get on top of it. At this place we once again found some nice reds that we kept releasing.



Eventually it got unbearable and I decided to head in. It was around 1:30 and we still had to make the run across Bay Adams with the head seas. Just before hitting the docks I decided to try one sheltered corner. I thought it was sheltered but once again holding was a big problem. We did find a few rat reds and also a slot that also went back. Much to my surprise we also picked up another good trout.



This was definitely our last stop of the day. It was time to head in and have a fish cleaning party at my place.



As I reflect on the day it was an awesome day in very trying conditions. We caught a lot of fish and had a great time on the water talking about several of our many mutual friends back in Connecticut. Although we had to put up with adverse conditions in 80 plus temps our friends were getting snow. We were going out today but this monsoon front running through will not allow that to happen. At least we had a great trip for his first visit here. I have a feeling Jon, Medski, and ? will be back very soon.

Life is Good!

Great trip Hoop. You made it happen even in really tough conditions.

I am sorry that every fish Jon holds up looks small compared to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Great quality fish congrats!

And Jon you got to knock some new species off your bucket list!!

Nice work and report!

Very nice !

Great report and nice save hoop hooking up Jon.