Posted by: CAPT. HOOP
Last minute call - 01/31/17 12:16 AM
There was a cancelation of an offshore trip due to high winds forecasted. The guys were in New Orleans for a convention and wanted to fish. I met them at Venice Marina. It was still dark so we sat and had breakfast. I knew the bite has been late day all week so did not expect much in the morning.
I made the run down river and into an area that has been holding good fish. We found some places out of the wind but the water was not as clean as I wanted and we could not get a bite on anything. I moved around looking for clean water. In the almost 4 hours I was in that area we only had one bite. Never had the hook so there was no indication of what it was or what the size of the fish was. The guys were showing signs of what the heck did we book this for. I knew the fish were here. There was a lot of bait around but nothing was happening anywhere around here. I could no longer stay here waiting for the bite. Around 11:30 I went to another place about 10 miles away.
The first place I stopped had water moving. I fished it a bit but casting into the wind was not happening and the water was still dirty and stirred up with a lot of leaves, cane, and other wind blown debris mixed in flowing by. I went around the corner where we could cast with the wind. We played that place for a while with nothing. I was at the wrong end of this pond. As I headed to the opposite end there were distinct color changes. Conditions of the water were looking better but the winds were getting gale force.
I tucked up into a stand of canes. I went all the way in kicking up some mud as I idled deep as far as I could go. I shut the motor off and set up the trolling motor for us to move around through the stands of canes. Before I settled in the guy in the back of the boat hooks up. The fish came in almost without a fight. I have never seen a redfish so lethargic. A bit after noon and we have our first fish. There was a first fish and the biggest fish bet. It was the winner of both bets. About 2:00 they told me they would give it another 15 minutes and call it. As I got near a cut out of this pond I saw a clear line of muddy river water flowing in to this fairly clean pond I set the power pole down once in place and the same guy gets a rat red.
Soon after that another guy gets a beauty. We now have a new big fish. Needless to say this sudden action will keep me here longer. I had no problem with that. We also got a black drum that was a half inch short. Pretty enough for a picture though as it was this guy's first one.
We were now finding some good fish but one of the guys was still fishless. We were almost out of bait. That is all we were getting our fish on so they all went to dead shrimp. The guy in front makes a long cast and the cork just sits there He figured he was caught on the bottom. He pulled and it felt like he had caught a cane or an oyster shell. Suddenly the fish wakes up and we witness an awesome battle between man and beast.
This fish fought as hard as it looks mad!
This 30.5 incher is now the new big fish. It is also the first fish this guy had all day. This last flurry of fish saved the day. With a few fish for dinner they were ready to head in It was already after 3:30. Although not a bunch we did not get skunked and had a good amount of action at the end of the day.
I told then to finish the 2 baits I had left while I cleaned up the boat a bit. 3 people and 2 baits no problem. The other guy picks up a white Vu Du shrimp with chartreuse tail and makes one cast. The other 2 lost their bait and got out the phone to video this fantastic battle of his first ever bull red. After the fish pulling the boat all around we finally put this 38 inch beauty into the net. After pictures it went back to breed and make other anglers happy.
It turned out to be a good day of fishing and the bite was once again a late bite. With what I saw in the first pond I could have most likely stayed there and done just as good or even better but the guys were questioning my choice of fishing places so I had to go to the other pond to finish the day. Came in with 5 good ones for our efforts.
Life is Good!
I made the run down river and into an area that has been holding good fish. We found some places out of the wind but the water was not as clean as I wanted and we could not get a bite on anything. I moved around looking for clean water. In the almost 4 hours I was in that area we only had one bite. Never had the hook so there was no indication of what it was or what the size of the fish was. The guys were showing signs of what the heck did we book this for. I knew the fish were here. There was a lot of bait around but nothing was happening anywhere around here. I could no longer stay here waiting for the bite. Around 11:30 I went to another place about 10 miles away.
The first place I stopped had water moving. I fished it a bit but casting into the wind was not happening and the water was still dirty and stirred up with a lot of leaves, cane, and other wind blown debris mixed in flowing by. I went around the corner where we could cast with the wind. We played that place for a while with nothing. I was at the wrong end of this pond. As I headed to the opposite end there were distinct color changes. Conditions of the water were looking better but the winds were getting gale force.
I tucked up into a stand of canes. I went all the way in kicking up some mud as I idled deep as far as I could go. I shut the motor off and set up the trolling motor for us to move around through the stands of canes. Before I settled in the guy in the back of the boat hooks up. The fish came in almost without a fight. I have never seen a redfish so lethargic. A bit after noon and we have our first fish. There was a first fish and the biggest fish bet. It was the winner of both bets. About 2:00 they told me they would give it another 15 minutes and call it. As I got near a cut out of this pond I saw a clear line of muddy river water flowing in to this fairly clean pond I set the power pole down once in place and the same guy gets a rat red.
Soon after that another guy gets a beauty. We now have a new big fish. Needless to say this sudden action will keep me here longer. I had no problem with that. We also got a black drum that was a half inch short. Pretty enough for a picture though as it was this guy's first one.
We were now finding some good fish but one of the guys was still fishless. We were almost out of bait. That is all we were getting our fish on so they all went to dead shrimp. The guy in front makes a long cast and the cork just sits there He figured he was caught on the bottom. He pulled and it felt like he had caught a cane or an oyster shell. Suddenly the fish wakes up and we witness an awesome battle between man and beast.
This fish fought as hard as it looks mad!
This 30.5 incher is now the new big fish. It is also the first fish this guy had all day. This last flurry of fish saved the day. With a few fish for dinner they were ready to head in It was already after 3:30. Although not a bunch we did not get skunked and had a good amount of action at the end of the day.
I told then to finish the 2 baits I had left while I cleaned up the boat a bit. 3 people and 2 baits no problem. The other guy picks up a white Vu Du shrimp with chartreuse tail and makes one cast. The other 2 lost their bait and got out the phone to video this fantastic battle of his first ever bull red. After the fish pulling the boat all around we finally put this 38 inch beauty into the net. After pictures it went back to breed and make other anglers happy.
It turned out to be a good day of fishing and the bite was once again a late bite. With what I saw in the first pond I could have most likely stayed there and done just as good or even better but the guys were questioning my choice of fishing places so I had to go to the other pond to finish the day. Came in with 5 good ones for our efforts.
Life is Good!
