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#1730619 - 11/19/17 09:34 AM Bulls
CAPT. HOOP Offline

Member

Registered: 11/02/02
Posts: 7540
Loc: Empire / Venice, La
Our second day with the 3 generations started out with only 2 of them. Grandpa Jerry's legs could not take another straight day on the boat. In a way this was a good thing because he was having issues fighting 22 to 25 inch redfish. They are all red headed fair skinned guys from Illinois. Today they had the sunscreen and were putting it on. I think the very strong winds of the day before also got to them.

I had dad and son out looking for bull reds. I got out on the outside but there was not a bird in sight. I headed down the beach looking for birds or bait. The water was not looking good. There were other boats in the area and there were no rods bending at all. I was getting ready to move to another place all together but before I left another captain told me he had heard of one of the guys hooking up. I really did not want to run 20 miles away so I moved a bit north and found much better water. There was a little bait now so I felt better. Dad was the first to hook up. He was wondering how the bite would be. I told him to just hang on to the rod.


The bite of the first fish was very slow and casual. It was almost like the fish were full and not interested in eating at all. This was going to be a long slow day. I was watching another boat within casting range hooking up and we were just casting. Once I found the right color we had a rod bend. This time it was Cory's time to hook up. It was still another lethargic type of bite. Something was not quite right. Maybe they had so much bait there they were just swimming around with their mouths open and taking what ever entered it's mouth.



At least they each had one and we were getting some action. It seemed the fish had moved out to deeper water. This could also be the reason for a much different bite. Now that I finally had the right color bait it was getting much better. We were into the studs they were looking for.



This went on for a while as long as we could keep up with the school of bait. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and reality check comes into view. The fish had moved. We were 3 to 4 miles out in 25 feet of water. I picked up and started heading into the shallow water near the beach. About half way there I notice some bait popping and quickly throttled down almost forcing one of them off the seat. I told them to get the rods and cast quickly. This paid off as they both hooked up right away. So much for sneaking up on them. It was more like a lightning attack. Unfortunately dad had his throw the hook. These fish are so big and fight so hard it is not unusual for them to throw the hook, straighten the hook, or break the line.



No matter what it worked. I called one of the guys over and I had 7 boats show up. The power of the radio. Nobody was listening though. We all fish with each other and know each other. The waters are open and belong to no one. As long as you do not interfere with the other boats fishing. You have to respect the other boat.


This ended rather quickly and I continued on. I moved into the shallows along the beach and did not stay there long. The waves were pushing me onto the shore too fast. I headed into the shallows of a cove. This area is dangerous because the oyster beds are just under the water. Before you know it your boat can be on them and the bottom of your boat can get ruined by the sharp hard oysters. This is where we finished our day. We had a good bite going and another double hookup. A pleasant surprise.


Some trout had moved on to the oyster reefs and were taking our large redfish lures. These were all very good trout. I even hooked up a VuDu shrimp and got one on it as well as a flounder. We managed to get 5 of them. This would be enough for our evening meal cooked by Venice Marina. We had half grilled and half fried.



During our evening meal Cory started feeling bad. Two days in the sun and wind had taken it's toll on the fair skinned redhead. He got quite sick that night. With Grandpa's bad knees and Cory's sun poisoning our third day on the water had to be canceled. Cory and Dad will be back again. Unfortunately that may have been the last trip here for Grandpa. At least it was a memorable one with a lot of action and good fish.

Life is Good!


Edited by CAPT. HOOP (11/19/17 09:37 AM)

Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM
Our Freedom Charters
P.O.Box 449
Empire, La. 70050
H- 504-657-6330
C- 504-247-8459
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Fishing Info
#1730646 - 11/20/17 08:05 AM Re: Bulls [Re: CAPT. HOOP]
Crazy Ivan Offline



Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 17933
Loc: New Milford, and Anywhere Salt...
Nice fish! Its a blast catching those bulls on medium spinning!

I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!

Judge Smails:

"Its easy to grin, when your ship comes in, and you've got the stock market beat. But the man worth while is the man that can smile with his shorts too tight in the seat."
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