Wednesday 4/4/2012
I was lucky enough to get to fish 2 days in POC this Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday I headed out by myself with the intention of catching a few redfish and then some trout. The day dawned calm, and stayed that way all day until the storm came. So my compliments to the weather man, he was right on with the wind for once.
I started throwing a spinnnerbait in the grass in the Big Bayou area on the back side of Bill Daves Reef. The only thing I can say is it was not successful, so it was time for a change. It was about 8:30 so I eased out into the west side of Barroom Bay in front of the last, and only house, with a pier in the bay. What a great choice, there were literally rafts of bait everywhere with trout obviously working them. It is really true right now, if you see a bunch of bait stop and fish.
Basically I threw everything in the box, including topwater with no success until I finally picked up the popping cork. Over the next hour or so I managed to catch about a dozen, of which 5 or so were good ones. I was using a Rage Tail Saltwater Series shrimp tail in white with a chartuese tail. It turned out to be the bait of the day. After they slowed down I started moving around and managed to find another bunch in a drain emptying off of the reef.
Thoser trout were a little better and I decided to put a few in the box for supper.
Before and………………….
After!
I caught another dozen in the mouth of the drain as the water moved off the reef. Remember to always make a few throws to that situation. As bait follows the tide in those spots, the trout often set up waiting for an easy meal. The trout there were way off it, and the best result was casting to the edge of the moving water in the cut and letting the cork float down the break. When it was just right they would eat it.
And a few words on the popping cork. They are a great simple tool for folks who are not the best fishermen. It is usually a matter of getting the depth of the bait below the cork right, and I like 18″ to 2′. And when you use it, be sure to think about what you are doing. For example, pop it and let it rest for a 5 count then pop it again. Then try a 4 count before you jerk, but keep varying it until you get a bite. And vary the pop, sometimes they like it jerked hard and violent, the next day they may want a small pop.
Then try to make sure you keep that up. It is just a matter of finding the way to get them to eat it. The trout will tell you how they want it if you listen to them. And one thing I have learned is that the bite usually comes in the first few pops, and I usually never pop it all the way to the boat. So for me it is pop it halfway back, and then reel it back in and do it again.
At about 2:00 there was thunder in the distance, and I could see the clouds moving in. Not sure which way it was heading I decided to call it a day, which turned out to be a great choice. After loading the boat at Froggies I headed home. As I crossed the bridge in the back of the Powderhorn it started pouring, and boy was the lightning something. In fact I saw it appear to hit the ground several times. And then I witnessed something I have never seen before, huge puffs of smoke. Even though it was raining, there was actually large puffs of smoke after the strike. I can only imagine what that would do to you with a rod in your hand.
When I got back to Victoria it was clear and beautiful, but I was sure glad I called it a day. As I was cleaning the boat I got a text from my friend Chris wanting to fish the next day, so why not? So we made plans to go back to POC and do some red fishing and then some wading for trout.
POC 4/5/2012
The next moring Chris was wanting to catch some reds, so off to the grass banks in Big Bayuo to throw the Strike King Redfish Magic. As you all know it is my bait of choice to catch redfish, and I like it just like I like spinnerbait fishing for bass. We simply threw it to the grass and moved it at a moderate speed. One thing about that bait, when they hit it, they eat it, and they do not usually come off.
I managed to catch 2 and he caught one. As he wanted a few for the freezer in the box they went.
Headed for the freezer.
As we only had these 3 bites, it was time for a change. I headed to the Oil Cut near the Coast Guard station where we caught some trout last time. They were not in the small cuts this time, but were on any point along the cut. We were throwing plastics, and I stuck with the white. Most that we caught there were small, and even though we caught about 10 or so, only one was a keeper. So time to move, and to wade.
We headed around the old Coast Guard ruins to fish the large flat right around the corner. As we rounded the corner the birds were working hard. We anchored and jumped in and started catching them. I managed several good ones, and had a really nice one break my line. Chris caught several, but he forgot his net, and manged to have several get away. He also had a couple get away when he went to string them, just one of those moments we all have on occasion.
I ended up with 4 good ones on the stringer and Chris strung 1. As I had a rod with no mark on it I know I threw several back that would measure, so the keepers were good ones, that there was no need to measure.
That flat had lots of bait, and at times we could even see the trout slashing them. It was a good run, we just would work to the area the pelicans were diving and there they were. Most of the trout were in about 3 foot of water, at least the ones we were catching. I stayed with the white sand eel type, Chris alternated with other baits. Just to let you know, Chris was using a lot of 5″ and I used a little smaller. Seemed the bigger fish came on the smaller baits that day.
Here are the baits I threw today. The white was the most consistent, but I caught the biggest fish of the day later on the bottom bait. And the Chicken on the Chain color on the third bait was also consistent, and was the color we used on the spinnerbait.
After the bite slowed down there, and believe me they were not done, it was time for another move. We headed back to Barroom Bay to the back side of the intercoastal. One of my favorite spots is the long bank on that side. I stopped in front of the large orange Condo and in the water we went.
Chris in the water in Barroom. Just to show you, we never got any shallower than that, in fact we got chest deep and threw it as far as we could and most of them were in 4 – 5 foot of water. And notice in the background the stilt houses in Big Bayuo.
On about my fifth cast this girl came.
A CPR. Not sure how big, but I will take one like this any day!
This fish hit the 4″ paddle tail. It seemed that they were eating the smaller baits, and those that hit the 5″ seemed to come off more often. At this point I was letting it sink almost all the way to the bottom, then hopping it twice and letting it fall, and they would smack it. We caught fish there consistently for about 2 hours. By time we quit we were way off the bank throwing way out to get them. I had 2 stretches where I went 3 for 3, then 3 for 4. It was a pretty good run and we never got that far from the boat.
One of the things I did not get to do today was throw that topwater. There is tons of floating grass right now, which was to bad as the fish on the flat by the old ruins were shallow and active, a perfect combination for that topwater.
So all in all a good day. I enjoyed fishing with Chris, the fish cooperated, and the weather was great. We accomplished his goal which was some redfish. We caught trout in the three places we tried, and nothing broke. There were a couple of lessons today, first do not forget your net if you are wading, and second, make sure you have your rod marked so you know what keeps. That really is not the big a deal if you don’t care how many you keep, but if you are after a fish fry be sure you have a way to measure them.
So it is time to really start wading. We waded wet and the water was fine. So if you get a chance head to the coast. The fishing is good right now, and the weather is great. And thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.
