Fish Catching Travel
Todd, alias tmart, was down at POC for the weekend and I was lucky enough to get to fish with him. Since his first trip there last year, he has managed to get down here almost once a month and is really getting the hang of it. We waded the first time when I fished with him last year and he has stuck with it.
We started on the flat running on the back side of the barge canal. We drifted around the little point and managed to put a couple of keeper trout in the boat. We caught 5 or 6 there and tmart had several blow ups on a topwater. One of the ones he caught was approaching his personal best trout. Several of them hit it while it was resting on top, and that happened several times during the day. The wind was just blowing out of the north east and was making it just a little to rough and they were missing it. I threw the Rage Shrimp in the white/chartreuse on a popping cork, which I stayed with most of the day.
Then we hit the first grass bank on the left going in to Big Bayou and caught several more trout, and I caught this flounder, again on the Rage Shrimp. And I do not want to belittle the point, but I used the same one all day. It continues to amaze me that you can catch fish on it, and unless you catch the mother load, it will last all day. The last one I had Clyde caught all of his fish on last week and it looked like brand new. The only reason it isn’t still on is that a lady fish bit it off.
Not a bad flounder. I have always considered it a success when I put a Texas slam on ice. And why we did not take a couple of more pictures I do not know. Yes I do, neither of us would stop fishing long enough to take some.
We then headed to the back side of Grass Island to fish the flat and reef. Though the bottom is soft there, it is not to bad for wading. I started off catching a trout on plastic on my first cast there, and since it was somewhat protected by the wind, off course I picked up a topwater.
I had 3 or 4 hits on it, but did not put a hook in any of them. Who knows, wrong color, to fast, to slow? Whatever it was, I could not get them to eat it. So back to the Rage Shrimp, and that was better as I caught about 6 trout there, 2 of which went in the cooler. I had one that probably made it, and tmart had the same, but they were close enough that they got cut lose. And of course when I put those others in the box we realized we both let a keeper go.
We decided to finish the day where we started on the flat in Barroom. I put a good red in the boat on a Skitter Walk. It was one of those cool topwater bites where he tracks it making the big wake, then his head comes out of the water, and he eats it in a big boil. I love those kind of bites. tmart also had several good reds on, which somehow managed to get away, both on plastics and topwater. He switched to a black/chartreuse head and hooked a good one right away, and it too came off at the boat.
It was getting late and as we finished up we saw a big school of reds working the bank. And as they had been biting the whole evening on that bank, we thought we might be able to put a couple of more in the boat before it was pitch black. Then something happened that was the worst off all the “come on man” moments I have experienced.
You know I preach a be nice to others philosophy on the water. Even when people move in on us, or someone cuts us off, it is just the better to go on than fight it. And I often see guides complaining online about being cut off, and hear stories from others about what happens when you cut off a guide, and then we had just the opposite occur.
As it is getting dark we move towards the red school when I see the lights coming way down the same bank. We put on the front and rear running lights and keep fishing when here they come. It was 2 big air boats, full of hunters, and I can only assume guides as both boats are traveling together. And as they approach us I keep thinking, they are not going to do that are they?
Well folks, unbelievably these knuckleheads, who I assume think they own the bay, go between us and the shore. Now we are about a big cast length from the bank sitting in 2 foot of water and these inconsiderate, self important, I am a big bad dude who owns the bay, run right over our fish. They were not over a cast length from our boat. Of course there was only a big open, empty bay behind us.
This was not a case of someone who does not know the rules, or is unsure where to run, or how the game is played. This was just out and out selfish, with a total disregard for us. I just do not understand how this happens. Is it some inherent, I am more important than you, thinking? You know what I am talking about, I have the fancy boat and folks who are paying me money, and since I make my living here I have some right to the water that the rest of you peons do not enjoy. Or is it just plain what I think it is, you folks are just in my way and since I am the most important person in this world I can do whatever I want, the rest of you be damned? Good grief!
So thanks for letting me vent. It just has been a while since someone who knows better did something that stupid. Suffice to say we put up the rods and called it a day. As far as how many we caught I have no idea. In fact, I know I put 4 trout, a red or two, and a flounder in the box. I am not sure how many tmart added to the mix, and since he volunteered to clean fish and I headed home, I have no clue how many keepers we had. I do know we caught fish everywhere we tried.
I got a text from tmart this morning, who has fished the whole weekend, and he says the reds are just eating it up. He has continued to catch on plastics and topwater. The fall bite is finally here and if you love the bay now is the time to go. Traffic is way down, and the fish are biting.
And it was great to spend the day with tmart. He is a good fisherman and a gentleman. I have enjoyed fishing with him both times, and we will keep it up. So thanks for stopping by and reading my stuff. I am headed to Coleto in the morning, then maybe one more day on the bay Tuesday, before heading out to do the family thanksgiving thing in Arkansas.
One last thing. Did anyone else read the same thing I did about the engine manufacurors starting to void the warrenty on some motors if they are on a jack plate? I wish I had remembered to write it down. So if you have, drop me a note so that I can post it here for folks to read. Thanks.
Good Luck and Tight Lines
