Fish Catching Travel
Things have kind of conspired against me as far as getting out and catching a few fish the last week. I did not plan to fish the weekend, and of course we got a good cool front with high winds that put a damper on things early this week, but I was able to make it to the Gulf yesterday, and the fishing was good.
When I was in the tackle store the other day listening to the chatter, it seemed everyone who fished last weekend on the Gulf had a good bite right before the front. There are fish being caught in the barge canal, on Corkies, in the river, topwater, in apparently most places. So with those good reports off to POC I headed.
The tide was supposed to be dead low at 10:30, and then rise all afternoon. And to go along with it, the wind was going to be around 10 mph. So with that in mind I headed to POC. I put the boat in, and burned about $3 worth of gas to run to the Barroom Bay shoreline. I chose it specifically because the timing would be right, a steady rise all day. For once picking the right bank based on the tide alone worked out.
The bank on the backside of the barge canal in Barroom has a big flat down the whole side, with grass patches on the edge of the drop. When I got there the grass was in about 2′ of water, and the flat was dry. I hoped to hit the rise just right as it flooded the flat.
I stopped about half way down the bank and hopped out. Right off the bat I caught a rat red. That would be the first of well over 15 rats I caught and released on that bank. I basically waded about half of that bank, fishing a while, then moving the boat. As I did not start until after 11:00, I decided that I would make a stand on that bank and not move.
Over the next few hours the fishing was very consistent. I caught all the fish on the D.O.A. C.A.L. in the Electric Chicken. This has been my best saltwater bait for the last few months. It catches everything that swims.
Here is the 3″ electric chicken that I have been catching on for a couple of months now. I did pick up some 5″ in the electric chicken, it is getting time to catch a big trout.
This time of year as the fish slow down, and when combined with the dropping temperatures, I fish this bait on a 1/16th oz. jig head and 10lb. line. It allows the bait to fall a little slower, and also you can work it slower without getting hung up so much. Just hop it off the bottom with a double jerk, and let it fall. Right now I am feeling about half of them hit it, the rest are there when you lift up. That is what makes that hop off the bottom so important. You often hook them without even feeling the bite.
Been a while since I caught a nice heavy flounder like this one, and boy did he taste good last night!
Basically I stayed in water a little over knee deep and fished the outside edge of the grass. Most of the time I fished parallel, working the grass edge. It was one of those days when you just never knew what would hit next. But one thing was real clear, if you miss one, throw it right back in the same spot and you will probably catch one on the next cast. That happened multiple times yesterday. I did throw both Crokie and topwater without success. But since the bite was so consistent, I did not throw them long.
Conservatively I caught well over 25 fishing the grass edge. Of those only 5 ended up on the stinger, but who cares. For me as you know, I love to catch the inshore slam of a keeper redfish, trout, and flounder. Yesterday I even topped that by adding a black drum to the mix.
Here is my inshore slam, not sure what you call it when you add a black drum, but I sure did like catching them. Eating them will be just as fun!
So all in all a good trip. The fish bit all the way until I quit about 4. One thing I have learned right now is that while bank choice is of course the most important thing, you can catch fish anywhere you like to fish. Be it the river, the barge canal, isolated reefs, they all seem to have fish on them right now. So if you get a chance to go, go. Some times we get hung up on going “where they are biting.” Fishing is about figuring them out, so if you do go, don’t put all your stock in reports, do what you do best, where you do it best. The fish are biting on the Gulf, and there is no better time to catch some fish.
So thanks for reading my stuff. It is about 9:30 am and I just can not decide where I am going to go today. The Gulf? Coleto? Oh the choices! So no matter what, I will make a decision in the next hour, and off I will go. I still have an order from the Yankees up north for some crappie for the Christmas fish fry. And since I only have one in the freezer, I better do something about that soon. Oh the pressure!
Good Luck and Tight Lines
