Fish Catching Travel
As you regulars know my trip to Keller on Monday got blown out. In fact not only no fish, not even a bite. Today was not that day. So let us just get this out of the way, and then we can really talk about the day.
First and last on a Corky.
Fish Number #2.
The bite is on!
They were not huge, but they were willing.
Electric Chicken on a 1/8oz jig head with 10lb. test.
I am sure you get the point. This went on for 3 hours on the same bank until I finally went to chase some reds.
No giant, but boy they were biting too.
Can you say Redfish Magic?
Heck let’s just try that electric chicken, and it worked too.
This was turning into fun.
I caught 5 like this out of one cut. Like the trout pictures, I quit taking redfish pictures, but you get the point.
Now that we have that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, lets talk about what happened. First, this is just a small sample of the fish I caught this afternoon. I finally quit taking pictures, you get the point, it was good, real good.
The original plan was to do some wading with a Corky, but of course I had to stop at my favorite winter trout bank in Big Bayou first. Who knew that 3 hours later I would finally leave it because I was sick of catching trout in the same place.
The tide was hauling out when I got to the Bayou. Though I caught one on a Corky, it was just running to fast as Barroom emptied into Big Bayou via a cut at the end of an island, it was screaming. So I switched to an electric chicken paddle tail on a 1/8 oz jig head and it was game on. The fish were right at the mouth of the cut and strung out all down the island below the cut.
There were a couple of factors that made for the perfect storm today. The tide was hauling, the bank had some protection from the wind, and was 3 degrees warmer than the surrounding water due to the sun shining directly on it. Last, the bank has a little mud shelf that sticks out about 8 feet from the bank before it drops into 4 foot of water, and it had lots of baitfish.
As you can see from the pictures I took, they were not big fish, but there were lots of them. It has been a while since I caught so many trout I can not even guess how many it was. The one thing that was important, you had to cast a little up current, then hop it with the current naturally. Many of the fish were in the first or second hop, and it was almost hop it a couple of times and then set the hook.
I finally just got tired of catching them there. I saw a guy watching me so I told him to come and get some, I was heading to catch a few redfish. And guess what? The first redfish in the pictures above came on my second cast with the Redfish Magic.
The water was so low that you had to stay way off any shoreline, and blind cast over the huge shallow flats, but they were there. So just going with the wind and tide I would throw it as far as I could and steady reel it. I caught 5 or 6 pretty quickly, and then had a stretch where I was fishing a warm shallow bank adjacent to a huge oyster bar when I missed a couple.
Now that is a rarity on the Redfish Magic, so I said why not, and picked up the electric chicken and re-fished the bank. And the rat reds were all over it, and I ended up catching 8 or 10. At this point I am just having a good time. After striking out Monday, this was heaven. It seemed like the fish were biting wherever I was fishing. That is what makes winter fishing what it is, when it is good, it is fabulous, but when it sucks, it sucks. I started catching fish about 10:30, and they were still biting when I quit at 4.
So what was reinforced today was that steady north winds make low tide. That when combined with a falling tide, it really hauls. That when it has been cold trout seek some deeper relief, and when that protection has a shallow flat that is protected from the wind and has the sun shining on it, they will show at some point. And like today, if you see baitfish flipping the surface, fish the crap out of it, they are there somewhere.
And presentation was important. Though I caught them throwing anywhere near the bank, it was a sure thing when I tossed it up current and hopped it with the current. It just plain wore them out.
So while I did not smack a big one today, I easily caught a limit of trout and reds. It was just plain good. With our warming temperatures, and good forecast for the coming week, the fishing should really improve. Just keep in mind north wind, tides emptying from bays and back lakes, and sunny banks out of the wind. If you can put those 3 factors together right now you will catch fish. I sure did.
So there you have it, there is not much more to be said about today. It was one of those days that keeps us all fishing. The prefect set of conditions, the right bait and color, and figuring it out before the bite was over. All came together for me today, and it more than made up for Monday’s fiasco. What next? I have not decided, but I am off to somewhere different on the Gulf. I do know one thing, I will be looking to replicate today’s pattern. So keep stopping in, I appreciate all of you. Thanks for reading my stuff.
Good Luck and Tight Lines