Last week I said that I was experiencing redfishing even better than my best days in August. Guess what? The last few days have simply been some of the best, ever. Period. It’s not just the numbers of fish, it’s how their feeding. Each and every day we’ve being seeing lots and lots of “waking” schools of fish…fish hammering bait, you name it. Almost every fish we’ve caught has been sight casting.
Don’t wait – if you want to experience some of the best redfishing you can ever experience…now is the time.
9-21 – This morning I had the pleasure of fishing with Scott and Don – two grateful individuals who purchased their trip via a CCA auction last winter. They are big nuese-river striper guys and were dying to get some nice reds. Not only were they really excited to get out, but they were handsomely rewarded for their donation to the CCA.
With 2 minutes of putting the trolling motor down, Scott landed the first red of the day – a 24 incher. Then, mere minutes later. we looked down the shoreline to see a massive wake coming towards us – a huge school of fish came cruising down the bank, popping and busting shrimp as they went. As they came close, both guys cast right to them – each getting a hook-up instanly!!! Better yet, I got it all on video – so look for it soon!
We worked our way down a mile of shoreline, finding fish everywhere – singles, small schools – huge schools. Whenever we found the shrimp, we found the fish…and they were busting them. After about 2 hours of this, we decided to look for some tailers – and we found them on our first stop. A small school was making a lot of noise on a grass flat – and they were very agressive. We landed 2 and lost 2 more, getting EXLOSIVE strikes on spinnerbaits cast and retrieved like buzz-baits.
All day long we found schools of fish – for 6 hours it was constant action. School after school after school of fish. I spent the entire time on my tower of a poling platform – watching reds work shrimp and pass by the boat. I lost count of the fish we caught and we lost 3 times as many as we landed (including one biggun that probably would have gone 32 or 33″). Don landed the fish of the day – a 23 spotter (12 on side, 11 on the other)!. Over the course of the day we saw probably 15 different schools of fish ranging in size of 5-6 fish to 100+
As the tide dropped out to nothing, we tried a few trout holes to no avail – but even so, it’s almost speckled trout time!
I look forward to havin’ y’all back again and good luck with the stripers this winter!
9-22 – This morning I fish with my friend McDavid, and we were out after the reds. We found them almost immeadiatly when a medium-sized school (20-30 fish) came waking down the bank, smacking shrimp – and less than 3 minutes into fishing, a big 26″ slot fish smacked a spinnerbait the instant it hit the water. After that it was schools of reds action all day – big schools and small schools. Waking, pushing shrimp, you name it. We boated about 6 fish between 26 and 29″ including a “no spotter” that I landed. We took a quick detour to look for tailers – finding three and getting a good shot at 2 of them.
The big surprise came right in the middle of the morning – on back to back casts, McDavid landed two really nice specks (16″ and 18″) on a spinnerbait. Awesome!! We saw a lot of trout popping shrimp off the shorelines today – if you see a small shrimp running for it’s life..with a well-timed, accurate cast and you can get them to nail a spinnerbait, DOA shrimp or a top-dog. A few more rats and a few more slot fish, and McDavid landing a short flounder – accomplishing his inshore slam!! I followed shortly thereafter, landing another short flounder…and we both achieved half-a$$ inshore slams. Awesome! With all the trout we’re starting to see, we’re only days away from the huge catches I can experience this time of year – last year we had days of 300+ fish!!!
We ended the day watching a huge school of reds (75-100 fish) come charging down the bank, pushing a huge wake – a quick double-header and we made our way back to the barn. AWESOME DAY!
9-23 – This mornign I had the pleasure of fishin with Larry and Chris – both experienced fishermen who have never caught a redfish. The wind switched to the SW today and, while it was light to begin with, began to build fast. Typically that would have me worried that the bite would turn off – but there were so many fish around that i knew we had nothing to worry about.
On our first stop we found a huge school of fish slamming shrimp – Chris landed one on his 2nd cast. Within 30 minutes we put 3 slots and numerious rats in the boat before the wind made us search out a more sheltered areas. Our next 3 quick stops produced nothing, so i decided to make a long run to find a more sheltered shoreline – and we were rewarded.
Within minutes Larry landed a nice upper-slot fish on the blind and we found a small school slamming shrimp in and around an old boat hull. And, for the entire rest of the morning and afternoon – it went on just like that. Every couple of hundred yards we either saw a school of reds waking or busting bait or we caught a fish or two. It was blowing 20 out of the SW and the fish were chewing at every stop.
We ended the day finding a big school of slot fish stacked up in a tiny creek (3′ wide and 2′ deep) – quickly landing two fish before calling it a day.
Awesome day guys – I can’t wait to have y’all back!
