9/20-9/21 – New Boat, Tailin’ Reds and TONS MORE REDS

9/20 – I said the redfish would be scared – and on Tuesday my friend Captain Scott Crocker and myself decided to break in my new Jones by chasin some reds in the marsh. However, we decided not to do the usual – we wanted to stalk tailin’ reds in 6-12″ of water.

Reds don’t tail in North Carolina you say? Now, I have to say – I am very privledged to be privy of this information. My friend Captain Gordon Churchill was very kind to teach me the ropes of this very special fishery.

So there Captain Scott and I were – poling through the middle of a shallow grass flat. It wasn’t five minutes before we spotted our first fish – a big 35-28″ fish crusing with his ENTIRE BACK OUT OF THE WATER. I chased him for probably 15 minutes before I placed the perfect cast and he pounced on my weedless jerkbait with so much force it looked like someone through a grenade in the marsh. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the hook in him and he came off probably 10 seconds into the fight. I don’t care that I lost him – seeing that fish made my week.

We spooked probably 10 more fish before we found an opening in the grass where we saw three individual fish tailing in plain sight. It was scott’s turn and as we worked towards the fish we stopped me abruptly and wispered he saw a fish less than 10 feet from us – it was then that I saw a tail flick among the grass and scott DANGLED his bait from his rod tip and a beautiful red came out of the water and inhaled his lure at our feet. Scott was very privledged to land this gorgeous fish.

I’ll leave the report at that – we saw many, many fish on this very special day. Simply put, chasin’ tailers is some of the most amazing fishing (actually – hunting) that I’ve ever done. Unfortuantely I dont have any good photos of tailin’ fish – I was too busy stalking them…

(pictures at the end)

9/21 – After chasing tailers yesterday, Scott and I decided to go scout some schools of reds for the upcoming weeks. After casting netting a bunch of shrimp for dinner we headed WAY back in the backwaters to find some drum. That’s what’s so special about my new little rig – she’ll go where many skiffs can’t go!

Once we reached our spot – it tooks mere seconds. Bang- fish, after fish after fish. Not every day can be like this – but in 2.5 hours we caught over 30 reds. While many were 14-20 inches, we landed a half-dozen in the 27-30″ range. It’s amazing how much line these fish can take! MY clients should be ready – there are some serious reds out there right now. I have plenty of dates open and the perfect boat to chase them with!

9/20 – Tailin’ Photos

This fish…