RJ Fishing October Fishing 10-20

RJ and I got up early on Sunday morning to chase the fish around the fort again.  After getting loaded up and in the water.  We were running to one of the keys off the Skyway bridge to look for some top-water fish as the tide was still falling.  There was lots of activity in the deeper water before the shallow area around the mangroves and we were thick into the lady fish right off the bat.  There is a reason they call them the poor man's tarpon because they are a heck of a lot of fun on top water.  We missed a couple of trout as well, but nothing was really doing and there was a little rain storm moving east just south of the fort right along the mouth of the bay.  It was building a little back north towards us and our first flat of the day about a mile south was covered in rain so we took off north to see if we could stay dry.  We ran a couple of miles and let the motor run a little to another mangrove island that I've seen people around from the Skyway.  Well we stayed dry and other than and a mangrove and a pinfish that was all that little run was worth.  So as the ran moved east we fired back up and headed back south and after a quick stop to check water levels we decided our best shot was back into the larger cut that we fished on Sat.

The difference a day makes though as we got into mangrove cut and there wasn't anyone but us an another kayaker.  Luckily the first oyster bar was open and even though there was not much water in there there was some activity.  The sun was just finally making an appearance as well so we could see quite a bit of the water around the mangroves.  We weren't really seeing much so we backed out a little and RJ wanted to get a little time on the poling tower so he figured it out pretty quickly and after we got back into the mullet he started pointing out redish.  There were a couple of groups of fish mixed in with the mullet and lots of big pushes and activity so instead of chasing the groups which were ignoring our shrimp on jigheads it was a time to fish a shrimp under a cork.  We anchored up and I got a shrimp tail hooked out in the mullet and it wasn't long before the cork just started swimming away.  It didn't really go down but it was moving way to fast to be a pinfish but not like a lady fish or other trash fish bite either.  I raised up on the circle hook and it came tight to a really nice overslot red.


Well that was it from that area so we moved around a little and saw some larger snook but they weren't really interested in the shrimp so with about 30 minutes left in our trip we head back to the same area that we found that keeper red on Sat.  Well the mullet were thick in there again and we got set up a little further away from the mangroves but close enough to cast to the broken water around the edges.  First cast out with a shrimp on a jig head got pounded by a perfect slot red.  

After getting that fish into the cooler we got another couple of shrimp out and I was happened to be busy when RJ was at the front of the boat when my cork rod started getting a bite.  RJ pulled a little and came tight to a twin of the fish I had just pulled in.

So two keepers in the matter of 10 minutes and a nice dance around the powerpole in the video!  We drifted a little further and saw a nice red cruising the broken water towards the mangroves.  I took a first shot at the fish and missed and RJ took a cast out in front on the moving red and a few seconds later the cork disappeared and the fight was on.  

Unfortunately, I screwed up my part with landing but it really didn't matter since we had some great video and knew that fish was easily 24 inches and solid.  By that time it was getting a little into the afternoon and we knew that RJ had a longer drive in the evening to get back home.  We did see two big reds on the way out along another shore line that I will be checking out at a later time, though.  All in all we had a great weekend and spent some much needed time for both of us on the water.  We caught plenty of fish, ate some fresh redfish tacos and had some great beer.  Couldn't ask for a better weekend.

RJ October Fishing Weekend 10-19-13

Fished with RJ this weekend so I should have enough for two blog postings.  We started off Sat morning on a flat I know pretty well now down at the fort.  It wasn't long until we were in fish on top-water.  We caught quite a few trout in and around the deeper potholes on the flat since the tide was pretty low.  We ended up with quite a few trout some pinfish, mangrove snapper and ladyfish.  We did fish a few potholes with some cut bait and only caught catfish though I did most of the catching of those little boogers.  We didn't really have many solid bites but trout were on that flat but most were smaller fish. 

So after watching another boat burn the flat looking for redfish I thought it was time to move into the mangroves as the tide was pushing in.  We got inside the large cut with everybody else fishing on Sat as well.  My first spot had a kayaker sitting in it so we let him have that oyster bar and started a little south and started looking for fish.  It wasn't long before we found a nice trout that promptly got off at the boat and some sheepshead which seriously disappointed RJ for me to release, but they punch holes into my fish bag so back in water they went.  We drifted a little with wind along the mangroves and another 2 boats came into the same 300 yard shoreline.  Well since we were stacked in there pretty tight we decided since there were fish flashing and pushing bait up against the mangroves we were all right and it wasn't long before RJ had his first snook of his career.

Yea it wasn't the big snook that we were seeing but it was a snook.  It wasn't long before the cut cleared out and we were able to move around a little easier without bumping into other boats.  We did see some larger snook moving around at the same point I had seen them a few weeks ago so, but we thought it would be better to move on down to some broken water that I had found a few weeks ago with Dr. Schuster.  The water was full of life with 1000s of mullet but we really weren't getting in bites other than pinfish even though we were seeing some redfish mixed in with the mullet so I got some cut bait and put it out in a smaller pot hole and waited.  After a few minutes I got a pretty heavy thump and pulled in dinner for the evening.

I think it went a little over 26 inches and a perfect tournament size fish but even better for dinner.  We sat there for quite a while longer and other than a 3 1/2 foot bonnet head we really didn't catch anything else even though there were so many mullet and so much activity.  We putted back over the area we started in since the tide was falling and after catching a couple of trout on the way in we put some shrimp out in the holes off the mangroves looking for those big snook that had hopefully settled in those holes during the tide change.  It wasn't long and I got past the pinfish and got a big tug on a shrimp on jighead.  bRight away I knew it was something with a little more size.  I thought snook at first since it peeled off but it wasn't long before I saw the chrome flash.  Another overslot redfish at the fort.  It's beginning to be my MO when I go down there and I'm not complaining but you can't eat a fish that big but luckily we had dinner already so I was happy to get to fight that fish.  I think it went somewhere around 29 inches and it was just barely hooked (we think the hook got dislodged when RJ landed it but still!).

After that it was getting pretty late and we knew we needed to get home and clean a fish and cook some dinner.  So after some redfish tacos and some quality beer that RJ brought we watched a little football and avoided the highlights of the UGA game.  We both were worn out and in bed early to get back after it again on Sunday. 

Hanging Stands '13

I took off to Tifton this past weekend to work at the farm and hang some stands and look at the work that Dad had done as I had been doing some work at the house as well putting together some stands for some of the bigger more consistent stands on the front side. 

We got an early start though it was already getting warm by 9:00 and after hooking up the stands to the 4-wheelers we headed across the farm to the line to hang a stand on one of our older rye grass strip.  We needed the looping shears to make sure we could get the stand up in the tree so we ran back to the cabin and grabbed those and set up the other on another hill on the way through.  Dad had done some work around that lone oak tree stand and had cut some shooting lanes and it looks really nice from the stand.

Shooting lane underneath Lone Oak Stand.

Someone will get to see at least some deer off that stand.  Hopefully, he will stick around long enough to get a crack at him.  If he comes across on a doe it might be tough but there is another shooting lane to the left of the stand and sometimes those deer hook down the creek so there could be another shot if you got lucky.  

We got the other stand up in the creek looking up the rye strip as well.

 

Younger buck from the Rye Strip Stand last year.

From there we checked one of my favorite creek stands and Dad had cleared that area out nice for a shooting lane which had gotten tighter over the past few years.  It was hard to get a quick shot in there any more so opening it back up won't impact the deer movement as they come across that area as a natural funnel between the hill and creek. 

Buck I took 2 seasons ago in that bottom.  One of the deer I saw last year would have been bigger but fortunately on that morning he got to walk since he was missing a his right antler. 

We also road the fence line that had some nice mast on last year where I got the picture of this buck... Maybe he's grown up a little.  I think everyone that sat on that stand saw him at least once and we all passed and looking at him through the pictures I think that was a good choice. 

 

By that time it was getting warm and later in the morning almost around noon so we put up one of Dad's older stand on a tree close to the cabin in an area that never gets hunted.  It looks like it's to close to the cabin but I've put Nate there before and he's seen deer as they cross that little strip of woods right there on the way around the creek to their bedding areas.  

We also pulled out the rifles to check our scopes and after a couple quick shots we were loading up and heading back to town.  

 

After a quick lunch at Dairy Queen in Sylvester we headed back to the house to get cleaned up and watch the mess was that the UGA vs Tenn game.  Luckily, we got the win but lost some key players.  Hopefully we will get a couple wins over the next weeks and get into Florida with one loss and give our younger guys a chance to get ready to play.  

Fishing w/ Dr. Schuster

I had the opportunity to fish with Dr. Schuster the other day and we had a great day out on the water at Fort De Soto.  We started off early into a pretty breezy east-north-east wind which caused us some problems early on the incoming tide.  We had lots of blow-ups on our top water but most fish seemed to just miss the plugs.  It took us a while to start catching game fish as it seemed like the pinfish were extremely active.  We also caught some mangroves on top-water as well which was new to me. 

It took some time to find some trout but we finally got into them and some bigger fish a little deeper into the drift across the flat.  We found some reds but weren't able to get them to bit so with the tide coming to a quick end we made our way out of the wind and into a more sheltered place in a mangrove enclosed area.  I got up on the poling platform and worked our way down the mangrove shore line looking for fish and we found some fish during the slack water time but the just wouldn't bite.  We saw some big reds and saw a very large group of big snook cruising up on the oyster bar that we would go back and target a little while later. 



We decided to go check out a hole that I had found on google earth and when we got there we saw a bunch of mullet and started seeing quite a few nice redfish so we put the powerpole down and started blind casting into the broken water and in and around the mullet schools.  It wasn't long before Dr. Schuster had on a nice red.  Unfortunately, the knot broke and it came off right at the boat...  Well we didn't catch anymore from that group and we never found them again so it was getting later in the day so we decided to pole one more time around the mangroves to sight fish a little while longer.  Not to long into looking we started spotting fish but those fish were pretty spooky and very hard to see. 

Our best fish of the day was a sheepshead which are usually pretty hard to catch but we fooled this one 5 feet from the boat.  Dr. Schuster made a good cast to the laid up sheepshead and it chased down the shrimp but missed it on the first try.  It was like that sheepshead had never eaten as Dr. Schuster killed the retrieve and the shrimp sank back down and the fish chased it down and killed it.  After a brief fight around the back of the boat we had up in the boat for a quick look and back in the water. 

Right around the next corner we came up on some oyster bars and saw a couple of larger fish moving up against the mangroves and Dr. Schuster made a good cast up to them as they swam towards us and both of the reds swam right over the shimp.  He made another quick cast and as they turned down the mangroves and both of us were pretty sure one of them looked like it was heading towards the shrimp but about that time we see a fin hit the water right over the reds as a 3 to 4 ft. bonnet head must have come up from deeper water to investigate all the activity and ruined that for us. 

From there we ended up spooking 10+ very large snook in groups of 2 or 3 every 50 to 100 ft down the mangrove line.  Unfortunately, they were sitting in 3-4 of water about where I was poling the boat and they were very hard to see.  Something I'm going to have to remember for that area and the location of where to cast too under those conditions.  Good day on the water and we both learned a little bit about site casting and fish holding areas that we would normally float over.