Late May fishing with Vance

Fished with Vance this Memorial Day weekend and did pretty well on some early summer patterns.  As usual we ran down from EG south towards Cockroach.  The bay was a little rough heading down but we quickly made it to the first flat.  We were fishing an incoming high tide so we thought we would drift for some early morning trout.  The water was slightly off-colored from the outgoing tide and wind blown water so we had problems finding the sand holes early on under the low light conditions but we found some underslot trout after we found some clearer water as we got back a little shallower on our drift. 

As we got shallow we started noticing more activity and found some mullet jumping as well so we were both thinking that this might be the place to find a redfish.  It wasn't long after that when I pitched in a pothole to watch the cork disappear and start screaming across the flat.  I was rewarded with a nice right underslot redfish that got it's picture taken and put in the cooler.

We ended up fishing that area for a while and let the current take us by the mangroves looking for snook but there none to be found so we headed out and further down south to set up another drift and get set up to get into the backcountry.

We motored around the the front of Cockroach and set up a drift towards the mangroves and by the end of the drift we had caught a couple more smaller trout and completed the trash can slam (cats, ladys and pins).  With not much trout action and with the current quickly peaking we figured it was time to head to some summer holes inside so we got on the trolling motor set up casting up against the mangroves.  We didn't have a single bite at the first stop until we were about to move where I got a small red about 20 ft from the boat.  We had gotten a little to close to the mangroves so we decided then to head to the cut to hopefully pick up some more reds and maybe a snook.

We get set up and the current was flowing quickly under the mangroves which is perfect for this hole so we proceeded to get some shrimp out there.  It was quickly determined that Vance's set up was a tad to long so I handed him my rod to fix his leader length and the cork disappeared!

It was the perfect size red for dinner and it had multiple spots and was really bronze.  It wasn't long before Vance found another red and this one we got on some video.

 

 

I got on the board in that hole as well and by the time the tide died in a hour or so we had pulled out over a half dozen nice reds up to 22 inches.  Some were right at the slot but they were spunky and fun to pull in.  We had a couple solid strikes that we missed as well with one memorable strike on a pinfish.  From there the tide was quickly dying so we eased out back to the channel and then a quick run back to EG to clean some fish and get home!

Vance sent me the picture from his grill and we had some redfish tacos for dinner so all in all a great day!

 

May fishing with Dudley and Linden

Fished this morning with Dudley and his son Linden.  We had a great start out of EG with a good run south we pulled up on the slick calm flat.  I jumped up on the poling platform and I had them start with some topwater baits to see if we could get on the board quickly.  Well we had a fast blow up right off the sandbar and after working closer the mangroves we had already missed a couple of fish.  Linden had a big blow up as well but for some reason the fish just missed the lure.  They seemed to be short striking and we ended up missing a lot of fish until Dudley got on the board with a small trout. 

We fished some pushes with no luck and so we pulled back to Schuster's hole.  After a couple of missed fished I pulled out a keeper sheapshead.   We pulled out a trout as well, but no redfish.  I think the couple of fish that took the shrimp away from were reds but thats fishing for sure.  By that time the tide was slowing down so we worked some mangroves and decided to run a little south.  We saw some activity out towards the marker off the Cockroach launch channel so we pulled out to see what was going on.  There was a tremendous about of bait out there.  We tried dropping a lure underneath but nothing so we fired but up and ran into the backcountry.

We got to the hole on the last part of the incoming and caught quite a few short trout.  They weren't very large but they were great fun to catch.  We then had some lunch and a tour around the backcountry and it was back to the flat that we started the morning off to drift for some trout.

The current was strong after the tide had switched back to an outgoing and it wasn't long before we knew we were on to the right pattern.  After crossing the sandbar I was rewarded with a nice 20+ inch trout and we caught a couple more shorter trout with some solid fish missed.  Linden scored on a really nice flounder.

We saw a couple more rather larger trout as well.  I insisted that we check out Schuster's hole again before we drifted the flat and after no fish but a stingray we went back for one last drift over the trout area.  It wasn't long into the drift and on one of the final shrimp that this fish struck.

 He measured 25 inches on the tape and had plenty of girth as well.  When it hit I knew it was something large so I was thinking it was a nice red but as it got closer both Linden and I saw that huge mouth and knew it was a rather large trout.  After some wrangling around the boat I was able to flip it onto the deck.  It only took me 3+ years to catch a trout larger than the fish that Kate caught a few years ago with me but today I succeeded.  After that we picked up and moved out back to the ramp to get home.  Everyone got some great fish to take home as well!

Overall even though we didn't get onto any reds you can't complain about bringing home some dinner and catching a couple of really solid trout.

Quick Weedon Island Trip

This was my position most of the afternoon as I drifted the flats looking for reds, trout and snook.  The noon started off slow with just a couple of pinfish until I got up to the potholed flat that I've fished with John before.  After just drifting a few hundred yards I had seen more big redfish than I probably had ever seen at one time.  Most every open sand hole had a rather larger redfish in the bottom of it.  Unfortunately, they were extremely spooky and every cast sent those fish flying off their holes.  I was fishing a circle hook with a shrimp head hooked with a small pinch on weight to drive it to the bottom but after watching a nearby boat hook up on free lined white bait I knew my rig had to be modified if I was going to catch one of these fish.


So I took off the weight and then tailed hooked the shrimp for more scent and easier casting and made another pass across the area.  I had a couple of quick misses so I knew I was on the pattern even though you had to make much longer casts in order for the shrimp to sink the 2 ft to the fish.  Finally, I had a red lined up perfectly facing away from me so I could throw over the top and reel back to the fish to present the shrimp perfectly.  He came up out the hole chasing the shrimp, missed twice and finally picked it up on the third try as I drove the hook home.  After a quick fight and a picture I was back on the hunt.

 

I started back across the flat and hooked up on a rather large trout with a huge gash across the dorsal fin but I was unable to land as the hook came off at the boat.  I guess the Ospreys have been working that area as well and maybe the reason why the fish were spooky.


I turned back with the wind and drifted in order to be as quiet as possible and went over the holes with the larger fish in them again.  Half way through the drift I spot a larger red out in front of the boat that would be a great target.  I put a good cast in on the fish and it responded by chasing down the shrimp and picking it almost off the top of the water and then it was off to the races.  The video below is after two blistering runs that didn't get on camera (*click picture below).

After that I had it dialed in but the tide was quickly coming to an end and I caught one more red and another fish that I didn't know what it was before the tide died.  I jumped up out of there and ran back to the launch under some great conditions to open up the motor a little which has been few and far between lately.

Fishing Early May w/ John and Lindsay

Got out with John and Lindsay looking for some inshore fish around Cockroach.  After a quick run from EG Simmons we pulled up on the flat to plenty of water though it was still pretty off-colored from the recent rains and wind we've had over the past couple of days.  We decided with the tide already pushing in that we would get right up in the mangroves in Schuster's Hole.  There was plenty of activity around the hole and by the time I could hand the rod to Lindsay and turn around it doubled over with a nice solid red.  After a quick fight she had her first redfish in the boat for pictures and the cooler. 

We spent the next few hours working that hole and others around the outside shore line looking for some more fish.  We ended up with a handful more smaller reds right at 18 inches or so.  We also got onto a couple of trout up to 15 or so inches and I completed the slam for us with a nice 20+ inch snook.  I wasn't paying attention to my cork and the next thing I knew the line came tight with a good solid fish.  Luckily the circle hook was in the perfect place so I was able to get him to the boat even on some light flouro.  I guess it's time to step to 20+ lb leader material! We fished for a little while longer and the wind kicked up as predicted so we got a little wet on the ride home but it was well worth the effort. 

Weedon Island April Fishing

Fished Weedon with Tony this weekend and though we didn't have bait we had plenty of good luck finding fish. 

We started off with some puffer fish which seemed to be everywhere and then poled around trying to find some reds or trout.  Well we got around some pot holes a little while into the drift and I spotted a fish from the platform and Tony spotted a different fish from the front of the boat and made a perfect cast and was rewarded with a really heavy 27 inch red. 

I thought we were on the fish then so we worked the area and zig-zagged across the area with no luck.  We only spooked a couple more fish off the flat so we poled down the mangroves looking for fish.  Then we ended up in the Christmas Hole which is an absolute great looking hole that many of the guides like to fish.  After watching a big red swim off from the top of the hole we eased into the run as the current was rushing down the edge of the mangroves.  We were rewarded with a couple of lady fish and one solid smaller red from the run.  Then we moved into the flat behind the hole looking for fish and though we didn't find many fish I think the tide needs to be a little higher in there before the fish get all they way back up into the mangroves. 

From there it was around lunch so we ran out and back to the launch to wash the boat and run some errands.  

Smithgall Woods and the Hunt for Big Fish

Fished Smithgall Woods with Greg, Sam and Joe the other weekend.  We started the morning looking for fish along the high and off-colored Hooch through Helen which was almost unfishable with fly rods though the spin fishers were having a good morning.  Well we knew that we had reservations at Smithgall so we were still excited about the day even though it was off to a slow start.

We got to Smithgall and after some stream-side Wendys and a quick throw of the Frisbee it was time to get loaded up and on the river.  Since there was a turkey hunt going on the only section open was section 1 so we started at the culvert hole.  I drew the short straw so I was first up and rewarded with a quick 10 inch trout.  I jumped out and the next guy was up.  We did that for a little while playing leapfrog in the hole and caught a couple of fish.

We caught some smaller fish and then Joe hooked into something a little larger and the race was on downstream.

There were a couple of bigger fish hooked in the run but we were unable to land them.  So we ended up with a few fish out of that hole so we split up and started looking for fish upstream.  We got to the pavilion hole which was running pretty fast and we caught a couple of small fish on the outside seam but before moving again.  I found a run just downstream of that hole and started nymphing and before I had made that many casts I was up to 5 fish.  They were sitting in the back and though none were larger than 16 inches they were active and feeding on midges.  I jumped out and ran back up to get Sam to see if any of them were still biting for him.  We got back into the hole and we discussed how to get the flies down to them and made a few casts and before you knew it Sam had his first trout on a fly rod.

He ended up with another pretty quickly and broke off on a fish way up in the run that hit his flies like a freight train so by that point it was time to get back up with Greg and Joe so we hustled back down to find them back in the culvert hole.

Well it didn't take long for Greg to figure out the run as well and the video says it all.

Greg was faster than I was and the fish was faster than both of us.  Just off screen that fish took off and was flying downstream by the time Greg caught up with him.   It seemed to be the story of the day for sure.  The fish were just faster than we were though we ended up catching quite a few fish as usual the big fish find ways to break you off or come unglued.  Still I love that stream and seeing that many smaller fish in there shows me that the stream is back on the way up. 

Fishing Smith's Creek DH

Fished Smith's creek on an awesome day with some good buddies last weekend.  It was about the only creek we could fish doe the rain we had the previous evening so after a couple of early morning phone calls we all met up at Unicoi to talk shop before heading on to Smiths.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that no one had fished the creek for a few days and that the water was only slightly high and slightly stained.

We decided it would be a great day to start off with big impressionistic flies so usually our go to flies in that situation are worms and woolly buggers.  So we hit the water hard and spread out.  By the time we had met back up in a couple of hours we had landed a few fish each.

We joined up at the culvert hole and went on to catch quite a few more fish and I got to the slam pretty quickly.

 

And we had a few tree fish as well.

We also got some good video of some fishing coming to the net and getting released.

After lunch we worked down stream and found some fish short of the retention pond but nothing after that. 

We worked back to the culvert hole and rewarded with a couple of late afternoon trout.

 I was trying to get a picture but it turned into an action shot of a release.

By that point it was time to head back into town and grab a taste of Bavaria from a local place in town.  The food was great and the beer tower was the perfect way to end the evening.