Decided right out of the gate to turn due east and head out the inlet in search of the magical "POGIE". Them little slimmers are the ticket for big reds. And I had a plan all laid out.
"Go get some Pogies, then hit the inside of the jetties. Anchor up, and as the tide fell we'd pull reds to the boat"....yeah, just like last Saturday.
Well the jetties were a mess. Slop City!
And as I rounded the south tip of the rocks, the wind hit us in the face, and so did the salty spray of a nice wind chop on what I was hoping to be "Lake Atlantic".
First mistake....listening to forecasts!
So we ran around the rocks and to the beach. I marked all kinds of small scattered little fish on my sounder. And let me say on thing about bottom scopes. The most valuable thing on my machine is the A-scope feature, when scanning the bottom for a nest of Pogies. It gives a view of what is exactly under the boat, versus the history while building the screen. If you ever need a new bottom scope, make sure it has an A-scope feature. I love mine, because it works!
I made a few tosses with the cast net and came up with some "horn bellies", little jack like bait fish not good for anything in my book. So was the horn bellies what I was marking?
Hmmmm, could be.
About that time, the Pelicans were coming from off the beach. "Time for breakfast!"
Usually they are your best friend when searching for Pogies. They have a way better vantage point than you do. A few dove towards some Pogies, obvious only to them. But....in the sloppy seas. I saw zero. But as the sun got higher, I spotted a few flips on the surface.
"There they are boys", I told George and Pete. A boat ahead of us took off south, I suppose not willing to patiently wait it out. Well, I'm frugal, and have more patience than fuel to waste riding in this chop.
I made two tosses of the net, and hit pay dirt.....all the pogies we'd need. Back to the jetties we went.
HOLY MOTHER OF ALL CREATURES....the swell was at least 4-6 feet and folding in the middle of the channel between the jetty rocks. I went to where I wanted to anchor. Hemmed and hawed and went back on inside. No way we can fish in that! Then, I felt I was second guessing myself. So I turned back around and went back on out for a second look. I could have anchored where I wanted too. But would it be worth it? That's the big question.
There goes my plans!!!
As usual, I sided with caution and headed back over to the south Jetty. It was relatively calm and nice just outside the south tip. So we anchored up. Tossed out a few Pogies and sat.
Well, the reason you hire me, is not for what I do, obviously not because I try to have the very best in tackle for you (most people wouldn't know the difference) But the biggest reason should be; T.O.W - "time on the water." And the short and sweet of that is, the GUT feelings I get.
And my Gut told me, we were wasting our time here after 15 minutes. The current was all wrong.
So we bid farewell to the jetties and headed up river.
I immediately knew exactly where I wanted to go. Because with all that time farting around getting the Pogies, the tide fell dramatically (Full moon is on Friday!!) and this next spot should be "IT".
And "IT" it was......
We weren't there long at all, and before ya know it the rods started to double over.
I've been using my custom Biscayne Float-rig rods with their Shimano Curado 300 DSV's for light bottom fishing the past few trips. And man do I love those rigs. It's an absolute pleasure fishing good ole fiberglass rods again.
Here's George with his biggest Red to date a 31" 12 pounder that kicked his butt!
These Redfish were super copper colored. The deep dark bronze fish are pure "river reds".
So after releasing this fish carefully, it was time for another quickly because we could loose the slight current we had at any moment. That's the way this spot is.
And then it was Pete's turn.
I'm not really liking having to use my camera phone for taking charter photos.
These two are the only photos out of 5 I took that turned out. The screen is way too small to see what I'm taking photos of.
Looking forward to getting my boat camera back from repairs.
As I knew, the current quite right after Pete's 28-1/2 inch Redbass. So we made a move.
Hoping for more "sweet lips" as George called the Reds, we ended up in a nest of 4-5 pound Jacks. Which wasn't a bad thing, George and Pete had fun with them. Or at least the ones that actually ate our Pogies. Most of the time they just ripped the pogies to shreds. But we still caught a handful of "pullers".
By now it was getting really low tide. So the guys tried their hands at Float-rig fishing. And found that it wasn't as easy as fishing a pole holder and a circle hook for the Reds.
But after a few spots they caught a couple Trout, a Ladyfish and a pupper Red.
The tide was flooding in by now so we had a sandwich and headed back to the dock.
I told George and Pete that in the year 2009 so far, I believe I've had actually 2 to 4 what I would call windless days. Ten knots or less from any direction would be considered windless.
Or at least calm days at the jetties....I'll add that too.
But persistence and patience paid off today for sure when it came to catching good Redbass bait.
Next up:
Thursday, 2 adults and a three year old (???) half'ish day.
Friday, two guys ready to fish.
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Memorial day fishing plans?????
Reserve NOW!!!
