11/20: the TWO Ken's:
I ditched the bottom tackle and went up river and found perfect water. On the 21st while catching Trout on a rock pile we pulled up a 6 pound FRESHWATER Catfish, a Channel Cat. That right there tells ya, here's yer sign. This water is perfect. Not so damn salty. The fish want this kind of water.
But the highlight was on the 21st, we no sooner got on a spot and were fishing along and catching Yellowmouth Trout about 12-13" when Ken's rod bows over and he looks like he's fighting a pup Redfish. Nope it's a GIANT CROAKER at 17 inches.
But the excitment didn't stop there. On a jig-n-shrimp combo meal (1/4 oz.) in 8-10 feet of water he sets the hook and the drag screams...screams so fast I had to pull the anchor start the motor and chase this fish!
A 29 pound Redfish......on super L.T. (light tackle)
Yep, that huge mouth inhaled a little shrimp on a 14 oz. jig head and took off. An amazing catch on the lightest of spinning reels with not that much line on it. 20 braided line, and a 20 mono leader, with a jig with just a small 1.0 hook.
We also caught a few more Croakers, Lots of small Trout a few nice keepers, and of course the big fat Freshwater Catfish. Ended the day by getting caught in a rain storm from hell. It rained so damn hard and we had no where to go. So we got all wet from our toes to our heads and suffered thru it catching 10 more good sized Yellowmouth trout on Slab spoons and berkey gulp patches.
11/22 - HOT ROD Eduardo in the group of four
This was supposed to be a 2 person trip, but over night went to 4 persons, so I was a bit taken, because I have been fishing some tight places. Tight rock piles up river, that are full of huge snags and lots of fish if you can get thru them all. So I was apprehensive.
So I went to the same spot that the big Redfish came from yesterday. Four people can cast jigs there with minimal snags and I can stay sane while they catch versus get snagged.
Gave everyone a light spinner rod and reel and a 1/4 ouncce jig head and had a pile of live shrimp in the baitwell and cut them loose to do the catching.
Eduardo was a HOT ROD. And was using the rod and reel that caught the 29 pound Redfish yesterday. Well as he fought a big Red that I again had to let go the anchor and chase, the reel started grinding anbd skipping and was just Blown Out! From the day before's catch. But he managed to keep the fish on .
I think it was a 33 incher and about 14 pounds. And then Eduardo catches a keeper Redfish at 26", while everyone else was catching small Specks and yellowmouth Trout.
THEN.......here comes a giant Croaker again! Even larger then the one before.
A 18 inch Croaker!
There it is along side a nice 18 inch Trout and my big Fillet knife.
We get a few Sheepshead to include this massive 7 pounder.
The weather on Sunday was not great. It blew all day long and was quite damp. But the guys boxed several keeper Trout, the Redfish, Sheepshead and a pile of yellowmouth Trout.
11/23 - Another 4 person trip in the BURNING COLD! (1st huge chill of the season)
I twittered this photos of myself while preping to head out for todays charter. YEP, full Gortons fisherman attire, and I still froze to death on the ride to the spot where we started todays trip. I needed even more clothes, and some gloves would have been nice too.
The ride up river was down right brutal at 40 mph against the cold air. And once on the spot the wind still blew, making it not that much warmer. But the guys got into the Yellowmouth Trout fast and even picked up small specks, when Nestor using a Capt Dave's Approved Slab Spoon set the hook on a fish that AGAIN smoked the drag some thing fierce. Heading straight for a Crab trap float on the surface. So, I had to pull anchor AGAIN.........and chase the fish.
Another 29 pounder that drug us out in the middle of the river, around a crab trap float, and fought to the bitter end on extreme light tackle.
While besting the record from last Sunday at a 21 pound Red, with this 29 pound Red being caught on a Capt Dave's Approved Slab Spoon and a piece of Fishbites.
Here's the slpab spoon (5/8ths oz.) used in 8-10 feet of water, with a 1/0 VMC Siwash hook
A NEW RECORD FISH ON A SLAB SPOON!!
The rest of this freezing cold day consisted of just small Speckled Trout and yellowmouth Trout and not much else. Guess it's because the full moons just a few days away and the cold front may have shut down much of the bite. Not sure what the deal was. I had the guys on slab spoons and jig-n-shrimp combo meals using a 1/4 oz. jigs all day long.
IT WAS A PRODUCTIVE 4 DAYS IN A ROW. iT'S FUNNY HOW EACH DAY FOR TWP DAYS STRAIGHT WE HAD JUMBO CROAKERS, AND JUST ONE OF THEM, EACH DAY. aND EACH DAY ON THE SAME SPOT THERE WAS BIG REDS, SOME GIANTS UP IN 8-10 FEET OF WATER WHO HAD NO PROBLEM EATING A SMALL SHRIMP ON A JIGHEAD.
NEXT UP:
THE 27TH AND 28TH. AND THEN THE 30TH, AFTER TURKEY DAY.
HAVE A GOOD THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE. AND IF YOU READ THESE REPORTS WITH REGULARITY, LET ME KNOW. I'M ALWAYS CURIOUS TO WHO IS STOPPING BY MY DAILY REPORTS BLOG.