Last night I had a call asking about the water conditions from Redfish Ray. His plan was to go out with his kayak. I had no information to give him except from the banks. My bay boat is getting a major overhaul and I have been going through withdrawals. After a 5 minute conversation he had Rich bring his 21 Blazer Bay instead of his kayak and I was invited to join them for the day. We met at Joshua's Marina under an awesome sunrise. Was this going to be the highlight of the day or was this only the beginning of a beautiful day.



At our first area was on the dirty side with a good water floe . We made a few casts and did not "feel" the area. We decided to go to an area about 10 miles away. This was a very shallow place but if we could get in there we had a chance of finding some slot redfish. We shut down the big motor and started trolling the edges of this vast shallow marsh. Without any water moving ray suddenly is in for his biggest battle of the day.



He was not very happy with his hookup because we were looking for slot size redfish for the dinner table. This guy was pulling the boat all over the place and scattering other sheepshead and reds out of the area. This monster managed to stir up the water enough that we moved on after we took a picture and released it.



Just up ahead we had some water moving around some bogs and it looked like a good place to once again begin out adventures. Almost at once Ray hooks up with yet another big redfish. It looks like like our hunt for food is not going well.



As Ray was putting this beautiful fish back Rich hooks up to our first slot red for the day on a gulp shrimp. I decide to change my setup more toward the type of bait they are using. We were using plastics all day. On my first cast with the new setup I get a hit and loose it. 2 casts later and a nice slot red takes my Vu Du shrimp. This would only be our second one in the box.



With the water about 2 to 3 feet and crystal clear the fish could see us better than we could see them. Many of them were beautifully colored and I hope the next time they are caught they will still maintain the same brilliance.



Our search went on most of the day with us seeing a very good bunch of big redfish but we could not get them to hit. Most of the time they would outright spook or rush to our bait only to stop short and turn.



Near the end of the day, with only 2 fish in the box, we slipped into a dead end canal and found a bunch of rat reds with a few keepers in the mix. Before Ray got the anchor pole down I had a slot red on. This was my second strike on my first cast and the action began. Ray takes a cast and lands a nice flounder. From there on we must have tickled every fish in there. we had doubles and went 3 to 4 casts straight with fish on. We had to get over 50 fish for the day but only ended up with 1 flounder and 10 reds in the box.



Thanks again Ray for the invite and great meeting you Rich. Like your Blazer Bay.

2016 is underway.

Life is Good!


Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM

Nice post and some super nice fish. Good job.