Sat my fishing partner was good old dad. We met up in Tally at 7am, at the light house by 8 and were fishing by 8:30. Our starting point was Stony bayou targeting a few holes as the last of the falling tide emptied out of the creeks. The first hole didn’t produce anything. The next spot only about a hundred yards away wasn’t much better with only one trout being caught. It was a quality fish that measured just over 21’ but trout wasn’t the species of choice for the day. We were after reds! By now the tide is starting to come in but we still needed to waist 30 min or so before we had enough water to relocate farther east. There was a little too much ripple on the water to sight fish so we made the call to drift through a deeper run in the creek/river. On the second cast of that drift I hook up with the target species. It was a small red going 20 inches, not the biggest but still a beautiful fish. My dad ends up hooking a fish maybe a min later that pulled some serious drag. At first we started getting a little excited but then he noticed it just wasn’t fighting like a red normally does. Sure enough after 10 min a 15lb shark is boat side. Again it was fun but not what we were looking for. By now we have enough water to make the run farther east and proceeded to fish the entrance to one of the many creeks. We pushed a few reds towards the entrance and although that is always frustrating at least we knew some were around. Finally I see one chasing bait before it saw us. The cast was perfect and she was hungry. After a few nice runs and a good fight I bring her in the boat for a quick measurement before releasing. (26 inches). Shortly afterwards we called it a day and hit Savannahs Buffet at 2:15. Two things that I saw on Sun that were a little out of the norm for me. One was seeing a maybe legal cobia in a foot of water. The other thing was seeing so many spade fish up in the creeks. I’ve seen both species off shore and even on the flats but never in such skinny water. The other thing I took from the day was learning were the fish weren’t and what not to do the on Sun.
Sun was going to be a solo trip. Headed out early and got to watch the sun rise as I slipped down the shoreline to my first spot. It was a little breezy so I got up wind of some rocks a hundred yards off the marsh and drifted into them. Once within casting distance the anchor was set. The mullet were jumping all over the place so I made the decision to spend at least 30 min here. Within 10 a torpedo emerges and heads toward my top dog dancing across the surface of the water. The water explodes, fish on! Luckily I was able to keep my line from being broke off on one of the many rocks littering the area and landed the beast. It was an over the slot red for sure, best guess maybe 30 inches. I use the word guess because the only measuring devise on the boat was a cooler which only goes up to 20’. My normal ruler got forgotten, I don’t always remember everything when I wake up a 4:30am. Anyways another 10 min pass and another blow up. This time I wasn’t so lucky. Just when I thought I had it past all the rocks she clipped one about 10 feet from the boat and swims off with my lure. After a few more min without any more strikes I pushed back into a funneling point in the creek. I know as the water drops any reds in this area have to pass this point. Little time had passed before another red was pulling drag and then in the boat. Probable about 25/26 inches. Just as I get this fish dispensed and covered in ice I notice a big wake charging down the shore line. The cast was placed a good 15 feet in front of him and waited as the fished approached. When the red got within 5 feet of my lure I brought it to life and the fish pounced. This one ended up being about the same as the last. 25/26 inches and concluded my limit. By now the tide was starting to bottom out and was time to move on. The next location was a creek I use to frequent years ago but haven’t is some time. It gets a little difficult to pole and fish my yourself but I took my time and was able to pick off 2 more reds. They looked borderline of being over slot and both were released unharmed. It was about noon by now and with plans to take the wife out on Monday I made the decision to head back to the landing.
Mon; Using the information gained from Saturday’s lack luster trip and Sunday’s decent trip I had a better idea of what to do on Monday. Although Lesly (Wife) does better than most when it comes to waking up early she doesn’t like to get up quite as early as I do. We left our house in Tally at 6:10. Started out anchoring off the same rock piles as I had started the day prior. Once again I hooked up with two quality fish but both came unbuttoned halfway through the fight. Then we moved over to a creek about a ½ mile east and pick up two trout pushing 20 inches and a 30 inch red in short order. Up until this point Lesly had been reading her book. As the wind started to die down I asked her if she wanted to let me pole her around and sight fish reds. With little coaxing she stepped up front as we starting working the mount of the creek. We saw a couple small reds working one of the feeder creeks. Her first 3 cast were pretty bad but with a little encouragement her 4th was dead on. She hooked up then landed a 20incher. Lesly is very accustomed to offshore and has done some sight fishing with me in the past but it’s been a while. After a little coaching and letter her know what to look for she was ready for another one. Within a couple min she said there’s one over there. After looking at what she pointed at I said “no, those are just mullet” but she made the cast anyways. Guess what, I was wrong and a 25incher nailed her lure. Even though I was wrong I couldn’t have been more proud! After the commotion of moving around the boat and taking pictures of the fish we had pretty much blown out all the other reds that were around. The tide was just about slack and their wasn’t a breath of air on the water. I motored us down the cost looking for more reds. A few hundred yards off shore in about 2” of water we started seeing some and they were big. I told Lesly to get back up front as I started poling slowly with the sun at my back. With zero ripple on the water you could see everything. Lesly, you see that big stingray about 40’ in front of you at one o’clock. There are three reds on its back. With her first cast she dropped the bait perfectly. I then got to watched an over slot red inhaled the bait. Over the next three hours this was the norm. Picking off over slot reds in a foot or two of water. Not all would bite and there was a few bad cast but her and I took turns picking them off. Each time we would hook up I’d stake the boat so not to spook the rest. A couple of the fish ran out 80 yards of line before we’d start to gain on them. At around 1pm Lesly wanted to get in the water and cool off with a beer before heading in.
It was a great weekend of inshore fishing and I can’t wait to figure out what to do next week.
