East River - 4/18

[Rx-Fishing]

Been awhile since I've been out and even longer since I made a post ...

Lost a major piece of business yesterday, so decided to head out and get me some fishing medicine, or at least some paddle time. Since the winds were up, as well as the tide, decided to put in at the very top of the East River, by the dike in the Refuge. I have past by this spot many a time on the way to the lighthouse, and marked it in Google Earth, but I hadn't ever launched there. So, I put in right at the retention pond and floated thru the sluice. Alternated paddling downriver and trying a few casts. I had one rod setup with a Cajun Thunder and New Penny Gulp. The other rod with a Redfish Magic lure. Nothing happening with either on the upper parts of the river.

Finally made it to a decent creek mouth about 2.5 miles downriver, with lots of oyster bars. I'm thinking this has got to be the spot. First cast out with the CT (I switched to a Molting Gulp), I notice the bobber isn't coming back up to the surface. I'm thinking it's hooked on the bottom. Nooooo ... FISH ON! Nice keeper trout. I must have landed the gulp right in front of its face. So that has me smiling and casting and casting and casting and ... I'm not smiling so much anymore, nothing's happening. Time to move. I head out from the creek mouth into the middle of the river. Cast out the CT and BAM! Big hit. Big fish. Fighting like hell. I'm thinking, "Big Red! Oh yeaaaaaah! Come home to papa!" Get it in the net and ... you gotta be kidding me. Sail Cat. HUGE. Slimy. Nasty. Grrrrrr. But the catch has me wanting more. Oh, did I mention the sun has hit the horizon? Yeah, well, I kept on casting and kept on getting hits. Got another huge hit, even more of a fight than the last one. Get it to the boat and SNAP, there goes the line. Rerig, cast and more hits. I've got lights with me, so I don't care how dark it's getting. BAM, another big hit and another cat. After sunset, the winds went completely slack and with it the bugs came out to find their meal ticket, me.

As fun as it's been, I decide to head on back. The moon was nearly full and plenty high enough in the sky to provide more than enough light to navigate. I started to wonder if there was going to be enough water to get back to the launch. There was, barely. I wouldn't suggest doing this on a 0 or negative low tide. All in all, a great evening to cap off a bad day.

[BAD BEHAVIOR]

Sounds like a cool trip!!

[Good Times]

that sounds like a good trip after a tough day. Good on ya!

[DixieReb]

Gulp molting has been the ticket for us the last 2 trips out. Try filleting the big sailcats you bring in, they eat well.

[bman]

Good therapy bro!
Glad you got out there - I was working till late that night!

Oh yea--- if you start carrying a camera you will catch fish!