In any case - the little cell of rain that was to our NNE when we got on the water had moved off but about that time we looked back to the West and SHAZAM...that was a heavy black line of nasty coming our way. We tucked tail and ran for the truck. We headed West, in the direction of the oncoming squall line and as we got closer we crossed some line in the water where the air got much colder and the seas started getting a lot more sloppy. Still what I would consider safe for the vessel we were in, but sloppy none the less. We were running through some light rain in the channel and as we got parallel to the Lighthouse ramp the temp alarm came on his 90 horse Yamaha. Not cool. He throttled down to inspect the problem, in that time the wind picked up and so did the rain and we were out there monkeying around with the motor...perfect.
After a few tense moments of clearing grass, re-firing the motor, having the OIL light come on along with the temp light...and re-clearing more grass and letting it idle, the warning lights cleared and we decided to head into the creek there at the lighthouse ramp. Pulled up the bimini top and nosed into some grass out of the wind tossed our anchor and hunkered down. The heaviest of the weather stayed north and after an hour or so of camping out our confidence was boosted by the line of about 6 boats that decided it was clear enough and we headed out again.
There was another line of weather flirting with the area, so we stayed even closer this time, but to the West - we found some good 3-4 foot depth, and after a couple drifts started catching trout again. After I caught 3 more shorts and a keeper (my 3rd) - my buddy landed his first fish (a keeper). We had some live shrimp to go along with the gulps and both of us caught fish on live shrimp. At one point I snagged a pinfish and put it out under a circle hook "just in case"... sure enough, not long after that puppy hit the water the rod bent over, the drag sang and the toothy critter cut my line like butter. Bummer.
Caught some more trout, lots of shorts and a few more keepers...we were about done when my buddy suggested we switch over to gold spoons and make a few casts at an obvious oyster/sandbar on the way back toward the channel. He was more driving the boat than fishing but did get a few casts in. I was throwing with the wind and cranking the spoon back a little quicker than I normally would to offset the incredibly fast drift caused by the building wind.
All of a sudden, I got snagged on the bottom. Mu buddy's spoon wasn't weedless and he had already pulled up a couple clumps of dead oyster shells so I figured I had hooked some real estate of my own...then he shook his head, turned south and stripped drag like a MOTHER! FISH ON! My buddy reeled in, grabbed the net and steered us away from the bar. The fish stayed deep and fought me hard. The line (20# braid) was tied directly to the spoon so I wasn't sure whether that made me more or less likely to get broken off. In any case, it was a super fun fight. He made several long runs and my buddy missed him with the net not once, but twice. After the second dip and whiff I was sure I was going to lose him...the fish turned for one more run - and ran out of gas. He lumbered up to the side of the boat for one final scoop and he was landed. BAM! He measured about a quarter inch under 27" and would have won a good many tournaments I do suspect. I'll leave the weight speculation to you experts.
Well, that was fun and we were all set to leave as we drifted to the end of the bar right before the channel and I asked my buddy - "You ready to call it?" and his reply was the classic "Sure, one more cast." so I reeled in, packed up, stowed my rod and was squaring away my tackle bag when he starts hooting and hollering...FISH ON! His reel was a series smaller than mine and it was singing like a canary as the redfish stripped drag. His fish made a few decent runs but as soon as it showed it's face at the side of the boat, I deftly netted him on the first try (thank you very much...). His measured 22 and joined his big brother in the fish box. Good times!
The big red ate a Aqua Dream Living weedless gold spoon, and his ate a Johnson spoon with a treble hook.
The trout were all caught under a cork with a mixture of white and nuke-chicken gulps and some on live shrimp The water we caught fish in was consistently 3-5" and choppy as heck!
Here's my buddy's red.
Here's mine.
Here's my girls with a couple of trout from the box. Awe....
