Success at St. Marks!

[Rainman]

Made the trip to St. Marks on Saturday, got a later start due to some beverages on Friday night, snakes in the grass. Lucky for us because the storms had ended by the time we showed up and Saturday turned out to be a great day. Made our way east to Stoney Bayou. I caught my first 26in redfish on top water, skitterwalk with some Pro Cure gel on it. He blew up on it several times before he got the hook. I put two more keeper reds in the boat in a creek mouth on gulps and my buddy GalantNole caught a 28in over slot red as well. Went again on Sunday and we put two more 26in reds in the boat, one being about as close to 27 as you can get and a real bruiser. I have to say that I now have top water fever. Been taking the 14ft jon boat and love how skinny that thing can get. Below are a few pics of this weekends adventures.

Redfish 1.jpg (825.28 KiB) Viewed 2988 times

Redfish 2.jpg (1.16 MiB) Viewed 2988 times

Redfish 3.jpg (1.04 MiB) Viewed 2988 times

Redfish 4.jpg (778.9 KiB) Viewed 2988 times

Redfish 5.jpg (801.6 KiB) Viewed 2988 times

[Salty Gator]

Nice work!! Quality fish for sure. Nothing better than a big red on a topwater plug. I'm hoping that means the floating grass isn't as bad as it was 2 weeks ago.

[tallykenj]

Awesome.

[MarkM]

VERY NICE!!!

[Harmsway]

[mjsigns]

Great Pictures

[oreocwby]

Great day of catching.. So Ive been tring to get a little help via this site for a while on some tips for catching Reds on a lure. I'm not wanting your spot so hear me out first. Can you assist by tellin me whas the best tide for catcing those skinny water Reds. I usually go first light and Ive tried a few dif tatics but yet to catch my red on a lure.Any tips would be grateful...

[kenfly]

Awesome fish!! Very nice, nothing like that top water action

[Welby]

Great post, Congrats on your success...

[FishWithChris]

Jeff's topwater red was a site to see. It wasn't a miss and swim away, it was a MISS MISS MISS BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!! That fish was hungry! Absolutely great fight.

the 28"er hit a cut pin under a CT and made a run like a shark, solid fight. After too many snakes in the grass the previous night (deliciously dangerous), I wasn't at my best. A couple good runs, tightening down the drag, another run, over-under the anchor line, and around the boat - Once we got it closer to the boat and realized it was an overslot red, my legs started shakin'! A quick swoop of the net got him in there.

rainman sure put us on some reds!

[Williamsdad]

No wonder nothing made it "outside", you guys were headin' em off. Nice work.

[JIm Smith]

I,m moving to y,alls area so I can catch reds like that. Does anyone know the southern latin name for redfish? pullumosthardest

[Rainman]

@oreocwby

Here's my take. 1. no matter what, if you don't go you don't know. Even if tide, weather, feed times are off go anyway.

2. Lures are a jig (gulp or a paddle tail), Spoon ( I like aquadream), or a top water (just started using and I really like the Skitterwalk). I bought the Pro Cure Gel and use it on all lures except gulp.

3. Look for bait or other signs of life, if you don't see any keep moving.

4. To your direct question, I've been doing better on out going. I'm fishing a 14ft aluminum boat so I can just about go anywhere. If you are in a similar boat, then put in at the lighthouse and head east. Fish the shore line on the last half of the out going tide. Don't go to far up any creek, just fish the mouth and surrounding grass line and head on to the next one if you don't get any action or if you don't see any bait. The trick is to find water that is shallow enough to see the bait moving and the bigger fish following so you can cast into the fish. This was a good weekend and I don't always have that luck, which goes back to number 1

[Rainman]

Salty Gator: The grass was much better this weekend than last for sure.

[oreocwby]

Thanks so much.I do go I just dont produce Reds;I always catch a ton of trout keepers and shorts, rock bass(none like my offshore spots they have a huge hump and a blue head)ladys,jacks and sharks. I have aqua dreams,johnsons,3 types of procure,skitter walks,top dogs,she pups, zara spooks,gulps,rage tails,doa shrimp,terror eyes, etc. I just think I probably swith baits too often and dont have just one out while fishing a certain tide. Thusfore is why I'm looking for a teacher.