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Only one trip to talk about this week. In the last three weeks we've gone from record warm weather, to record cold, and back to record warm. Fishing has been very tough since the big cold front, and bait has all but disappeared. I talked to one guide who had gone offshore and gotten a couple dozen shiners, but commented that it was a couple of hours wasted because nothing would eat it.
My trip was on Wednesday, and was the first with Eric "Rick" Hubbs, of Cape May, New Jersey. Rick is a rabbid angler, and also a licensed Captain. Since I hadn't fished since before the front, I didn't know quite sure what to expect, but I figured it would be tough catching. We opted to go with artificials since it made little sense to chase bait. I stopped at the local bait shop to buy some shrimp for backups and in case we found some tailing redfish, but the shop was closed even though it was supposed to be open.
We headed into the Sound to one of my favorite winter low falling tide haunts. We were greeted with a great bite..........from mosquitoes! They weren't bothering me, but they came out of the mangroves and were eating Rick's legs for breakfast. The noseeums were however, eating me up as well. We tried getting farther away from the denser mangroves, which helped. But, we were also greeted with a zero bite from the fish, and it didn't make much sense to hang around and sacrifice ourselves to the insects.
We moved on to one of my favorite winter trout holes. Surely the trout would bite. Well, surely they didn't! But, while we were experimenting with baits, Rick spotted what he thought might be a redfish tailing. We were on a flat that I fished tailing redfish for years. But, long ago it fell from favor with the fish, and I commented to Rick that I hadn't see a tailer there in many moons. Together we watched, and sure enough, we had a tailing redfish. I told Rick that if there was one, there should be others. And, before long we spotted them. There were lots of fish moving onto the flat.
I got on the poling platform and began poling Rick to the fish. I told him that I may not make it, as the tide was still falling out from under us, and may very well ground us. It was OK, though, as we had the option of going to the fish on foot. I haven't allowed anyone out of the boat in years because insurance coverage stops as soon as you're out. But, Rick is a runner with strong legs, as well as an experienced wader. He'd even brought along his wading boots, so I was quite comfy sending him on foot once we were dragging the hull in the mud.
Rick walked to the school of tailing fish about fifty yards away. He began casting his small silver spoon to them. Before long he had redfish tailing all around him. But, they too, were lockjawed. I wondered if they'd eat a shrimp if we only had one, but seriously doubt they would have. I rigged two more rods with an RT Slug and a DOA shrimp, and set out to deliver them to Rick. I took a pocket full of spare baits. They would eat anything we were tossing to them.
I told Rick the "action" would stop once the tide stopped. Action meaning tailing fish! I also told him we should see them begin tailing once again when the tide began coming in. But, they didn't! They just seemed to disappear in front of our noses. I went back to the boat and poled back to the pothole to see if the trout would eat now that the tide had turned. They wouldn't! I was officially concerned. It was around ten o'clock, and we hadn't had so much as a bite.
We moved on north to a flat with a large pothole that I used to catch lots of reds from in the winter time. We didn't get a bite!
I moved on farther north to another flat that ALWAYS had plenty of redfish on the low incoming tide. For whatever reason, it's a flat where I rarely see the fish tail. I go to the part of the flat where I know from years of fishing it, the redfish will be. But, we got there so early on the tide that when I sat the Talon down, we were barely floating. I wore myself out trying to get to where I knew the fish would be. It's a trough that runs along the shoreline, and it's just a little bit deeper than the surrounding flat. As the tide came with us I was eventually relieved of the task of poling a boat with its tail dragging. I was staying on the rear deck at this point so that I would have better leverage and would be less visible to the fish. We weren't sight fishing. We were blind-casting an area where I was sure there would be fish.
Soon, Rick spotted several passing fish. He had one or two follow his spoon and roll up on it without eating. But, soon afterward it came. He had a crushing hit, and had his first redfish of the day engaged in a struggle. He brought a beautiful, bronze 24.5 inch redfish to the boat, and it went into the well. Rick said he'd caught redfish before, but had always wound up letting someone else take it home. He had never eaten redfish. That was about to change.
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I'd never been so happy to see a redfish in my life. The skunk was dead! A few minutes later, Rick got smacked, again. After having the fish on for a short ime, it managed to free itself. $)(*#%)(!! After that, we had no more bites. It seemed to dry up as the tide rose. It was getting late, and even though we'd only boated one fish, we'd had a great time. Chasing tailing fish is hunting with a rod and reel. Most of the thrill is in the hunt, and seeing your quarry. But, I really wanted another red or two in the boat before we went home.
We moved to a small mangrove key that has a trough on one side of it. It has been a very reliable spot for reds in the recent past. I'm usually live-baiting them, which makes them much easier to catch. But, I was confident they would be there, and the challenge would be to get one to eat plastic or metal. Well, again Rick got smacked really hard just one time, but it wasn't meant to be. We would go home with the score Rick 1, redfish 2.
Back at the dock I chatted with several guides who reported equally tough fishing, but none had managed a redfish. I guess we just got lucky! And, we had been blessed with an unbelievably beautiful day in early January.
Be sure to check out www.BestFishingBooks.com, Books and gifts for fishermen from my friend Jim Dicken!
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