David Wood and I with limits of reds and a 28" snook!If you like catching redfish, tailing or not, South Bay has been our number for the past week. The winds finally stopped and clear water has once again sought our beautiful shores! We've had excellent tides, with mornings being the catching times. Three days in a row, four of us hit this back esturary and caught limits of reds, releasing the majority, but keeping enough to feed hungry folks reds on the half-shell! The majority of our fish were in the 24-28" range, with enough 18-20's to keep you throwing all morning. We also had a good numbers of snook. The largest being a even 28". The majority were undersize, but man do they put on a show!
The early mornings, with the low water brought out the best in redfishing. Sight casting to school after school of tailing fish. At one time, my good friend, Damon Ankenman, and I had no less than four schools within casting distance. The excitement was throwing a Zara soook Jr. close to the fish and watching not just one, but several break away from the pod and head after your bait. Motor boat wakes in 6" of water and then explosions of spray as they converged on the bait and proceeded to devour it. Lots of misses, but it was than easy to pick out another pod and start all over. And me without a movie camera!
The early bite was all topwaters, with the small white ( I was corrected by a guide that it is not white but bone, looks white to me) Spook. The larger Spooks, Livingston Paint Can , and Skitterwalks seem to draw strikes, but not like the small bait. When the water hit its high point, it seems the topwater bite slowed and the gold spoon took over. The snook were all over the gold spoons, along with a few nice trout.
On Friday, three of us hit it early hoping that the two tide day would help us. We struck red gold early on topwaters right on the shorelines. There were schools of mullet working, but the bite seemed to be a little slower than usual. I managed a limit of 25's by 8am and decided to move into deeper water to see if the snook were still there. I was not disappointed. I quickly connected with a couple of 24 inchers. The Johnson Sprite was working its magic. Then something strange happened. I was getting hard pickups that I guessed were big reds, but I could not hook up. This happened about five times in twenty or so casts. I would reel in, shake the grass off, and cast again. At some point I had one of the hardest strikes I have had in a long time. I set the hook hard and immediately had one of those 30"+ snooks clear the water, shake is head and send my spoon flying back in my direction. I reeled in and proceeded to cast again, but in my excitement, backlashed. I retrieved my lure which was now tangled and to my surprise had no hook on my spoon! Apparently somewhere in all those hits the "brand new" sprite had lost its hook. A true malfunction! And a good lesson, check your baits from time to time, leaders and knots also.
It looks like its going to be a great summer for fishing.
Damon Ankenman and I.
Good reds, but not quite tournament material!
Leahman and Ankenman!
Snook!
Early morning in paradise!