Just one trip to report on this week. Oddly enough August is stacking up to be a busy month, and it's usually the slowest of the year even when times are good.
My trip was on Friday, with an old friend Ed Mahoney, of Boca Raton, Florida. I've known Ed since 2001, and back in 2002, took him on what he again told me was the best fishing trip of his life. He's a great guy, and I hadn't seen him in a while. So, I was looking forward to this trip. It would be my first time meeting his wife, Dee.
I warned Ed as we rode toward the bait grounds that trips like the one in 2002 were pretty much a thing of the past. Especially in the middle of July. We landed at B Span where bait came quickly, and I'm glad to say the shiners are finally beginning to grow into mature baits that are big enough to toss. Unfortunately, the ballyhoo I'd been catching on the last few outings, were gone. They had been my ace in the hole for redfish. I hoped we could find some ladyfish somewhere along the way.
And, by golly we did! We made our first stop right close by since the tide was not running for a good hour. Ed and Dee managed two or three snook, some trout, and a couple of mangrove snapper, but the best surprise was that we got into ladyfish just off the key we were fishing. We put several nice ladyfish into the boat, and had plenty of bait for redfish. But, would they eat?
We moved on up into the Sound and stopped at a small key along the way. The water had not yet begun to move when we arrived, but did begin to crawl before long. We got one small redfish there, and that was it.
With the water moving well I decided to backtrack to a shoreline that has been good to me of late. Cut ballyhoo has done the trick to get the reds out of the bushes. Today we'd be showing them ladyfish steaks. The snapper certainly were interested, but the redfish, not so much! As I recall we managed to boat one redfish, had a nice one cut off on the bottom, and boated several snapper, of which we kept two. We worked a long stretch of shoreline that has been very fertile, but basically the reds just didn't want to eat. Finally, we moved on.
With the heat index at 100 and the heating of the day coming on fast, I knew we'd likely not have much more time to get on a bite of any kind. We only had one keeper redfish in the boat, and needed one more. I decided on a long move to a spot I hadn't fished in years and years. It was more of a psychological move than anything. I just wanted to get on some different water and different fish. Perhaps some reds that hadn't been beaten on regularly by anglers and traffic.
We settled on a pretty spot in the northern part of the Sound, where Charley damage was evident everywhere you looked. The water was clear, but dark with tannin stain, and really moving like crazy. But, the current was bringing loads of floating turtle grass, which has been an ongoing problem for a good month. I don't know where in the world all this floating grass is coming from, but you can't seem to get away from it no matter where you go.
The grass was a big problem, but fortunately, we had some pretty aggressive redfish there that were willing to dig through the turtle grass and follow the bait to the surface. Yes. The steaks were picking up so much seaweed so quickly, that they would soon be right at the surface, or just below. We had some crushing strikes, though, and caught some beautiful deep bronze redfish that were funning right at 29 inches. Fortunately, we did get one keeper that was from a different school, that topped off our well.
And, then! It was over! Just like you'd flipped a switch, they were done. And, it was past eleven o'clock. We worked on down the shoreline a big just to make sure they hadn't moved on us, but with the heating of the day the fish were done, and so were we. Lunch was sounding mighty good.
Off we went on a long, cooling ride to the Waterfront Restaurant. Felt good. It had been a good day. Ed and Dee were quite a team. And, Dee was an absolute hoot. What a funny gal. And, at the restaurant she was even funnier. And, Ed's no slouch! It wasn't a day of huge numbers, but Ed proclaimed it had been a very good day. If I had it to do over, I probably would not have worked on the first redfish spot as long as we did. But, when you know you're on redfish, you know that if you're patient, you patience will likely be rewarded. Sometimes they double-cross you. If we'd gone to our final spot north earlier, we'd likely have put up some big numbers there. Those fish were eating right from the get-go. But, those big reds had already put fire in Dee's arms, so I guess we were OK.