Friday:
I met up with Jaime to fish a marsh I hadn’t seen since last year. It’s about an hour paddle via kayak to get to this marsh. I told him the night before that we were going to make a long paddle and to be prepared. I don’t think he understood how much work is involved when you fish, much less make a long paddle, with me. I bet his shoulders and arms were sore for days later but he was warned.
Jaime reached out to me a few months ago because he hasn’t been kayaking or saltwater fishing long and he wanted a few pointers on how to catch redfish. We tried to get together a few times now but for various reasons we weren’t able to hook up until Friday. We were on the water paddling before sunup. After arriving to the area I noticed the water level was high. One thing I hate about high water is it makes spotting fish tough and it spreads the fish out. We moved around early but we couldn’t catch anything although we knew the fish were there.
About a 100 yards away we saw a few birds hovering over the water suspiciously but the only path into the area where we spotted the activity was a very long paddle. We decided to drag our kayaks about 50 yards to save time. Jaime forgot his boots at home and he only had sandals; a huge mistake when you’re fishing with me. I regularly drag my kayak as a short cut and often times I drag over areas covered in mud and shell to reach fish. Luckily, for him, there was no shell to contend with.
When we finished dragging our kayaks into the lake Jaime realized he lost his paddle on the drag so he had to backtrack to find it. While walking back his kayak started drifting across the marsh. I had to paddle over to it and tow it back to him so he wouldn’t have to tread the mud. In the process of towing his kayak back to him our rods tangled with each other and it took several minutes to undo the mess. I’m sure by this point he’s thinking what he has got himself into.
That thought probably didn’t last long because the moment we were free an upper slot red was swimming straight at his kayak with its back out of the water. It spooked but there signs of other fish in the area. I caught a few fish on the fly early and the rest of the day I concentrated on putting Jaime on some fish. After a bunch of missed opportunities he finally hooked up on a fish out of a school and landed his PB inshore red, a 29″ fish. He was stoked after that.
We saw a few more fish and schools but we had a tough time catching fish because the schools were moving too fast and hard to spot. We covered a bunch more water later in the afternoon and only saw or spooked a few more fish. He was throwing a Bass Assassin paddle tail. I caught my fish on an EP baitfish pattern I tied to emulate shad. I also got a few bites on a TTF Flats Minnow in backwater surprise. Tide was high and slack most of the day.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
Saturday:
I slept in. After spending 12 hours on the water on Friday I never heard the alarm clock go off Saturday morning. I stuck around the house and finished up some stuff that I have been neglecting. In the afternoon I went to a local tournament. The entry fee for the tournament was a pack of lures so I donate a few baits to the pot. I have plenty to spare.
That afternoon I decided to fish for a few hours and see if I could trick something into eating a fly. I only took my fly rod and camera with me. In about an hour and a half I paddled about six or seven miles looking for fish. I found several backs and one school of reds under a flock of gulls.
Instead of pulling out the rod I pulled out my camera and started snapping pictures. I managed to get a few good shots. I only made two casts with the fly rod before I headed in after dark. Tide was going out fast all evening, and I probably could have caught a bunch of fish if I would have stayed out late. Mosquitoes would have sucked me dry of blood if I would have stayed out there any longer though.
Sunday:
I got an invite to head offshore with Brandon and Anthony. Anthony just got a 32′ Yellowfin that needed to see bluewater. The boat had a few small issues they had to work on since he got it a few months back so this was the maiden voyage. We ran out of Freeport and fished some rigs.
We caught a little of everything including red and lane snapper, bluefish, kingfish, and even a slot redfish. Poor guy must have been lost being 40+ miles offshore. It was only my second time ever fishing offshore and I had a blast. The only other time I’ve been offshore was on a party boat. The Yellowfin was awesome and I look forward to making more bluewater trips this summer and fall.
