I spent a couple of days on the water last week. One day in bluewater in a 32′ offshore boat and the other day on a 18′ skiff in the marsh. We didn’t run very far offshore and our trip was cut short due to one of the engines overheating and me getting seasick. This was the first time I have ever chummed unwillingly at sea. We were out for a few hours before motion sickness reared its ugly head and convinced me to donate the contents of my stomach to the Gulf. Not a pleasant feeling.
Seas weren’t particularly rough and the ride out wasn’t too bad, but I guess the constant rocking motion caught up to me. The fishing was fast and furious though. As soon as we started fishing we caught fish. We caught a variety of species on fly and conventional tackle including: spanish mackerel, kingfish, redfish, spadefish, sheepshead, cobia and sharks.
On Sunday Brandon and I took his skiff to the marsh in search of some redfish willing to eat fur and feathers. We found a few cooperative fish but most of the fish we saw weren’t feeding early due to the lack of tidal movement. We also had a bunch of fish refuse our flies and we even spotted several pods that would not let us get close enough to get a shot even while wading.
Mid morning the tide started ripping out and some big upper slot to oversized reds push in the marsh looking for an easy meal. We had a few shots but we didn’t get any to commit. We had to leave early because the water level was receding quickly, and we feared getting Brandon’s skiff stuck back in the marsh.
We caught our a fish on a brown or chartreuse/black shrimp pattern. We threw a slightly larger than normal size fly. The fish reacted to bigger flies better than smaller ones as we got less refusals. I shot a lot more footage that should start showing up soon on this site soon.
