If I had to describe my day of fishing yesterday in one word it would be phenomenal. My best day of fishing ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had days when I’ve caught more and bigger but this was on another level. I have never seen so many schools of redfish and backing redfish in my life. I saw 30+ schools over the course of the day with numbers ranging from 10 to 100+. The average school had between 20 – 40 fish. It was insane from start to finish.
I started fishing about 7:00am and spotted my first school within minutes of arriving at my destination. I decided early in the morning it was a fly rod kind of day. I planned on sticking with the fly rod the entire day to see if I could get my first limit on the fly. It didn’t take long for me to get my first two fish on the fly but then I struggled to get my third fish. I missed several opportunities for a variety of reasons, but I finally got my first limit in about an hour and a half.
The schools never stopped coming. Fishing was so ridiculous at times I was even able to land my first ever double after several missed attempts at the double. One on the fly and the other on the spinning rod simultaneously; the only time the entire day I picked up another rod besides the fly rod.
At about 1:00 when the tide had almost bottomed out I moved shallower and deeper into the marsh. As soon as I made the moved I started spotting backing redfish every couple of feet. The reds were not in schools but singles and were bigger on average for the most part. I sight casted to backs with several more reds landed.
I kept pushing farther back into the marsh and kept seeing more big fish. I was so shallow at times that my kayak didn’t have enough water to float but I still had fish all around me. I was about to start making my way back to the launch but I decided checked out one last area before heading in. I spotted a big fish swimming straight at me and made a cast right in front of the fish’s path and it ate. The fish pulled me out of a small back pocket and into the open. The battle lasted so long that at times I considered cutting the line and my losses, especially since I had two big schools working the entire time I fought that fish.
After about a 30 minute battle and being drug around for over a mile in total distance, I landed my personal best redfish on the fly a 28.25″ 8lb+ beast that just wouldn’t give up. I was pulled halfway back to the launch after landing that fish so I decided I was a perfect way to end a spectacular day. Fish were very active the entire day and didn’t spook unless I ran over them.
I ended the day with 11 redfish total, 9 slot reds and 1 oversized red on the fly rod. In addition I hooked 8 more fish but 5 of them pulled loose and 3 broke off. All fish were sight casted to out of schools or backing in 1′ of water or less. Most fish were caught on a gold spoon fly but I did get a few bites on a crab fly and the big fish was caught on a gotcha. The only red caught on conventional tackle was an undersized red caught on a TTF Flats Minnow in mumpy glo when I got the double.
I’ve meant to do this personally but until I get the chance I would like to thank Jared, who works at FTU in the fly fishing department, for supplying me with some flies he tied personally after I lost my entire saltwater fly collection (Labor Day Weekend Getaway) a few months back. I was also like to thank Doug again for making the phone calls and putting together a sizeable collection of flies that he and Jared had lying around. I really appreciate everything.
I also film a ton of video and I post it up after I get a chance to edit it.
My PB Redfish on the fly just a hair over 28″ with a pinched tail and over 8lbs
