I spent three days in the mud puddles redfish call home last week. The fishing was lights out. The catching was pretty good too. Lots of big reds to 31″ schooled up or cruising the shallows in search of an easy meal. Although we encountered many picky reds the sheer numbers of fish we saw was a sight to see. I could have sat back and watched the show and still been entertained, but I had to get in on the action. Got to love seeing nature in its purest form: raw, wild and oblivious to human existence.
Friday I ventured out solo after several back outs from fishing buddies. The day started out slow. I covered a bunch of dead water with no signs of life. I saw plenty of bait but no fish and the water was a little higher than I would’ve liked. Early in the morning I spotted a fish waking on a nearby shoreline. I made a quick cast with the new TTF Jive 45 in morning glory and fish took the lure without hesitation. After a few hard runs the big red pulled off early in the fight.
And that was it until late morning in the very back of the marsh I spotted some fish sitting on shorelines. The area had decent water clarity, so I stood up and poled looking for fish. I spotted a few reds and had shots but they spooked. I found a decent red sitting on a shoreline a little later and tossed the Jive 45 several feet in front on the shoreline and the fish bolted.
Luckily, the fish went straight for my lure rather than out of the area. It sucked down my lure in plain sight and immediately started tearing drag off my reel. I underestimated its size as it was well over the slot. It measured over 30.5” and weighed almost 11lbs. The rest of the day was slow until I was about to leave. I found several stray pods out in the open. I landed one on the fly rod on a crab spoon and the rest of my fish ate a TTF Flats Minnow in blackened chicken.
I had no idea where I was going to go on Saturday. I made plans earlier in the week to fish with Jason but the front we had moving in Friday night was making me questioned those plans. Jason and I talked about checking out a marsh that we wanted to explore for a while now, but I was diffident because we didn’t know how much water we were going to have come morning. The winds were predicted at 15-25mph out of the N, which meant the tide would be lower than predicted.
We would have to paddle into the wind all the way there. I don’t mind paddling, even into the wind, but a 5+ mile one-way paddle to the unknown definitely had me second guessing the decision. Jason, on the other hand, was determined and going regardless. I guess Jason didn’t get the nicknames “TheMachine” or “Fish Aholic” for no reason. He also had a few worse-case scenario plans if the water was gone by morning.
I woke up Saturday morning and decided on a whim that I was going to meet up with The Machine and his buddy, Chih or “Chihman” as Jason likes to refer to him as. I figured it was better to fish with company than alone plus I wanted to meet the infamous Chihman. We got to the launch right at sunrise and the bay was flat, so much for the predictions.
The paddle to our spot was uneventfully other than a couple of mishaps including a lost rod and inconsiderate fisherman. The first near calamity happened to Jason. He was working a topwater when he spotted a redfish on a shoreline closeby, so he set one of his rods down to make a cast with his other rod. Meanwhile, a redfish inhaled his topwater that was sitting still and pulled his rod out of reach and into the water quicker than he had time to react.
He jumped in the water felt around with his feet until, miraculously, he managed to catch the line with his foot. He followed the line to the rod and once he found the reel he started reeling in the loose line. To his amazement the fish was still on the end of his line. He ended up losing the fish during the fight as I watched the whole episode from a distance. I was far enough away that I couldn’t reason why Jason was wading the mud-bottom, shell-swathed lake, but after hearing his story I understand his plight and would have done the same. We were also soaked on more than one occasion on the way to the marsh by the wake of a discourteous crab fisherman.
As soon as we made the last bend into our destination Jason spotted a school of reds pushing out of a the first lake in our direction. We were sitting in a bayou barely wider than our three kayaks together. We posted up on the shoreline of the bayou and discussed who was going to make the first cast. We agreed to let Jason have the first attempt. He fired the first cast followed me and then Chih. We each made couple of casts without a bite before the school was halfway to us. Jason finally got one to eat and set the hook so hard he launch the mid-slot red a few feet in the air and broke his rod in the process. The rest of the school stampeded past us down the bayou leaving behind a mud cloud, a broken rod and a lone slot redfish.
We continued into the first lake spooking a few reds near the entrance. I even had one crash into the side of the kayak and get wedged for a few seconds (see video for a depiction of what it looked like). Even though we had already seen plenty of fish I still had reservations once we entered the marsh. From a distance the lakes looked skinny; the egrets and other shorebirds were walking across what little water was left and the tide was still moving out strong.
All qualms quickly vanished when Jason and I moved further into the marsh. Our kayaks were barely floating but we started to see big reds just beneath the surface all around us. I was throwing a TTF Flats Minnow in blackened chicken and he was throwing a Bass Assassin paddle tail. I landed one mid slot red quickly, but after that we had countless reds swimming right past not wanting to eat. It was complete mayhem for about an hour.
We spooked red after red without so much as a sniff at our lures even with accurate casts and perfectly presented lures. We have no idea why the reds were so finicky. Our conclusion was they were trying to find their way out of the marsh rather than looking for a meal because the water levels were almost too low. I stalked one huge red in the first lake and after repeated casts I got it to eat a TTF Flats Minnow. I fought it for a few minutes and it pulled loose near the end of the fight right at the bow of my kayak. It swam around our kayaks with its back out of the water for a few minutes while we pitched lures on its nose failing to intice it to eat again. It finally regained strength and swam off. That fish was easily over 30”.
We found several big redfish cruising around in the last lake in the chain we were fishing. We both caught a few sight casting with jerkbaits. Jason and I paddled along looking for fish and he spotted a big back about 50yds away. From the excitement in his voice I knew it was a big fish before I ever saw it.
Jason was gracious enough to let me get the first attempt. I prepared the fly rod we moved closer, but we lost track of the fish. Next time it showed it was several yards in front of us moving perpendicular to our kayaks. I botched the first couple attempts.
Jason was getting antsy and about to make a cast when I made the perfect cast past the fish and in its path. It ate my white grass shrimp as soon as entered the strike zone and immediately made a hard run pulling enough line off my reel to get me into my backing. Only the third fish that has stripped all of the fly line off my reel. It was 28.5″ and just over 8lbs. Oddly, the fish was missing one of its eyes, which was a first for me.
On Sunday I talked Raymond into heading out with me after he heard how many fish I saw the previous two days. We decided to try another spot and see if we could find some fish with the low water. We arrived at the launch before sunrise and were greeted by a 25mph NE wind. The forecasts were calling for fair winds early then slacking off throughout the day. We took an hour nap in the truck hoping the wind would die but it never let up so we launched anyway.
As soon as we made our way into the marsh we found some schools. Again more finicky fish. The schools were moving fast and without the perfect cast you didn’t get bit. The strong NE winds blowing in our face didn’t help either. We left the schools to look for some shallow fish but there was not much water left in the marsh. We made our way back toward where we started.
On the way we found some fish on the edges of bayous crushing big schools of finger-sized mullet. The reds were coming completely out of the water eating but they would not touch any of our offerings. I kept moving and Raymond stayed put. I landed one and lost another red that were pushing wakes on the shorelines with a TTF Flats Minnow in blackened chicken.
I found a bunch of fish but was still having a hard time getting them to eat. I decided to try a more natural colored bait and that was the ticket. I caught a fish on the first cast I made with a TTF Hackberry Hustler in Who Dat. I was able to land several more reds on that bait to 27.5″. Raymond stayed put on that bayou until and he finally tricked one of the reds to eat a flats minnow but it pulled loose early in the fight because he didn’t get a good hook set.
Fishing is as good as it gets right now here on the upper coast. I fished a few dozen different marsh systems this year and there’s fish in all of them. Get out while the getting is good.
