Anytime we’re approaching or near a full moon I’m not overly optimistic about how the fish will react. I’ve had some fantastic days fishing in the days preceding or following full moons in the past, but from experience I can tell you that those days are isolated. Most of the time I’m left dumbfounded. When I first heard word of this supermoon phenomenon I started mentally preparing myself for a tough three days of fishing. Any fish brought to the boat would be a successful outing.
Boy, was I wrong, and unlike my usual miscalculations this one had a favorable outcome. The fishing was excellent with great weather and good company, and for the first time this year the catching was on the same level. Fishing has been a little off since the big freeze and the sporadic weather that ensued since, but the topwater redfish bite exploded, pun intended, last week. The bite was exceptional but the fish weren’t the only thing biting (more on that later). There have been plenty of redfish shallow for weeks now, but the tides weren’t running on a normal pattern to let the redfish get shallow and stay there, but that all changed last week.
Raymond and I fished for a few hours Friday morning. When we arrived at the launch the tide had already dropped the water level a bit, so I knew we didn’t have much time to fish in that area. I warned Raymond that we might get a “little dirty” before we launched when I realized how low the water was and the tide was still falling fast. We struggled to make our way to deeper water but once found enough water to float we focused our efforts on shorelines with patchy shell and found several fish with their backs exposed looking for a meal.
We fished for a few hours and caught a few fish but we decided to cut our fishing short for fear of getting stuck due to the strong outgoing tide. We made it back to within 50 yds of the launch to find it high and dry (see picture below). We had to trek through the mud while dragging the kayaks behind us. Good thing the mud had a bottom after sinking a couple of feet or the drag could have been a lot worse. If you fish with me more than likely you’re going to get messy. Raymond can’t say I didn’t warn him.
On Saturday, I met up with Jason and fished an area we wanted to check out to see if there were any fish. We arrived at the launch before first light. We hopped out our trucks and started unloading and we were immediately greeted by swarms marsh vampires, mosquitoes. I guess the still lit citronella torches that surrounded the launch, that presumably belonged to spring breakers who forgot about them after late night drinking theatrics, should have been a sign.
Jason and I are some of the most resilient guys when it comes to mosquitoes, but this was probably our worst experience with the blood-sucking pests. And we’re no strangers to mosquitoes; we’ve spent more time in the marsh than most, so we know it comes with the territory. Neither one of us had a can of repellent, which is a testament to our resiliency or lack of intellect, you decide. And to add insult to injury I had just as many bites on the drive home as my truck was filled with nuisance insects; it took a couple of days to finally get rid my vehicle of them.I remember Jason stating he was going to the store after we got off the water and buying every can of repellent he could get his hands on.
We fished shorelines on the edges of deep water and coves with scattered shell with topwaters. We starting picking up fish, trout and reds, right off the bat, but the mosquitoes kept us on the move. We couldn’t stay in one spot too long for risk of being sucked completely dry of blood. You’ll rarely see me ask for wind but that morning I was begging for it. The swarm follow us from the launch and they didn’t let up until late morning when the winds picked up enough to make them to seek cover.
We caught most of our fish 10yds or more off the shoreline in 2′-3′ water over scattered shell. Our best bite occurred on a mid-day drift in the middle of a cove. One, hundred-yard drift through the area accounted for about half our fish. We were like two giddy little school girls out there on the bay enjoying the surface busting explosions one after another. No matter how many times we see a redfish inhale a topwater lure we can’t get enough. I’ll steal a quote from the rod pioneer, Gary Loomis, during a recent conversation Jason and I had with him at the Houston Fishing Show (see picture below). He said, “when you stop getting excited quit fishing.” There’s no point in fishing if you’re not having fun.
We used our “foot” anchors to hold us in place while we worked the area to keep the wind from blowing us over the fish. The bite was consistent until it shut off around 1:00 when the outgoing tide bottomed out. We ended the day with at least 30 reds to 31″ and 5 trout to 20″ all on topwater lures.
31″ Redfish
Sunday, I met up with John at a different location to see if the fish would be relating to similar structure elsewhere in our bay system. Again, we fished scattered shell in 2′-3′ of water. We launched a little before dark with no sign of the vermins of the day prior. We hadn’t paddled more than a couple hundred yards when I noticed my kayak didn’t feel right and was riding a lot lower in the water column than usual.
I pulled over a nearby shoreline and found my kayak 3/4ths full of water. I checked to make sure the drain plug was installed and it was, so I told John to go ahead and fish while I drained my boat and tried to remedy the situation. I drained some of the water but I decided to head back to the launch to see if I could find the problem. Before I could make it back in the stern of my kayak started to sink below the water column so I got out and pulled over to a nearby reef to wait for help fom another friend, Tommy, that was about to launch. He helped me prop up my waterlogged boat so I could drain enough water to make the 100 yd paddle back to the launch. Thanks, Tommy I owe you one.
When I got back to the launch I searched the bottom and found a hole large enough to fit my index finger through. I thought my day might be over before it even started. I knew the duct tape in my truck was my only hope. I shoved a few flats minnows in the hole and wrapped the entire back end with tape hoping it would stop the leak. I’ll say it held up fairly well allowing me to fish until noon and I only had to drain the kayak once.
By the time I caught up with John he had already worked the entire area I wanted to fish and was ready to make a move. I told him let’s give the area more time and drift in the open versus working shorelines. Sure enough, we found a decent topwater bite that lasted for a few hours. We had plenty of bites but our hookup ratio was poor. I landed a few low to mid-slot reds and John landed one mid-slot. John lost a hog right at the boat that was at least on the upper end of the slot if not oversized. I lost a few fish too and had one fish break me off by running underneath my kayak. Several hours later while paddling back in John spotted the topwater I lost when I broke off floating on the surface downwind of where I broke off, which was a welcomed find.
The bite has been early, for the most part, during the strong early morning outgoing tides we’ve had here on the upper coast. I still haven’t seen many fish deep in the marsh although a few have started to venture into the marsh when water levels have allowed. We have been targeting areas near deep water over mud and scattered shell. Most of the fish we caught last week were caught while drifting open water away from shorelines in water about 2′-3′ deep. With the high winds we have made a concerted effort to slow down and really work an area over thoroughly by fan casting before moving.
I fished three different but very similar areas 60+ miles apart and found much of the same at each locale. Food for thought for those who don’t believe saltwater fish can be patterned. Skitterwalks and Top Dogs produced the most fish with white/redhead and redfish being the colors of choice in the off-colored water we were fishing. You have to love any weekend you never set your topwater rod down.
