[Temp 85F, Water Temp 81F, Winds SE 5mph, Tide extreme low and rising.]
Stormy weekend with remnants of Erica passing. Radar looked OK with a few hours without heavy rain and the dog had no exercise in a few days so I ventured out this afternoon in search of reds/trout/flounder.
Saw very few other souls brave/stupid enough to chance the weather.
Creeks full of finder mullet & occasional shrimp. No trouble filling bait bucket in a single cast.
Soaked mullet in a deep channel adjacent to a shallow point with oyster heads that tide was just beginning to flood over. After seeing bait getting busted by something feeding, I grabbed my ML trout rod with 15lb powerpro and a topwater plug and began making long cast across the point. On the 3rd cast something blasted my plug clear of the water. I kept working it and a few jerks later this 34" Red exploded on it. It was a slug fest in less than 2 ft. of water with mud flying and a few swear words as I tried to wrestle her away from oyster heads and palming the little 2000 series pflueger to make up for the light drag. I was able to lead her to deeper water with the trolling motor net her, and do a quick CPR and get her back in the water healthy.
After the adrenalin rush, I had a cold one to calm my nerves, picked up the rod a threw another cast in the same spot. INSTANT REPLAY. Round two and her near twin came to the net at 32". Released healthy, without 2nd photo.
Still shaking, I decided to try one more and the very next cast, a nice 16" Speck jumped on the plug right at boatside. She’ll make a good lunch tomorrow.
The winds picked up and I got no more takers in the next 15min. The skies were beautiful but threatening so me and my Boykin “Muddy” headed back to the dock.
A good day on the water.
