Well I shipped my family off on Saturday, Wife to NC to see her Mom, Kids to New Orleans for a mission trip, that left me to fend for myself on Father’s Day. It was the first day back on the water since shoulder surgery and I had a plan; go bust some reds early, then sit on the couch, drink beer and watch TV when it was hot and windy. 
Left the house at O’dark thirty and on the water at the buttcrack of dawn. No bait shops are open early and the shoulder is still a big question mark, so I brought he minnow trap. Found a pocket of water that looked chock full of minnows, tossed the trap in and headed of to throw topwater for a few minutes.
When I came back 15 minutes later there were so many minnows in the trap that they’d moved it to a deeper part of the hole [:0] I guess it’s a good thing I had a spare popping cork tied to the trap. I emptied out a hundred or so little guys and kept a couple dozen fat muds for the morning fishing.
First spot toss a mud out on a Carolina rig and keep working the topwater for a while. I saw a nice push with bait scattering, so I tossed close and started walking the dog. BOOM - huge explosion on the One Knocker but no hookup. Tossed it over again BOOM another explosion and again no hookup. So I grabbed another rod prerigged with a ultrashrimp, pitched it over and immediately hooked up with a mid slot red. As soon as I set the hook the rest of the school bolted for deep water.
Paddle down a little further and see what looks like a train going by underwater. There were 7 or 8 reds, nose to tail, cruising down the shallows. Cool to see, but couldn’t get any of them to slow down and eat.
Kept moving down and saw another school pushing bait into a shallow pocket. Tossed the mud off to the right in case any decided to stray and began fan casting the ultrashrimp. Second cast the rod doubles over, he takes a little drag, then poof - came unbuttoned for no obvious reason. Meanwhile the rod with the mud minnow nearly gets ripped out of the rod holder. Mid
Good day! Glad your motor is back in working order 
2000 SeaPro 180CC w/ Yammy 115 2 stroke
1966 13’ Boston Whaler w/ Merc 25 4 stroke “Flatty”
Tommy,
Good to hear you’re back to paddling. I have found that I can throw the cast net using my non-dominate hand using the technique you posted up on YouTube. Takes a little practice.
Got out Saturday with PacAttack. Got a good test paddle in for PA. He was looking at the Ultimate 12, but might be leaning toward the Ride 135 after paddling both. Time will tell what he buys. Wasn’t great catching, and unfortunately Brian didn’t get anything in either yak. Always next time.
TB2
TimBuck2
Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5
Wilderness Systems Ride 135
Glad to hear you’re back in action, I got a few hours in the yak on Sunday as well. It was a beautiful early morning low tide, lots of action in the water!
I need to chase some of these reds … on my yak
Awesome day on the water with Tim … thanks man.
I got to see him hook into a couple of good size reds and even go on a little bit of a sleigh ride. Even though I did not catch anything, I can definitely see how people get hooked on this.
Now just need to find a used Ride …
Tommy, glad to hear about your successful shoulder surgery. Did the shoulder wear out from paddling? On Sunday I bought a used Hobie Outback…one of the peddle boats. Save the shoulder for fishing!
What do you use for MM bait? I just threw out a trap with some cut up finger mullet that I had frozen after the last outing. Experiment for tomorrow AM test of the Hobie.
The shoulder took too much abuse when I was a kid. Bikes, skateboards, surfing, motorcycles, falling out of trees… I think the first time I dislocated it was a bike wreck when I was 9 or 10. I got pretty good at doing solo field reductions to get it back in place.
Anything works for mud minnow bait. I threw a slice of old nasty roast beef in there Sunday. mullet, crab, shrimp, menhaded, canned cat food, canned sardines, toast… you name it, it works. I have noticed the smellier the better.
Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com
You sound like a walking accident! 
The mullet worked fine for muds. Caught only small flounder, small spottail and too many bluefish this AM. I read the tide chart backwards and started out thinking it was HIGH at 7:30 this morn…
I played hard and suffered the consequences. Most every scar has a fun story that goes with it. Kinda depressing that kids injuries now are tendonitis from holding the game controller too long.
Who’s Ready for a Sleigh Ride? www.KayakFishSC.com
I’m a kid, arm sore from casting while my dad takes care of the games:smiley:
“In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose fish. If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone.” Ray Bergman