Fishing report- Bluffton 7/9

To the South Beaufort / Hilton Head
1

I had the pleasure of fishing with my good friends Capt. Herb and Raymond Martin yesterday. Herb is a professional Capt. and guide for the Palmetto Bluff Plantation and I think he’s even saltier than I am :smiley: The man knows his stuff and his waters. Raymond knows his stuff too. It’s nice fishing with people who know what they’re doing.

We launched in the May River early morning, nearing end of falling tide. Headed for a creek for bait, found thousands of small shrimp. Barely bait size. I had a 1/2 mesh net and all the shrimp were swimming through the holes. Herb had a 3/8 and was putting them in the boat. A dozen casts and we had more than enough. Then we hit another creek for finger mullet, and overflowed the bait tank with 2 casts. We had enough bait to fish for 3 days:smiley:

Headed to the first drop, rat reds, rat reds, dink trout, I haven’t seen that many 10" redfish in years. Lot of small trout too. Caught quite a few, no keepers. Decided to move on in hunt for better fish.

Found them at spot number 2, again caught a lot of shorts, but some really nice ones too. Nice like this…

A lot of trout there but no keeper reds. Decided to move again in search of some slot reds. Didn’t find any, moved 2 more times didn’t find any, just more dink trout at every drop. Said heck with it at 3 pm. Stick a fork in me, I’m done. The heat and sun were brutal! We released 2 more days worth of bait back into the creek where they came from and headed in.

Total was about 50 short reds, 60 or so trout, the biggest ladyfish I think I’ve ever seen, it pretended to be a tarpon for about 10 minutes, 1 short flounder, a large bonnethead, a few rays, 1 whiting, and some assorted croakers, pinfish and grunts. And a sunburn.

We kept 11 trout for dinner, released everything else for another day. Great day on the water with 2 great friends and fishermen :smiley:

[img]http://i1244.photobuc

2

Excellent report because (hopefully) all those dinks will be just the right size in Oct :wink: Good to see old salts matching wits with Nature too!!

3

Yep, it looks like it should be a great fall shrimp season when they grow up a little, and next years crop of trout and reds are looking great too. More short fish than I’ve caught in a long time. Not sure where those slot reds were hiding though, not where they were a week ago anyway. Go figure.

quote:
Good to see old salts matching wits with Nature too!!

Every day is different. Experience helps a lot and between the 3 of us we have about 120 years of redfish experience in these waters and we could’nt find a keeper between us. Some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you. No matter how long you’ve been fishing.

Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper

4

Herb is “good people” and a good friend Larry. Looks like y’all had a banner day for this heat! I do a little work for them at Pal. Bluff…taking care of the Hinckley and Miss Grace. I know Herb and the others will be glad to get the Grace back from NC soon! I’m going to have to twist Herb’s arm so he’ll take me…:stuck_out_tongue:

5

By the way Larry…your fishing partner Raymond does some darn fine welding!

6

Looks like yall are practing to rob a bank! Great to see all the small fish. It shows that the water is in great shape! Had the same luck last week.

7
quote:
Herb is "good people"

You ain’t telling me nothing there that I don’t know :smiley: I think they are picking up Grace and bringing her back from the yard in the next couple of weeks. She is a beautiful old boat. I did a little consulting work on it, but it’s way out of my league for the work she needed done. Glad I don’t have to pay that yard bill [:0][:0]

quote:
By the way Larry...your fishing partner Raymond does some darn fine welding!

Ya think? I have to tell him regularly that he sucks, just so his head doesn’t get too big :smiley: There isn’t any better that I’ve ever seen. And that ain’t all he’s good at either. Herb couldn’t catch a fish in a bucket, but he knows where they live. He sucks too :smiley: They are 2 of the finest men I know.

Capt. Larry Teuton
Swamp Worshiper

8

Yeah…I’ve seen Raymond’s work. Awesome welds. I don’t know him personally…only by reputation.

9

Good report Larry, I have noticed more 19 to 20 inch Reds this year, have not caught many Rats yet, most likely where I fish. The past week the slot and over the slot Reds have been scarce for me also, seems I can catch a few one day but can’t count on them being in the same area the next day pressure must move them. Glad the Grace is getting back into service, should let the fish rest some.

www.fishincoach.com