So what did you guys catch? What did you catch them on? Where did you get them?
“Fishing and catching are two different things. Fishing is what I love; catching is a bonus.”–Papa, 1979
Saturday, May 4th
Put the ‘Yaks in at the Kiawah bridge about 9 am Saturday. Heavy overcast skies, threatening to rain…dead low tide. Paddled down toward the backside of Kiawah Island about two miles. Found a small inlet with some likely looking oyster shell bars and pulled in against the pluff mud. We started using mud minnows under floats. Almost immediately saw a LARGE spottail cruising the edge of the grass/mud bank. Dorsal fin was so tall, I initially thought it was a shark! My second cast got a hook-up with a large ’tail. Fought the fish for several minutes. Long enough to be pulled off the mud and into the channel. I managed to turn the fish and got a glimpse of copper color. Looked to be a 25-30 inch fish. As the fish got close to the ‘Yak, it went down to the bottom and then…it cut the leader on the oysters. Frustration…disappointment… and a few not so printable words. I figure my drag was set too slack (10 Lb test on my reel) and that kept me from getting him under control soon enough. We decided to let that area rest and paddled on up the feeder channel to look for more oyster banks. Worked the edges of the grass and oysters still using mud minnows/float rigs. Kept moving and fishing for about an hour. Gave up on the channel and paddled back to where I had the first hook-up. Tide coming in and the water flow much stronger than before. Got several hard bites from bait stealers that would take the float under and bite the tail off a minnow…Have no idea what it was. I was able to cast to one particular spot and get a hit on every cast. But each time was the same, the minnow came back with out it’s tail. Paddled out onto the oyster flats and started looking for tailing fish. The water was only a few inches deep, had to be careful to not scrape bottom on the shells Saw several fish tailing and even had a very large spottail come up directly behind my kayak while we were working our way between the oyster clusters. My partner got a real good look at it and said it was some 20 inche
Hey LineSmith,
Thanks for a the great report. I almost felt like I was with you. Even my muscles are aching from trying to turn that red! Maybe that is from pushing the mower. It was pouring rain here, so I didn’t even get on the water. Too bad, they were getting striper.
Keep up the good work!
“Fishing and catching are two different things. Fishing is what I love; catching is a bonus.”–Papa, 1979