I was aching to get out and fish but the weather for Friday and Saturday made me wait until Sunday. Launched at the Chechessee River ramp just at low tide in the late morning and headed for some flats and creeks off of Mackay creek. It sure has warmed up and was an awesome day.
I got to the first flat a little too early in the tide but fished there for about 30 - 45 minutes. I saw a lot of sting rays and several mud clouds from fleeing fish I assumed to be reds. However, I couldn’t get anything to bite my zman scented or top water red/white miror-lure.
Next I tried several creeks with the same results. Water temp was above 60 in most spots.
The I-Pilot sure makes it easy to cover a lot of territory.
I left Mackay intending to go around the end of Daws island to fish a flat on the Broad River side. I found it too choppy for comfort so I did a 180 and went back up the Chechessee to the cut through between Rose & Daws.
Finally I went to a creek on Rose Island that Cracker Larry had pointed me to (thanks Larry!) for my last stop of the day.
I fished the fallen trees in the first turn of the creek for about an hour and first picked up an 18" trout followed by a 24" redfish just a couple of casts later. Both fish ate the scented Z-Man paddlerZ electric chicken and fought hard. I released them to fight again. I would like to get back into tagging them but don’t have the stuff from DNR any more.
Overall, it was a great day on the water and really nice to put some fish in the boat.
Yes they used to give it all away for free, but many didn’t use it. So they figure if you are willing to fork over for the gun you are probably serious about it. Its a good strategy I think. The supplies are all free. Once you have submitted enough rec tags to show you are committed, you can request a dart tag (the one with the wooden handle) They are used for fish over around 28"
