Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

So yesterday I was awake by 3:00 with a searing headache and jet engines loudly roaring in my ears (four levels of my neck are fused and sometimes this happens), so I did the only logical thing and grabbed the kayak and paddle to try and paddle the headache into submission. This actually works most of the time, if I put in enough miles to wear the offending muscles down. As I launched the kayak into the early inky light winds were low and it was almost as if I was supposed to be on the water. Winds were calm compared to the last few days, but were still about 10mph, so I decided to forgo the usual starting point to focus on protected shorelines instead. This meant lots of barely hidden oyster shells that would scratch up the kayak, but that was the smooth shoreline where I wanted to begin. It didn't take long to find a redfish working the grass edge, but as he got close I ran up on shells and the headache was not better, lol. I continued on and found another fish, farther up in the grass, so I paddled a little deeper to avoid the shell and worked ahead to a spot where the grass ended to give me a clean shot at the approaching fish. As the fish exited the grass I put the bait right against the mud and began to creep it out into view. That worked, and the fish slurped the bait and tore out into deeper water. It was a nice 27" redfish and I quickly introduced him to the insulated sleeping bag on the kayak. As I approached the cut into a creek that would allow me to work way back into a lake, I saw another red on the other side of the entrance, heading the other way. I circled wide to avoid more shell and got ahead of the fish, but this one spooked as the lure landed four feet ahead. Sometimes I just have to scratch my head and move on.

As I began working down the path leading to the back lake, it opened up into a smaller open area. I had planned to paddle straight through, until I saw a group of fish working the edge of some reeds. I pushed the kayak through the mud to get ahead and set up to intercept where I had an easy cast. As the fish came near, I began to select a target. Some of the fish were lower slots, but then I saw a big one. The cast was closer to its face than intended, but with hunting groups you can get away with that kind of thing sometimes. The fish ate with barely a change in motion. The line started to move and I could feel the fish had my bait. I hesitated for a second, not wanting to yank the lure out of its mouth. I hoped that if the lure came loose I might have a second shot at the group, so I set the hook and my fish glided into open water, leaving the group to continue on. At first I assumed the fish would be too big to keep, but on the measuring board it went EXACTLY 28". I worked it several ways to see if it would measure beyond, but this one was the ultimate tournament fish. In the bag it went. As I got to the target lake the tide was finishing its dump, and the fish were exactly where I hoped to find them: working the open water near the drain. It was a large area and you would not be able to see working fish from a distance that well, but by slowly moving in I was able to spot a couple of schools tailing. The tails made it clear that these fish would be larger than the slot, but I didn't care. More fish (and large ones) meant getting tired and maybe losing the headache. My first fish was, surprisingly, 27.5", so I completed the limit in the fishbag so I could concentrate on some large fish. I closed in on the second school of tailers and casted towards the front. The wind steered the lure off to the side and nobody noticed it. Water was extremely dirty, so my aim would need to be better. It took a few casts to get the lure where it could be seen, but then it got interesting and the real work began. Six bulls came and went in short order, with long runs and the little Vanfords singing the songs of their people as line was ripped from the spools. As quickly as I could release one fish, I would spot another group and repeat the sequence. For a while it was glorious, but after six fish my fingers were hurting (one of them got two fingers into the crusher as I held the fish for a photo). I finally broke the schools up and it turned into fishing more than hunting. I explored more of the shoreline of this lake before heading back to the bay, but tide levels were too low to get into much of it.

In the bay, I continued down the shore to the next cut, and since I wasn't in a hurry I went into this slough too, to explore. I don't know how far I paddled back there, but things opened up into another lake back in the pasture, and there were a few reds working the shores. I worked the entire shoreline and caught one lower slot fish while spooking several others. This lake needed a couple more inches of water to let me be sneaky, and it meant most of the fish knew something was going on before I could get into range. Oh well, I worked the whole place just to learn the layout for later. On the way out I came around one corner and there was an impressive alligator blocking the way out. I hesitated and watched, but as I crept closer it went down to allow me out. I was pulling a pair of swimbaits as I worked down the slough (might as well pull baits if you're already going to be paddling), and as the baits crossed over the gator one rod bent back. I got worried, because this was a chunky 8.5' gator and I did NOT want to fight it on my little rods. Thankfully the bait just hung up for a second on the lizard before popping loose and allowing me to continue out. In the open bay I spotted some birds working what looked like a trout school, so I paddled over and began to cast. Five small trout were released when both my trolling baits went off. One came loose but the other had a decent gafftop. My son had asked me to bring one home so he could try it, so I clipped the three big fins to avoid it damaging my insulated bag and put it in with the reds. Since these trout were small I turned to work the protected shoreline on the way out, since it had been a couple of hours since I had been there earlier and new fish might be there wanting to play. I did manage three more reds along this shoreline, and then I decided to go find some trout. Near the launch there are some deeper oyster beds, so I decided to try trolling around to pick up a limit of specks too. It took a while, because most of the trout were small, but I did manage three upper slot trout eventually. I hit the sand at the launch at 1:00 with 13 miles paddled, a dozen nice reds, 13 trout and a pair of gafftops. Not bad for a headache day (although the headache was still there).

After I got home and everything was cleaned and stored, my son asked if we could go work out. We did a heavy workout and that finally wiped the edge off the headache. This morning I still have a headache, but nothing I can't work with. It feels like it's on the way out, so maybe I will take tomorrow off and paddle again since students are gone from the college this week and things are pretty quiet.