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Slow start but strong finish

 
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Prof. Salt
Full Grown Flour Bluffian


Joined: 23 Aug 2011
Posts: 1220
Location: Offshore on a kayak

PostPosted: Mon Sep 29, 2025 7:37 am    Post subject: Slow start but strong finish Reply with quote

Friday afternoon I went exploring since teal hunting tends to be a morning thing, and because the low tide was happening toward the evening. I hoped the fish would be concentrated and might make it easy with relatively light winds. I paddled ten miles checking every likely area and by the time I headed back there were two large reds in the bag.



So I decided if fish were not feeding during low tide it was bound to be better in the morning. Saturday I started by working some open shorelines that would be away from any hunters. As I worked the edges I listened for shotguns, and could hear only one group of hunters at the back of a distant lake. I worked both sides of the waterway without seeing a single redfish, so I headed around to some isolated alligator hiding areas that tend to hold fish. One alligator (about 7 feet) was floating near the deeper entrance as I entered one small pond, but he deflated and sank from view as soon as I rounded the corner. I moved on past in my search, and by the time I had explored the lakes in that area it was after 9:00. I had one mid-slot fish that had been hunting alone around a bunch of reeds.



I figured the odds of running into any hunters was dwindling, and I had not heard any booms from the larger lakes all morning, so I headed that direction. I chose to enter through a small winding drain that snaked in from below the larger bodies of water. It held some small back lakes that were always worth checking. I made my way through checking every foot of shoreline, but fish were not up and hunting. I spooked several from their naps, so I kept working with the knowledge that at some point these fish would wake up with an appetite. I passed through the first large lake and into the second. My plan was to work the shoreline on the protected side first, then circle around on the return to the windy side. Water levels were low, and I pushed the kayak more than paddling. I moved slowly to minimize my presence, and it paid off. Halfway down the shoreline I spotted a pair of fish swimming together. They were reds, and they didn't know I was 15 feet away, so the lure I pitched out was inhaled by the smaller of the two fish. It instantly darted towards the middle of the lake, leaving the other fish circling around and wondering what happened. The fish made a nice run and then spit the hook, so I quickly reeled in and straightened the bait before pitching it back to the other fish, now about 12 feet from the boat. Water was pretty clear and I could see the fish just below the surface as he looked for his buddy. When he saw the bait, the bite was fast and hard. I set the hook and the red tore across the muddy flat. This was a better fish! Then a hundred yards farther down I found another crawler and pushed into range. Then another. I now had a limit of fish in the bag and noticed a drum ahead. Black drum in the shallows are funny. Sometimes they'll crush a lure, and other times they'll look and then run. This was a look-and-run type of morning and all the drum had gotten the message. I must have pitched to 20 drum in that back corner of the lake, and not a single one was interested in the lure. I was throwing a TRD craw in green pumpkin/orange, and that usually gets a good reaction. It certainly worked for the reds... oh well, I moved across to the opposite top corner and found water that was a bit too shallow. Not easily deterred, I pushed through in my search. In the distance a couple hundred yards ahead I spotted a shining back patrolling beside the reeds. I kept thinking "Hold on baby, I'm coming!". I had a limit already in the hatch, so I put the spinner away and brought out my flyy rod. Somehow I pushed into range of the fish and landed the fly just ahead and boyond the fish. As I stripped the fly into view, the redfish bolted right towards my boat. He sped up and rammed the kayak with a loud thud, then turned and swam around and into deeper water. Hm, I guess the presentation was moving too fast. I pushed ahead and spotted another crawler, coming toward me but within a patch of that feathery grass that fouls most of my flies. I picked up the spinner and tossed the craw in front of the fish. That worked, and another red was released. I spotted another and another and... well, you get the picture. It was fish after fish for several hundred yards on the way out of the lake. I even crept in on one that was trying to nap with an exposed back. He woke up when he saw the lure and ate like the others, lol. By the time i got back to deeper water that would float the kayak, the fish had turned back off and it was just me and the mullet again. It was almost noon, so I headed for the truck a happy and tired guy.


















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