Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

Saturday morning as I arrived at the launch I expected to be the first to arrive, but there were at least five trucks, with crowds of guys along the shore standing around in camo. Uh oh, Teal season snuck up on me again. I am not knocking duck hunters - they have the same right to be on the water that I do, so I walked to each group and said good morning. I asked where they would be hunting so that I could avoid those pockets. Most assured me that they'd be "way back there" beyond where a kayak would go. I assured them that I would cover a dozen miles or more in my search for fish, and they quickly began to describe the lakes they would be targeting. That helped a lot, and I set of into the darkness with high hopes. As daylight approached I was on the edge of a sand bar waiting and listening. Not much feeding activity, but I wasn't seeing any headlights in the areas I wanted to hit first either so that was encouraging. While I waited, I fan-casted the sand bar thinking there had to be a fish or two just sitting around waiting for the tide to move. On one cast I got a hit and reeled in a solid red to get things started. Once it was light enough to see fish signs I decided to paddle along some open shorelines first and listen for shots of any hunting parties I might not have met at the launch. As I worked the grass line I could hear occasional shots and identified at least eight hunting parties. The five I had spoken to at the launch were shooting from exactly where they had described, and I continued to formulate a plan on where to explore to steer clear and maximize shots at fish given the relatively high tides. The winds were slack and it gave the water a mirror finish, but fish were sitting tight-lipped and waiting for one of nature's alarm clocks to indicate feeding time. I knew that there was a forecasted late-morning bite that should be strong, so I kept paddling. I explored a couple of my usual lakes that almost always give me fish, but they only had mullet moving. Finally around one corner I spotted the very faint wake of a fish moving slowly and steadily. This was not the movement of a mullet, so I pitched a bait ahead and gave it some very gently pops. There was a thump but the fight was less redfish drag pulling and more "wallowing around" in the mud. As the fish got close I could see it was a chunky drum, and I was happy to have him.

In the next lake I was finding no fish, but I noticed about 400 yards through the marsh maze there were half a dozen white egrets jumping past each other on a slow march towards the bay. I hurried out of the lake in search of those birds. I guessed correctly on how to get to them, and came around the last corner to see large tails waving along a shoreline. These fish were taking their time and leaving no reed unchecked. I eased within range and placed a cast in front of one large tail. The eat was loud and broke up the school, pushing them back into the marsh they had come from. I landed the 29" fish and groaned as I put it on the measuring board. After releasing it, I took up the chase quietly, knowing that the fish knew something was off now. I found them a hundred yards along the little canal, feeding again with fewer tails visible but still easy to spot. My first cast got smashed but as I set the hook and the fish made its first run, the line suddenly broke. The fish must have run beside some snag that proved too much for the braided line. I quickly grabbed the other rod and began moving ahead to catch up with the now spooked fish. I could see their wakes as they swam ahead, so I placed a swimbait ahead of one wake. That worked better than I hoped, and the fish inhaled the bait with another explosion of water and foam. Now the fish were broken up where I could not find them ...but I had a solid fish on the line, so I was okay with the situation. When the fish finally slid into the net, I could see another leader piece hanging out of its mouth. Good to see you again buddy. I'll get that lure out of your mouth too while you're here. This one measured 27.9" and went into the box. I followed the waterway to its end since I had never been in this part of the marsh. It held promise for later trips and went into my mental map of places to explore again in the future.

I worked back out and checked the time. It was 10:15am and the duck hunters were probably gone or getting ready to head in, so I paddled for the larger open lakes that I knew should have some fish activity once it quieted back down. It was a mile or more to that spot, and it gave me more time to listen for any shots. The only gunshots I could here at that point were from a group hunting doves above a bluff in the distance. This was a good sign. I entered the larger lake system via a small drain that winds in towards the larger lakes. It usually gives me plenty of shots at lazy hunting fish working the edges of these back waters. Today it was all quiet, so I continued on to the larger lakes. Once I got there, I could see grass patches growing all the way to the surface in many areas of the lake. It should show me a few tails here and there as reds hunt with their heads submerged in the grass. This fishing requires twitching the lure to get their attention, but I'm game for that too. As I got out into the lake I spotted a group of tailers in the distance. I started working in that direction but was interrupted by a closer set of tails. I got close and pitched a bait half a dozen times before finally getting one to pull his head out of the weeds long enough to eat the lure. As soon as the fish felt the hook it went nuts and spooked the school. I landed the fish and immediately turned to the next group of tails. As I approached, I discovered three more groups close by. Evidently nature had signaled that it was feeding time and suddenly the whole place had come alive. For the next 45 minutes it was fish after fish as I jumped from one set of tails to the next. Each group only gave me one fish and broke up, but there was constantly another group feeding and I jumped from one to the next. I stopped taking photos for a while because it was so non-stop. When I had finally bothered all the groups of fish, I went to the next lake expecting more of the same. After a few minutes I found a group of about 75 fish. All looked like dark pumpkins, waving those deep orange tails in the air as they rooted shrimp out of the mud and grass. The first fish I hooked from this group was the end of the school. Then everything went quiet again as quickly as it had turned on. It was 11:30 and I smiled and headed back toward the truck.

[awesum]

Very nice Glenn!

[huntnetime]

Nice! Are a couple of those baits crawfish imitation soft plastics?

[Prof. Salt]