Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

The gulf was beckoning, but my buddy was out doing offshore stuff on a big boat. Besides, I was not wanting to mess with the crowded beach conditions on a holiday weekend. So I found myself in the shallows with familiar fish.

As usual, annual low tides returned for the July 4th weekend. I kind of expected it, so I positioned myself at the drain of a large lake I would usually fish. With the water levels, it was impossible to move very far up into the lake, so I patrolled the lower end to look for hungry fish as the water dumped out. Friday morning as soon as there was light to see, there were visible schools of fish to target. Wave after wave of feeding reds came past and by 7:30 I had a limit of 26-28" reds in the box and several others released, so I began to target drum. The fish I found were too shallow to go "tails up" so getting them to see my lure was pretty easy. I just had to slow down enough to convince black drum to hit a lure. A few played "stop and go" but eventually most of them ate the offering. By 8:00 a limit of black drum on board to keep the reds company, and I headed back toward the bay to troll around some shell reefs in hopes of adding a limit of trout. At the large oyster reef I managed to pick five trout on trolled paddle tails, but none was quite long enough to keep. Oh well, I had plenty to get done at home so I filleted fish and headed for waiting chores. Saturday morning I headed back out hoping for a repeat performance. This would be easy, because conditions were just like yesterday... but the fish had other ideas.

Saturday morning I worked across the smooth bay under the stars. As I got set up at the intercept area, I waited in the stillness, trying to spot any fish moving past. I did spot one group of reds, and when I put the lure three feet ahead of a nice looking fish, the line instantly went tight. I had put the bait in front of another hidden fish. This one was just under 28 and was a welcome mistake, lol. After that no more groups of fish were spotted. As I worked around it was clear that the lakes are mostly filled with weed growth. Some is the long stringy grass and it fishable. Other areas are filled with that green cottony algae that allows no lures to pass cleanly. I found that by moving slowly and very quietly, I could sneak up on some of the fish. They would occasionally lift a tail or fin to give me guidance. A few allowed me to get in range without detecting me. Some of those fish refused to even look at the lure. It was like they were not hungry and just didn't want what I was offering. Fish were singles and mostly staying hidden. I worked around slowly looking for those faint signs and by 9am I had a pair of large reds and a couple of solid drum in the box. That was enough for me, given the slow bite and rising winds so I headed back early. We had plans to meet family to celebrate the nation's independence, and I had fish to clean!

[awesum]

Skunked on flounder Glenn?

[Prof. Salt]

[awesum]

[kweber]