Redfish Redemption
Over the last few weeks we have fished 4 or 5 times without seeing or catching a redfish. October is famous for the best month to catch redfish. So today, we decided to fish for redfish and snook in Centipede Bay. The tide was falling which that is strike one, going back in to Centipede bay on a falling tide with a late afternoon low tide, could mean the fishing trip turns in to a camping trip.
Since we where short on time, I decided not to head to Bayport to catch whitebait. Instead we could pick up a dozen mud minnows on the way back to the Centipede Bay. Fortunately the tide was just low enough to get the mud minnows of the banks of the island.
After sitting for about 20 min. one of the rods bent over. My first though was that it was a catfish, since victories have been somewhat difficult lately. As it turns out, to my surprise it was a trout. Not what I wanted but much better than a catfish. At this point I thought I may never catch another redfish.
A few minutes later we saw a snook cruising along the rock bar we were fishing. The rod doubled over and the snook started jumping. However there was one very unsettling component of this fight. While the snook was jumping of the port side side of the boat, this line was still going out toward the boa of the boat. That's right the line was caught under a rock, so the snook was fighting the rock and I was fighting the rock. I was hoping the rock would give up, but after a minute or two the leader gave up.
Fortunately, a few minutes after I lost the snook, I saw a big school of redfish moving over the rock bar. Finally my redfish redemption! The first fish must have trained for triathlon, and I thought the fish would be over slot. After several long runs and a couple passes under the boat (the water is only 6 inches deep) the fish was safely in the net. Lucky the fish measured a solid 26 1/2 inches. Yeah, redfish for dinner!
After that we caught a 29 redfish and released it. The next was a 20, since the bite was on we decided to release that one in hopes of a redfish a little bigger. The next one was 26 3/4 and it went in the box.
The little 20 inch
Over Size Redfish.. by 2 inches...
And away it goes....
Our second dinner guest.
To top the day off, as we headed in the Hernando Beach Channel, I saw a large school of whitebait, just be for the turn marker.
It was nice to have a day of redfish redemption!
Good Luck
Zippyjr
Tide : Falling 0.04 5:01pm
Water Clarity : Clear
Moon Phase: 34% full
Temp: 92 F
Water Temp : 85F
Wind: 5-10 mph SE : 10-12 mph W
Bait: Mud Minnows
Results: 4 Redfish, 1 Trout and an auto release snook.