Still Hunting for the Redfish
Today we had an early low tide, which gave me the opportunity to get back in to Centipede Bay before the power rangers had a chance to see if they could run through every nook and cranny spooking all the fish. I wish I was embellishing but I'm not.
The plan was to get some whitebait and head back to some areas around the south side and try to live chum the redfish. This is an easy way to find them. Since the tide was very low my first stop, while I waited for the tide was the well known rock bar on the north side.
When I got there I could see some fish moving around near the rocks. So I eased up to the south west side of the bar. About 50 feet away. I had a stiff wind to my back so I could easily reach the bar. The first cast took about a minute before a redfish start chasing the whitebait. Finally the fish nailed the bait and the fight was on. The water was close to 95 degrees so the fish could really fight. After a few minutes I had the first redfish in the boat and it was in the slot, Yeah dinner! As I was measuring the fish (24 inch) I saw two more reds cruising the along the bar. In the box that fish went and I cast another bait out to the other fish. The first redfish hit the whitebait as soon as it hit the water. This one I could tell was big, due to the line peeling off the reel. This was not a slot fish, it measured out at 31 inches.
Oversized 31 inch Redfish.
So you would think with two fish on the first two cast of the day it would be a pretty good day. The tide was moving in and the mangrove snappers started to school and stealing my bait. So I started to heading to the back of the bay. I did see a little trout on the way back, which also readily took a small whitebait. When I got it to the boat I was not sure if the whitebait was bigger than the trout. Luckily it flipped off at the boat.
My next stop was a place where I do not fish often so I thought I would live chum and see if I draw the fish to me. A few minutes after anchoring I noticed there was a big school of small whitebait around my boat... So much for live chumming. Needless to say I did not get a single hit there. I moved to a couple of other places only to the find no fish.
On the way back in the marine patrol stopped my and checked my fish. When I told them that I caught the redfish in Centipede Bay they seemed surprised and reply they had not stop anyone who had caught redfish in the bay. Most of the redfish where coming from minnow creek. For some reason I really do not like to fish minnow creek, but after that talk I may give it a shot next time I go out.
Good Luck... If anyone is finding the redfish let me know.