Perfect Day – Tuff Fishing.
The day started out perfect. We got an early start, found bait quickly and had plenty of water to run with out too much worry about hitting rocks or running aground. Since today was going to be the hottest day of the year, I wanted to catch a few fish then spend the rest of the day swimming.
The first stop is a very dependable redfish area on an incoming tide. I had the boat in the perfect position. Given the perfect conditions I thought we would have our 2 fish within the hour. Normally when there are predatory fish (like redfish or snook) in the area the bait will let you know, by trying to swim back to the boat. But today the bait swam around like they where swimming in the hotel pool. That's a big warning sign, so we sat around for about 30 minutes as the bait remained lackadaisical. The tide was a very high tide, so I thought maybe the fish will be further back in the creeks. So we moved back a little more with the same bait reaction. Finally one of the baits swam all the way to back of the bay. Where I noticed a wake coming out of the grass.
While there where no fireworks or thrashing around, the line slowly pulled tight and the hook set. They was not too much of a fight, so I figured it was a small red.
Just barely legal size, I decided to release the small red. I typically keep fish that fall in the 21-25 inch range, since they make the perfect size meal for two.
The tide continued to rise and I move further and further back. Finally we where as far back as we could go, I tossed out a few live baits for chum and hoped to see a reactions, but nothing happened. I saw the baits I tossed out swimming around like they did not have a care in the world. Which again is a bad sign. After about 30 minutes I finally hooked a redfish that took drag with ease.
After a short battle the fish was in the boat. And a perfect 25 inch size.
What made today so strange is that the redfish where nowhere to be found. Every place I stopped, I know very well and I know where the redfish will stay when they are in that area. After fishing for about an hour at each stop (7 stops total) , I used the trolling motor to investigate, if the redfish where in that area. If they where there, I would have to think about why they did not feed on the tasty whitebait. Each place I looked there where no redfish, I did not spook any out of the grass nor see any on the run.
The only unusual thing about today was the upper atmosphere high pressure system over the area. This caused the heat index to reach about 110 degrees inland. Which leads me to believe that the redfish must move to a different type of location. I guess I will need to do more sight fishing during the next upper level high pressure.
Good Luck
Zippyjr
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Tide :Raising, 11:32am 3.6H
Water Clarity : Clear
Moon Phase: 14% full
Temp: 95F
Water Temp : 86F
Wind: 5-10mph W
Bait: Whitebait ( bayport near the two poles )
Results: 2 Redfish