OOPS! She Did It Again!

November has always been a great month for redfish in the shallows, and so far this weekend, nothing has changed to make me believe otherwise.

Late this afternoon my wife and I decided to hit the "swamp" and try our luck for some redfish.  The trout season is closed here until the end of December, so we decided to target the reds.

As usual we got out late, which for me is the best time to dunk a bait!

The spots we normally frequent were occupied by other fishermen, so we hit a tried and true spot Karen loves to fish.

I dropped her off at her favorite spot, and moved down the road about 50 yards with 
Elmo our wonder dog, to try my luck with artificials.

I started chucking a 3" Storm Kickin' Shad,  that a guy at Bass Pro Shop in Savannah said was a killer bait for Sea Trout and Redfish.   I got a couple of half hearted hits, and after about 15 minutes I heard my wife yelling for me to come help her.

I thought she had another redfish on, but as I drove the truck up to where she was fishing; I found her about  halfway into the Indian River, head first, for the second time this year. This past September she went for a swim at about the same spot!.

Karen was trying to retrieve her prescription sunglasses that she had lost in the September 
outing, in exactly the same spot where she fell in last time trying to land her other redfish.

Evidently the bank gave way underneath her when she made a grab for the glasses in the water!

As I was trying to pull her out of  her precarious position; upside down and almost in the river; the drag on her rod started screaming, and a big fish took off for parts unknown. 

Before I could get to the rod, the fish had stripped almost all the line from her spinning reel.

I started pumping the fish to regain some line, while my wife tried to regain her composure and dry off before I passed the rod back to her.  After all it was her fish.

The pictures speak for themselves.  The redfish measured in at an even 36 inches and was the biggest fish that Karen has landed to date.  We didn't have a scale on the Boca Grip, but the fish had to way at least 20 pounds.

The fish are beautiful, and heavy bodied this time of year, and they fight like hell.

After we took some pics and released the redfish to fight another day, we headed home to get my wife a change of clothing and dry out.

I never did get a chance to catch anything, but it was a great afternoon excursion .....

Maybe tomorrow!

Tight lines to all!!

Labor Day North Indian River Redfish

Well folks, it was another great fishing outing on the north Indian River estuary.

The balmy afternoon gave way to a dead calm when my wife and I finally got to Peacock Pocket road. After stopping long enough at the shallow water canoe launch to throw a cast net for some finger mullet, we started looking for the telltale wakes of large redfish that frequent the area.

We didn't have to wait long. There were several large oversize redfish cruising the shallows and occasionally swirling on finger mullet.

I netted about a dozen 3 to 4 in. finger mullet, several shad like baitfish, and a small ladyfish when we stopped for bait. In addition to the live bait, we had frozen shrimp and my tried and true Chug Bugs.

I caught a couple slot sized trout on lures and Karen picked up a medium sized garfish on a finger mullet. It's unusual to land gar on hooks because of their ability to clip off a hook with their sharp teeth, but Karen managed to land this one. See the pics.



We chased several other wakes from large redfish but had no luck until dusk.

My wife had one rod with a shrimp bait and the other with a live free lined finger mullet.

I was trying my best to catch a redfish that looked to be at least 30" long to no avail.

Just at dusk, both of Karen's rods got hits. The rod with the shrimp peeled line up stream, so she grabbed it first and tied on to a slot sized redfish.

The fish got tangled in the brush alongside the bank, but she finally got it free for me to lip it out of the water for her.



It measured just at the top end of the slot and will be diner tomorrow evening. I haven't had blackened redfish in a while and we're both looking forward to it.

I didn't do too well this evening, but tomorrow is another day!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and until our next venture, Tight Lines!