December 14th, 2011

Kelly and I hit the Rally for coffee and a donut before heading down the road to the 4^th Street launch. We were paddling away a short time later, just at first light—about 6:30am.

Both Kelly and I had been anticipating this trip for two weeks. After such a huge day our last time out, we were eager to see if the gator trout and reds would still be at the Backyard. Add to the mix that the moon and tide were just right, the wind was down, and that a high pressure front was coming through later that afternoon, and you can imagine our anticipation. The recipe was right.

The water was calm but not glassy, and surprisingly quiet. No mullet jumping, no signs of bait, and the birds were still roosting in the mangroves. Just south of Steve’s Hole we saw some mullet moving along the shoreline and threw a couple of topwaters, but after a few casts and not a hit, we paddled on to the Courtyard.

At the Courtyard, Kelly went around behind a mangrove island and anchored up, and I drifted in toward the same spot and threw my super spook. Right around the same hole where I caught a trout and red last time, I got a couple of follows and short strikes, but no real commitments and no hook-ups.

As I drifted around the backside of the island, I heard Kelly let out shout and saw his rod bent over. A short time later he brought a nice trout to hand. Moments later, a fish crushed my topwater lure, and I brought in a 19” trout. Then, just as I released my fish, I hear Kelly’s drag going off and I can see that he’s got a heavy fish on, so I paddle over to see him pull in a fat 24” redfish. Not only was he happy to catch the red, but he caught both fish on a gold spoon.

Side note: Both Kelly and I spend a lot of time reading fishing reports, blogs, and anything else about catching fish in our area. From time to time we’ll read a report where some guy has caught a crap load of redfish throwing a gold spoon. So naturally, Kelly and I both had bought gold spoons, but neither of us had ever caught a thing using them. This morning, Kelly had committed to throwing a gold spoon, so catching a trout and a red back-to-back was pretty significant and interesting to both him and me.

We might have stayed in the Courtyard longer, but after getting the skunk off, we were pretty anxious to head over to the Backyard, so we paddled off. A few minutes later we drifted in and set up exactly where we had been just two weeks before.

Ten casts later, we were scratching our heads. Not a bite. No action. Kelly was alternating between a spook and his spoon, and I was alternating casting a spook and a 1/8^th chartreuse jighead with a DOA shad tail.

We kept at it, and I don’t know who hooked up first, but we spent the next hour catching fish at a pretty steady clip. I caught five trout, the shortest at 18” and the biggest at 22”. My biggest trout came on the jighead/shad tail combo. I also got into a school of small reds, catching three. Kelly also brought in 5 more trout, all in the same size range, and another rat red. We also both had notable big misses. I had a big fish hit my topwater like a bomb going off, but missed the hookset, and Kelly had a fish on that took off like a rocket and was screaming drag, only to have his loop knot fail. Unfortunately, he lost his bone colored spook as a result. That thing had caught a lot of fish.

The tide changed over and the wind died shortly after, and with it, so did the bite. We kept fishing pretty hard, but didn’t bring another fish to hand. I did scout out a nearby area that looks great for redfish, and both Kelly and I spooked a bunch of reds, but they weren’t really biting.

I didn’t take any photos of my fish, but I did take some video of most of them. Upon looking back at the footage, I noted that several of the fish were lacking in the girth of the fish from two weeks ago. I’m taking this as a good sign that they have dropped their eggs. November and December are closed to trout harvesting for this reason—they are spawning, and to take a fish with roe is like taking 100 fish. There is talk of opening up the trout season to harvesting year ‘round, and for the sake of the fishery (and common sense) I hope the measure is dropped.

December 4, 2011

Kelly and I met up at the Rally on 4th Street at around 6:15am, got our coffee and donut, and shot down the road to the 4th Street launch at the Howard Frankland.

Our goal today was to redeem ourselves at the Courtyard, and after loading up the yaks, we paddled out. The wind was not too bad to start, maybe 7-8mph, but within twenty minutes, it was over 10 and it would steadily increase throughout the day.We stopped a few times to throw the spook at our usual haunts, but we couldn't even muster a hit.

We finally paddled up on the Courtyard and after rounding the mangroves, got a respite from the wind. Kelly and I set up about 50 yards apart and started a slow drift as the incoming tide pushed us in. I alternated throwing a weedless DOA shad tail and my spook topwater. Kelly worked topwater exclusively.

I fanned casts out 360 degrees around me, just prospecting. After about 10 minutes, I got my first hit in the middle of the Courtyard. The fish missed the hit, but I kept at it and after a couple more blow-ups, finally connected with a nice 24" redfish. Interestingly, it had one spot on one side, and two on the other

At 24", he was right in the middle of the slot, so I put him in my cold bag and stashed him in the hatch of the yak. Kelly had paddled around to take the photo of my red, so I pointed him in the right direction and we both started throwing spooks in area where I had hooked up. A few casts later, I had a truly enormous redfish take my lure and run for the hills. I held on and got him turned, only to have the hook pull.

There was much cursing.

Kelly and I paddled over to another part of the Courtyard, but couldn't get a bite. The whole time there were pelicans diving back over where I had hooked up with the red, so we paddled back over, and in short time I caught a 20" beauty of a trout.

After a few more casts, we decided to paddle off to a new location that I will now call the Backyard. I'd been eying the spot on Google Earth for some time, and it didn't disappoint. I trolled the weedless DOA shad tail on the way in, and as I paused to throw my first topwater, I heard my rod bump around in the rod holder and the fight was on. To my surprise, I would pull in my second 20"+ trout of the day:

Kelly and I set up in the Backyard and started throwing topwater. The bites came fast and furious. I would soon pick up another 24" trout on topwater, and then another that was the biggest I've ever caught, a truly epic fish that unfortunately, I forgot to measure.

In the meantime, Kelly had at least a dozen blow ups on his spook without a single hook-up. I started making fun of him and eased up on my casting to get him in the zone. Just as his inability to hook-up bordered on the absurd, he finally got lit up by a 20"+ trout.

We would continue casting in the Backyard for another hour, and Kelly added three more gator trout and I added two. He topped off the session with a nice redfish around 27". Not included in that total were at least a half dozen big trout and reds that came unbuttoned after hooking up. Keep in mind that we were working the topwaters in a half-foot of chop, so imagine what might have happened in better conditions.

As we paddled back toward the launch, we both were just stunned by the quality of the trout that we had caught. To catch one gator trout can make your day. To catch ten or so between the two of us made our year.

We stopped in Steve's Hole on the way back where I caught three more under-slot trout on the DOA shad tail, then we finally got off the water.

Epic.