January 1st, 2012

For some time, my barber, Don, has been urging me to fish the Cross Bayou Canal for snook. He's had a lot of success there, fishing mostly with a "Flat Rap" and has the pictures to prove it -- photo after photo of big ass snook.

With my bi-weekly fishing trip arriving and Kelly out of town, I decided to take my dad out with me in search of the elusive snook. I tried to keep my expectations down, but with stories from Don of regularly catching over a dozen snook per trip, I was feeling pretty positive that this was going to be a good day. Add to that a decent tide, a nice warm day, and an impending front, and the stars seemed aligned for success.

Dad and I launched at around 7:00am, just after sunrise.

The launch is decent, not much room to work with, but deep water from the start. We paddled up through the mangroves until we got into the actual canal, then pointed our yaks north for our destination. We stopped in a few spots along the way, fishing both the Park Street and Park Boulevard bridges without success. I was throwing a topwater, and I had hooked my dad up with a Yo-zuri crystal minnow and a jighead/shad tail combo.

The water was very clear, but there was a surprising amount of trash caught up in the mangroves and floating in the water. Since there didn't seem to be many people out there, it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

After about a thirty minute paddle, we came up on the bayou we wanted to fish. Dad and I started fishing the shoreline, both of us throwing Yo-zuri's and working them back to the yak. At some point Dad got a snag and drifted off the shoreline while I continued on.

About two dozen casts in, I was beginning to get a little frustrated, and starting to second guess my lure, my technique, and so on, but pushed on. Dad, in the meantime, had drifted out into the middle of the bayou and was lighting up the ladyfish. He was on some big breeders, and they were screaming drag, jumping and pulling for the deep. His first three casts netted three fish to the yak.

Shortly after, I got my first hit and was happy to see the fish come to the surface and tail-walk across the water. I saw the telltale black line along the side of the fish and knew I had my first snook. Boatside, it was only about 15", but I was psyched to get the skunk off and my first snook of the year after not catching a single one in 2011.

I kept hearing splashing and commotion as I was fishing the shoreline, but each time I turned around, it was just my dad hooking in to another ladyfish. Soon after, I would get a blazing hit that would tear some line off my reel, and I was sure I had another snook on, but it was one of dad's ladyfish that had ventured closer to shore. Fifty yards down the shore, I would get another hit, and this time it was the real deal--my second snook of the day, a cookie cutter version of the first.

By 10:30, I had fished a good 2/3 of the shoreline and was getting antsy to try another spot that Don had suggested, so I convinced my dad to paddle on, but not before he had boated his 20th ladyfish (not counting those that self-released). Interestingly, though the water was quiet and full of nothing but trash when we paddled in, it had now come alive with hundreds of mullet.

Our paddle out also showed signes of life, with more mullet and a dozen or so sheepshead spotted. Toward the Park Boulevard bridge, I saw something big -- either a tarpon or huge snook -- busting bait out of the water. Naturally, whatever it was didn't want our offerings.

We fished the last hour in a side creek off the bayou with limited success. Dad caught another ladyfish and spooked a big snook. I caught another small snook after a perfectly placed cast got underneath the mangroves. It was a red jighead/gulp combo, which I think got hit more out of a reaction than anything. I lost that snook at boatside, but it was the same size as the others.

On our way out, I threw my Yo-zuri in a deep hole and finally got a big snook on the line, but it threw the lure on its first jump. My next cast netted another ladyfish, and so we called it a day.


Great day on the water, fun to get my dad out with me and to see him light up some fish. Here's hoping to a mild winter and a good year of fishing.