February 11th, 2012

Last night the rains were long and soaking, and the day called for a steady wind, so Kelly and I sought shelter in the Cross Bayou Canal once again. At sunrise, I could see the back end of the front moving off:

We launched a little after 7:00am, and as usual, we threw a few casts around the Park Street bridge in the hopes of catching a ladyfish and getting the skunk off early. As I approached the bridge, I could see a fish feeding off the closest piling on the far left of the bridge. I threw my new Yo-zuri shrimp there, gave it a few twitches, and got a hard hit and hookup. The fish took off for another piling ten yards away, and I had only a second to pull back and try to pull it away. I don't know if I turned its head or if it changed course toward me, but I was able to avoid the piling, and was awarded in my efforts a short time later with a respectable snook:

Nothing like catching a snook on your first cast to improve a bummer of a day.

A short time later we arrived at Joe's creek and started fishing upstream. We had a nice wind to our back, which made it easy to work the mangrove shoreline without much steering.

Both Kelly and I were placing some nice casts into the mangroves, but nothing was biting. From time to time Kelly would pick up a ladyfish, but I stuck with the Yo-zuri Shrimp, which the ladyfish turn up their noses to. A hundred or so casts later, I was rewarded for my perseverance with a second snook, this one smaller at around 18". Say hello, friend:

We fished all the way up to a fork in the creek. Kelly paddled up the fork to do some prospecting. Here he is up a creek with a paddle:

We weren't able to catch anything else in Joe's creek, so we paddled back down to the canal and drifted downwind while working the mangroves. There were some nice pockets of water along the way, and I was able to catch a small redfish and a big ladyfish, and Kelly caught a few ladyfish and jumped a snook. I was hoping for a trout to complete my first ever slam, but it wasn't to be.

Maybe next time.

January 28th, 2012

Kelly and I met up at the Rally at 6:30am and drove out to the Cross Bayou Canal. We were launched and paddling off by 7:15am into the cool morning. After two abnormally warm weeks, we were again fishing on the back end of a cold front. It was about 58 degrees at launch. At least the wind cooperated, with calm conditions to start and no more than 5mph at the close of our session.

Our first stop was at the Park Street Bridge, where I picked up a ladyfish and a trout on a Yo-zuri edge lure. Kelly got the skunk off with a ladyfish on the north side of the bridge, then we nodded and paddled upstream.

We picked up a few more ladyfish at the mouth of Joe's creek, then started fishing our way upstream. I had been throwing my Yo-zuri edge the whole time, but after a real rats nest of a wind knot, I switched out to a back-up rod that had one of the new Yo-zuri shrimp tied on -- a birthday gift courtesy of my fishing buddy.

I flipped my first cast over to the mangrove edge and after a twitch, saw the lure disappear into the mouth of snook. A quick fight later, I released a healthy 15 inch snook.

I paddled up ten yards and cast the shrimp back into a pocket in the mangroves, and two twitches later, a snook nailed the lure. This one was a bit bigger, just over 20", and worth of a photo:

After Kelly paddled over to snap the photo, I moved over to the south side of the mangroves and flipped the shrimp over to the mangrove line again. I shit you not, another snook came up and took the lure. Another 15"-er.

The next cast did not catch a snook, nor did the one after that. However, on my third cast I dropped the lure by a partially submerged log and another 15" snook took off with it. Six casts, four snook--nothing short of epic.

Unfortunately, my next 100 or so casts netted nothing but ladyfish. Though the bite had died down considerably, Kelly managed to take a snook in the 15" range on topwater. We did see a few juvenile tarpon rolling again, but no takers.

We gave up on the creek at that point and paddled off to the bayou. It was quiet back there again, not a whole lot of movement, only few mullet jumping, but I had a good feeling. I went the far northeast corner and on my third cast, a big snook in the 30" range took the Yo-zuri shrimp and jumped clear of the water. When it hit the water it made a long run toward a submerged log, but I turned it and had it near the kayak when it made a second run and began pulling me toward the mangroves. I desperately tried to one-hand paddle the kayak back but the snook was too strong and got me up against the mangroves. I tried one last-ditch attempt to horse it out, and the line broke at the line-to-line knot at the leader.

F^@%!

Tough to lose a big snook, even worse to lose a $15 snook-slaying lure.

We took a good 20 minutes to bend the rod on some big ladyfish, then paddled back toward the launch. We stopped at the mouth of the creek to throw a couple, and Kelly had a big hit and a his drag started signing. I thought for sure he'd hooked up with his second snook, but instead, a super FAT trout came to hand. Not a bad way to close the day.

January 14, 2012

The sun is rising later now, so Kelly and I slept an extra half hour and met at the Rally at 6:30am. After fueling up, we drove out to the Cross Bayou Canal launch. It was in the low 50’s with some wind, but once we paddled up into the canal, the wind was tolerable.

Kelly and I tried our luck at the Park Street bridge, which netted a couple of ladyfish each.

It was good to get the skunk off early in the day. We paddled up to Joe’s Creek next and threw our lures at the juncture there. We immediately started catching ladyfish again, and after another half-dozen each, paddled up into the creek.

The creek was fairly active, with mullet jumping, ladyfish feeding actively (and tailing at times) and the occasional snook popping the surface. We fished about a half-mile of the creek and caught all kinds of ladyfish big and small, including one so large that it snapped Kelly’s pole.

Try as we might, we couldn’t get to the snook. The ones that were feeding were all the way back under the mangroves, and the cold snap that had come in the day before had the rest on lockjaw.

I did see three different spots where small tarpon were rolling, but none would come to hand.

As the sun came up we tried our big snook hole further upstream, but there was nothing doing there. There was a good windbreak where I had caught the snook the previous week, but nothing was biting and there was a ton of trash floating in the water. We spent maybe 30 minutes there and then fished our way back to the launch.

We must have caught twenty or so ladyfish each over the course of the morning, fishing with mirrodines, rapalas and gold spoons. After awhile, I put on an old, beat-up Gotcha and caught a few more. At one point we decided to try for a ladyfish double-header and it was at that point that the bite turned off on us. Pretty funny.

Considering that we didn’t catch anything but ladyfish, it was a fun day on the water. Pound for pound ladyfish give a great fight, you just have to be sure to keep them out of your yak and get a good, long pair of pliers.

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.

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.

November 19th, 2011

I had been looking forward to fishing all week, partly because I had missed fishing last weekend due to a bad cold, and partly because I had just bought a new (used) kayak from my neighbor, Bruce. I debuted my Ocean Kayak Trident this morning at 7:00, just as the sun was beginning to rise. I'll leave the description and yak comparison for another entry so we can move along to the fishing.

Kelly and I had committed this morning to paddle out to a new spot he's dubbed "The Courtyard." The last time he had fished it, he had caught three redfish in short time, so I was onboard for some tailers. The tide was high and there was a nice cloud cover as we paddled out. The wind would increase throughout the day, starting around 10mph and peaking around 15mph.

Once we reached the Courtyard, we both started throwing our topaters--Kelly his bone Spook and me...well...I was throwing a super ugly Mirrolure She Dog that one of the guys at Mastry's had convinced me to buy. After Kelly caught three gator trout to my none, I switched back over to my bone spook.

It was really fishy back in the courtyard, but nothing was biting. I liked the protection from the wind and the nice muddy bottom, which is good for the fish to warm up on over the winter. The bugs were pretty horrendous, though.

After not getting any bites for a couple of hours, I told Kelly we had to paddle back to our usual haunts so that I could get the skunk off my new yak. We stopped in what we call "Steve's Hole" and I caught three trout on back to back casts, and the yak was officially a catching kayak. I paddled back to catch up with Kelly, and he had reeled in a nice flounder.

We made a quick run down to the Redfish Hole and caught a couple of trout, then back up to the Howard Frankland underpass, where we split up. I went over to one of my good producing spots and caught ten trout on topwater and popping cork with live shrimp, then got off the water.

Kelly stayed out a bit longer and netted a few more trout, and we probably caught over 20 between the two of us, but the reds eluded us for this day.