Massive Schools of reds in the land of no nets

Hit the Charleston area Friday and Saturday. If u don't think gill nets affect the NC inshore waters u need to take a trip to the low country for some inshore fishing. We really need to join together on this NC gamefish Bill to protect redfish, speckled trout, and striped bass. You can show your support by signing this letter: http://www.facebook.com/l/vAQGCcHcIAQH4OfLQrEAJ7ZUXD-CSrVfo5u5lDhnBUxXsUg/www.nc353.org
Anyway back to my low country trip. Within 2 minutes of powering down my skiff I saw two schools of fish. Unfortunately flipper showed up at the same time and began feeding on both schools. Not a problem because I was in south Carolina, IMO the best redfishing only second to the Louisiana delta. I eased my boat around a point only 400 yards from my first flat. The conditions Friday were perfect early with no wind and mild temps. To no surprise there were 3 schools separated by only 50 feet or so. I approached the first school and poled down. First cast I'm hooked up to an upper slot sc red. I caught two more from this school and moved on. I hit the next school and wacked two more, then I left the flat and left the other school alone. I was pre fishing for the upcoming low country redfish cup tourney Feb 4 so my mission was to locate as many fish as possible and narrow down the area in which to fish on game day. I made a move about a mile away from the first spot and located several pods of fish including two more massive schools of slot and overslot reds. Caught as many as I wanted and left them biting. Hit a flat about five miles away and found another 75 fish school. Did this the rest of the afternoon and called it a day.
The next day was nasty with rain overnight and high winds. I decided to fish a totally different body water on this day. I started off slow given the water was dirty and the conditions were horrible. Even so I started off with a 27" fish followed by a 31" fish in back to back casts at my third spot. Hit five or six other spots and caught several more reds before I called it a day. Even though the fishing was not as fun as day one pitching baits to large schools of Reds in ultra skinny clear water, I was able to find some protected areas holding fish in the event it is nasty on tournament day.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

Winter Schooling

Today was the best day I have had on the water in the past 4 winters. The conditions were ideal early with light winds and a falling tide. I get to my first spot and flipper and the crew were have redfish biscuits for breakfast. There were 75 reds sitting on an oyster bar with their fins out of the water trying to avoid being eaten. As soon as flipper exited the flat I let the fish calm down and popped three on DOA jerkbaits. After pulling three from the school I left them alone as to not stress them any further. The school was mixed up from lower slots to uppers. The next school I found had about 100 reds from 23" to over slot. These fish were much more aggressive as I yanked 5 from the school and headed to another spot. I found some fish I could not get to at the next flat so I moved on. I decided to fish some areas I have never fished in the winter. As I was working the next shoreline I saw a massive school of reds hump up about 200 feet from me. I watched them swim down the shoreline about 100 yards and then stalked them. I was amazed at the size of this school. This school had close to 300 fish in it. Although this school was massive they were sitting in less than a foot of gin clear water and were very skittish. I poled down and began sight casting the lead and outer fish. I picked off five or so of these reds and left them biting. It is very important not to beat on these winter fish. These are the only fish we will have inshore until spring and if you beat on them they will get educated and become very hard to catch. Back to the fishing. At this point I wanted to try a few more spots that were similar to the areas that were holding fish. I tried another spot that was new to me and once again I found a massive school about the same size as the last one. I pulled a few out of this school and shifted gears to trout fishing. I tried half heartedly to find some trout with no success and went back to redfishing. The next flat I hit had stagnant water and was stirred up. I decide to hit one more high tide spot and I was glad I did. I pulled 5 fish in six casts and called it a day. All of these fish were upper and over slots and were caught on gulp and category5 shrimp minnows. What a day on the water. After much frustration with my outboard the past 6 months it was great to have a trouble free day of fishing.
If u want to sight fish to large schools of fish in crystal clear water book a charter today. I have limited openings this entire year.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9