Fall is fun fishin'

Report Date: October 14, 2002

On a recent trip we had Ron Jackson and his son, Rich, from New York. They had never caught a redfish, so our game plan was to put them on some of our big reds and see if we couldn?t catch a ?Bubba?. We left the dock at 8:30 and had a couple of hours before the tide turned in. We decided to fish the flats for trout first, then move inshore and check out some of my Redfish hotels.

That turned out to be an excellent game plan. As soon as we stopped the boat on the gin clear grass flats in about 4 feet of water we began to catch trout. They were hitting everything you threw at them, however, most were caught on plastic tail grubs fished on 1/8th oz. Cotee jigs under Cajun rattling corks. Just for fun, Ron brought out the 5 weight fly rod and caught 9 trout, a ladyfish, and a jack crevalle. Rich gave it a try and even though he was just learning to fly fish, caught 8 trout and a Spanish Mackerel.

As the tide got right, we headed inshore from the flats, to my favorite backcountry Redfish hotel. I told Ron and Rich to get ready for some hard pulling, line screaming action. They were ready, ?like a bird dog on point?. We eased into the first spot. On the first cast, Rich, hooked up with a nice red of 5 pounds. As he was fighting him, Ron had a hook up. A Double, right off the bat! After landing both fish, high fives, pictures, big smiles and releases, they continued to catch and release 26 reds to 10 pounds. We never moved. The first hotel was full of ?Bubba?s?.

We got out the flyrod again, and had some awesome rod bending action. They only landed 2, but had 4 break offs. The 5 weight rod was a challenge with these big reds. But boy, what fun.. We ended the day by stopping by a ledge I knew which usually held grouper and mangrove snapper. We caught 3 grouper, one keeper and several snapper, then headed in. We called it a day, and a good day it had been, making memories which will last a lifetime.

This time of year is excellent fishing. The weather is starting to cool. Redfish, Trout, Spanish Mackerel, inshore Grouper, Sharks, Jack Crevalle, and an occasional Cobia can be caught within 5 miles of shore. Give me a call or email to book your trip.

And remember, take a youngster fishin??.cause a child?s smile and a good day fishin? is the best medicine for whatever ails ya?.

Captain Ed Lewis

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