It’s always a nice touch to see a manhole cover with some decoration and as a fisherman I’m a sucker for those with fish on them. Here’s a couple I found a few weeks back in Georgia.
Manhole cover fish art
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Fishing
Redfish and oysters
The boys from Alabama made their annual trip to Grand Isle the weekend before Thanksgiving and I was able to join them for a couple of days of fishing and fraternizing. The forecast looked bleak before I made the drive down and I was fighting a bit of sinusitis, but I knew that they would be having a good time no matter the weather and I hadn’t gotten a chance to see them last year so I was in no matter what. Luckily for us the forecasters were wrong that weekend and we had two days of decent fishing weather before the bottom fell out.
Day 1 had three of us, James, Matt and myself, fishing together in a spot I picked because it would be somewhat wind protected and it had been a fishy spot in the past. Plus a good biscuit spot was on the way down – always good to know the good biscuit places to meet at. Conditions were great considering the forecast, the only real negative was the wind. Winds were constant, but they certainly were not the 15+ mph that was predicted. Water clarity was good, the sun was shining and the tide was out and coming in slowly – sightfishing wouldn’t be a problem on day 1. The other positive was cooperative, aggressive redfish.
It took me a while to get set up as I was fishing out of a new boat (more on that later) for the first time and by the time I met the other two, James was on his way to a limit of redfish on the fly rod. James had stumbled on a spot that I’ve had success at in the past on trout, only today it was stacked with reds. It is an area where a few different bodies of water run together and make a little deep spot with oyster bars on the shallow ledges. James was bumping his fly on the bottom and wearing out the reds with a fiberglass fly rod. I parked a short ways away and found a spot of my own and figured out a similar pattern with a Matrix shad on a 1/8 oz jig. We were basically nymphing for redfish, letting the current take our baits through the hole as we fished by feel along the bottom. In no time we pulled our two man limit of slot reds between 16-22″ with one upper slot kicker that was around 25-26″. Matt pulled up during the slaughter and announced he had his first redfish on the fly and it was a stud too at 25.5″ – would have made a great tournament fish. I was thrilled that we had such early success at the spot I picked for us to fish, given the conditions and the fact that I hadn’t fished saltwater since June’s Trout Challenge tournament.
After my limit I began tagging reds and after tagging another limit I decided it was time to move on. We made our way further into the marsh and found that pretty much anywhere you had big mounds of oysters there were redfish hanging around. Think of redfish and oysters like peanut butter and jelly or spaghetti and meatballs or lamb and tuna fish. I caught a few more reds before lunch including the biggest I would land on the day at 29″. He was pretty fun to catch as he broke the hook off my jighead on hookset, I had time to reach behind and throw my popping cork rig to him, but instead of him eating the Vudu shrimp he inhaled the cork. I gave him some slack and let him try to swallow the cork then as he spit it out I set the hook. Somehow the plan worked and I was able to hook the outside of his jaw with the Vudu – it was a wild sequence of events!
After lunch I did more paddling than fish catching but did end up catching a few more reds. I have to say it was probably my best day fishing for redfish this year. I haven’t dedicated a whole lot of time to saltwater this year so it was awesome to have a great day. When we were tired of the relentless wind we headed back to the camp to clean some fish and tell stories with the other guys. My one request was that someone bring some beer I haven’t had and Rhodes came through:
Day 2’s forecast was worse than day 1 so we weren’t very optimistic about our chances, however things change when you wake up to dead calm conditions. I imagined things would get worse as the day progressed but at least it was good now. James and I set out for a different spot, no matter how good the day before was I just don’t have it in me to fish the same spot two days in a row if I have a say so, must be the explorer in me. We set out for spot 2, but upon parking we realized that it wasn’t in the cards. A private landowner moved us along, which was a first for me, but I’ve heard it is happening a lot more down here. It is unfortunate that all natural tidal water is not available to the public, but I have no argument against the rights of landowners so move along we did. We went further up the road to a spot I haven’t fished in a while, but have had a lot of success at in the past. Conditions were different than yesterday. The skies were overcast, there wasn’t a whole lot of wind, water clarity wasn’t as good here and we would find that the redfish just weren’t as opportunistic as the day before.
It took all day for us to catch a limit, but we each got one. The average redfish size was better too, with several upper slot reds being caught. In fact I had a slot red that went 7.9 lbs. – talk about a tournament fish! The sight fishing was a lot tougher, but when I did see a redfish it was because his back was out of the water, which is a lot of fun when it is like that. It felt a little more like hunting on day 2 and what a relief to end up getting into some fish after the slow start. It wasn’t that I didn’t see them early on, it is just that I botched all my opportunities with missed hooksets and awful casts.
We ate well that night with Cole’s legendary deer balls and boudin from Ronnie’s in Baton Rouge. I had some Truck Stop in a can courtesy of Tidwell and Mark. It’s always a good time when the Alabama boys come down and this might be the first year that there wasn’t a skunk for anyone that made the trip. The redfishing was pretty darn good given the weather forecast, but specks were non-existent, I think there was one caught in the whole group and it was undersized. I hope that is just an enigma and not a pattern, either way I don’t think anyone left disappointed. Can’t wait to do it again next year!
Counting follows
I don’t believe I’ve ever fished for a fish where you count follows. A follow meaning the fish following the bait to the boat. I’ve counted strikes before when fishing and I’ve counted fish that have “long distance released” themselves, but never follows. I learned last week that in musky fishing you count follows. Otherwise what do you have to show for when you fish for them? When you fish for the “fish of a thousand casts” you have to keep the optimism, counting follows makes sense, it helps to keep you casting and helps to keep that bait in the water.
I did a float last Sunday up in Tennessee with fellow Jackson teammates Chris Funk and Josh Tidwell. Josh, having fished for musky a handful of times was our resident expert, which wasn’t saying a whole lot (no offense to Josh, I think he’ll understand), but he was the only one of us who had ever actually touched one. We didn’t get too early of a start, getting a good breakfast in us before hitting the water. We had heard a different section of the river we planned to hit was blown out, so we were a little nervous about the condition, but upon arrival it was in great condition, we would have a good day, even if we didn’t catch anything. which is entirely possible in musky fishing. It was a little low, but clarity was excellent, with just the slightest of stain to it and all more important no one was at the put-in or the take-out – the water was all ours.
I have previously fished for musky before. One time, four years ago, same stretch of water actually. It was when Jackson first came out with the Coosa and a bunch of the OG fishing team guys went to the factory to find out a little more about the boat and this whitewater company that was making it. We had a huge group on the float and none of us really knew what we were doing. I remember getting a bite from something, probably a smallie, and that was it. Not very memorable, other than it was the first time any of us had floated in the Coosa, or even in a Jackson Kayak at all. I trusted that Drew knew what he was doing when he designed this boat and rolled the dice. Fast forward to today and I am super happy to have made that decision, it has been a lot of fun being a part of the Jackson team and the boats just keep getting better and better.
Because of our slow day last time and because I really haven’t thought about musky fishing in the four years since that first trip – I really didn’t have high hopes of even seeing one, even though Josh was saying, “we will at least see one”. Imagine my surprise when not fifteen minutes into our trip Josh is hooked up and it’s a musky. Fish of a thousand casts my ass. It was a juvenile fish, maybe around 24″, but it was really cool to actually see one up close and to know that it really was possible. Unfortunately for me, he caught him on a walk-the-dog style bait and all my walk-the-dog style baits were in a saltwater box back in Louisiana. Josh hooked up with musky below:
The musky fishing quieted down after that fish and brought us back to reality. More typical musky fishing took over and we began counting follows whenever we could get them. I had two throughout the day with a near hook-up boat-side on a figure 8 retrieve with a buzzbait. I finally got a solid eat almost within sight of the take out – a testament to the “fish of a thousand casts” moniker. I was throwing a black/blue chatterbait hoping for musky or smallies when I got a vicious eat near the bank. I saw the giant musky head shake and when I reared back to set the hook it came back limp. He easily broke me off as I wasn’t fishing wire tippet. It was enough to get the adrenaline pumping and to give me a fish story I can tell the rest of my life, where the subject keeps growing as I get older. Right now I’ve got him at around 36″, but by the time I die that musky will be damn near 72″.
Conditions were excellent for the first half of our float, everything was beautiful, unfortunately the skies opened up on the second half. Smallie fishing was pretty good throughout and the rock bass were on fire for Chris. That man can flat work a jig, he was picking up fish left and right, especially right along any bluff wall. I didn’t land too many of my fish, but managed to boat a nice smallie who hit a buzzbait pretty much on impact with the water. I learned on this trip that I fish way too fast for freshwater. Chris landed a couple personal best smallmouth and had a few heart stopping moments with musky as well.
It was a good float and like Josh said, we did end up seeing some musky. I’d love to have that one that ate back, that would have really been something special, but I wasn’t prepared and I paid for it. I know better than that. That was the first time I’ve fished with Chris and I’ve got to say, it is a hoot! You’ll never meet anyone out there on the water that has more fun than that guy. He has jokes for days too, which goes a long way in a good fishing partner. Chris is an excellent photographer, so I didn’t really take too many, knowing that he would have better quality shots.
Back at camp we had just enough time to change clothes before we headed off to EJ’s house for a little pre-summit social. It was a pleasant surprise to see that Jackson teamed up with Ninkasi Brewing out of Oregon and they had several of their craft brews available for us to partake. Good people, good beer, and good food are the elements of a great party and the Jackson’s always hit on all parts.
Mountains to Marsh 