Corpusfishing.com

[Prof. Salt]

Last week I had six pinning ceremonies, a graduation, and a funeral to participate in, along with the usual office stuff. Saturday morning there was a small window before the winds came up and work got busy again, so I hurried out to Copano to find some redfish. Saturday crowds were around and making it a bit more tricky, but I knew the mission and had confidence it could be done early. The first thing I noticed was that the favored shorelines were not going to be easy because of the wind. So I switched and worked the protected side of the bay. In the early light fish had not started hunting in earnest yet, so I had to watch for subtle signs and stay extra quiet. I found one fish feeding inside the grasses, and it took two casts to get the bait where it needed to be, but the fish ate and I got onto the boards with a 25" fish. Farther down the shore I found another group hunting slowly against the shoreline and coming towards me. The first cast sailed with the wind and landed five feet too far out for them to notice. I reeled it back, but no too fast to spook them ...or so I thought. My heart sank as the entire group paused before turning to swim into deeper water. A follow up cast brought the bait in front of several of the fish, but they knew something was not right. I left them and continued the search. Twice I ran the kayak up onto oysters as I was sneaking in close on feeding fish. The noise spooked the fish of course, and the water was dirty so it was impossible to see all the oyster shell and avoid it. Finally I could see the entrance to a long cut that went back into a pasture. Google maps had shown me that it ended in a pretty big lake back there, and I wanted to check out that one new spot. As I got into the canal entrance, I noticed a fish quietly moving through the grass and trying to go unnoticed. A gentle bait landing six inches ahead of the fish's nose was too much to resist, and it smashed the bait in a lovely shower of water. The fish came to the boat a little faster than the first fish had, because it was just over the minimum legal mark, so it went swimming after the hook was removed. I was gambling that larger fish would lie ahead.

The long paddle down the canal didn't yield a single red to cast toward, so I was a little worried that exploring this new lake might be a waste of time on a morning that I didn't have extra time. As I entered the lake it was all mud bottom and very shallow. There was enough water to float the kayak, so I went down the first shoreline quietly, looking for signs. By the time I saw the first lake red he was only 12 feet away, taking a nap with his back exposed. I gentle cast landed and woke the fish, but it just sat there with a slight wiggle of his tail. As I slowly crept the bait in front of the fish it pounced, and we danced through the shallow mud. The fish kicked up a dozen other fish that had been hidden until that point, and two of them slammed against the bottom of the kayak as they ran for the deeper canal. I released that fish too because it was under 22", and kept moving. Towards the North end of the lake I saw another fish coming my way. I waited for it to get into range before tossing the little Trick Shot against the grass. As soon as I began to move the lure it got hit hard. This fish also alerted a few more hidden ones, but I was okay with that. I was catching fish. It measured 20.5" and was released, but within a few minutes I decided to keep any other legal fish because the clock was rapidly running out on my available time. I worked back to the open bay and pointed for the truck while keeping tight to the protected shoreline. I found a fish sitting in the grass, barely moving except for that blue fringed tail that peeked above the surface while I was looking in that direction. One cast was all it took to convince the fish that it was hungry. At 22" it went right into the bag and I needed one more fish to complete the mission. As I worked ahead I noticed two kayakers ahead ducking into another small canal that lead back into another lake. As I got to the entrance there was a pretty big gator sitting in the middle of the entry, as if guarding it from any additional boats. I kept moving along the shoreline as the clock ticked faster and faster. Finally, in the last 200 yards of shoreline before I had to make that turn across open water, I spotted a trio of fish working the edge of some oyster. This time I managed to keep the boat off the shells, and they came within range just like I hoped they would. The lure was just about to contact the surface when the fish ate it. I really think he saw it coming and just attacked as it made contact with water. At any rate, this one measured almost 21" but went into the bag. I was done and hustled back to the truck. I got the fish filleted, the boat and gear loaded and was on the road by 10. My 1:00 pinning featured a clean and non-salty Prof. Salt, so mission accomplished. :LOL:

[awesum]

Nice trip. No BTB on the weather radar :/

[ziacatcher]

You need to start catching a few red fish. Lol

[Prof. Salt]