Déjà Vu all over again

In the words of the infamous NY Yankee, Yogi Berra
“It’s Déjà vu all over again”. It’s the weather were referring to. Just like last year we are having record low temperatures. The only difference is that it’s a lot earlier in the season than when last years freeze took place. We can only hope that after this week we don’t see another freeze for a while. Last year was devastating to our snook and baitfish stocks. We can only hope that after this week we don’t see another freeze for a while. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Saturday, my buddy Bruce and I headed out to look for redfish in Silver Lake. The air was brisk with a light breeze making for a slight chop on the water and the sky overcast. The latter two conditions made it difficult to sight cast in the clear shallow water so we had to resort to blind casting. As we worked the shoreline and oyster bars we spooked a couple of lone redfish but no hook ups. We then came to an area that was blocked by the wind and the water was calm. Perfect fly casting conditions.
I placed a cast up between two oyster bars and let the fly land. I made one small strip of my fly and I felt the line tighten. At first I thought I was stuck on an oyster but when my line started moving I knew I was hooked up to a red. It felt like an under sized red at first because of the way it picked up the fly and put up very little resistance until it was about half way to the boat. Once we had a visual on the fish we could see that it was about 25 inches and once the fish saw us the fight was on. Unfortunately the fight only lasted about a minute when the hooked pulled out of the fish, redfish 1 angler nothing. We worked that lake one more time to no avail so we decided to see if we could find some trout. When that didn’t pan out we called it a day.
Winter is a great time of year to fish the shallows for redfish. This is when they school heavily. Normally you’ll find reds basking and feeding in the shallows a day or two after a cold front. Gold spoons, Berkley Gulp on a jig head or live bait such as mud minnows, live or cut mullet and shrimp will all work on wintertime reds. Dress warm, pick a calm day and go wet a line.

Capt Rob Ottlein
386-439-2636
www.flaglerfishingcharters.com

Sometimes when the fishing is slow we have to think of ways to amuse ourselves. Such was the case Black Friday when Capt. Ralph Olivett, his friend Kelly and I went to try our luck at flounder fishing. We had nice healthy bait in the livewell and beautiful weather, all the makings of a great day for fishing. Just one problem though, the flounder were not cooperating. We fished several locations and only had one flounder all morning long and it was released. It was just barely legal size.
As the afternoon rolled around it was apparent that the flounder were taking the day off but we continued to fish. I came up with the idea to make things interesting. I suggested that the first one to land a crab would be rewarded a dollar from each of the other two. The contest was agreed upon and the fishing began, or should I say the crabbing began. The competition was fierce between the three of us and after a lot of laughs Capt Ralph had come out the winner.
Moving on to the next spot we changed the species of the competition from crab to Twigger fish, also known as a stick or small branch. Lots of times you never know what you might reel in while bottom fishing. The contest was on. Ralph had the first Twigger, a small one. I then hooked into something that felt like a fish as I reeled it in against the current. I told Ralph to get ready to net “it” as I believed it was a big one. As it came into view “it” turned out to be the largest Twigger of the day. Boy did I take a lot of abuse over that but I was proud to win that portion of the competition. The day did not wind up being a total bust when I landed a 26” redfish just before calling it a day. Even though the fishing was slow three friends shared a lot of laughs that day.
Here’s a quick story about how aggressive fish can be when they are feeding. I was fly fishing last week using a fly that was 2 1/2 inches long when I hooked a fish. I knew it wasn’t big and when I got it to the boat it turned out to be a snook. How big was it you may ask? It was about 6 inches long. It swallowed that fly all the way to the back of its throat. Luckily I crush the barbs on my hooks and was able to retrieve it and release the little guy unharmed.

My WunderPhotos : Weather Underground

Start of the journey for a new born baby sea turtle