Super Moon and gusty SW winds = super grass

[ronaultmtd]

Hit Piney Point this AM at 5:30 a.m. windy, raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock- I fished under the bridge to get out of the downpour- an hour later the rain let up and Mike (Chexone) got out of his nice dry car and joined me- the water was dingy, and grass was a problem- the chop was constant and the ride was wet...sounds bad but it was a day on the water, folks- any day on the water is great! Anyway, the croakers were like piranhas today- no matter what you had on the end of your line they took it- almost as bad as bluefish chopping off Gulp tails- I went through a lot of gulp today- the most I have ever used in a six hour day- white and chartreuse- didn't matter, they cut it up- You had to constantly stop trolling and take the grass off the baits- hard to fish with so much grass- it was constant- never let up all day- loose grass.

I don't know how many fish I caught- a monster perch- biggest perch I have ever seen- but I had both rods hooked up and the wind blowing me towards a sand bar, trying to take the perch off the 1/4 oz jighead, peddle, reel the other rod, steer and the perch flopped out of my hand hit the edge of the kayak and into the water for a perfect catch and release- I really wanted to measure that rascal- anyway, I caught several perch, kept the five biggest croakers and caught two legal redfish, keeping the 19 incher- about 11:30 the weather looked like I was going to get rained on (hard to get wetter than the splash from the chop) and I headed in- I thought I forgot my camera but when I got to the launch, it was in my pants pocket- Oh yeah, thinking my big bad AGM battery was a monster, I had three trips on it without charging- bad mistake- dead fish finder battery- It is on the charger now- Thanks Mike for taking the lead, buddy-

[chex]

Good fishin with you Ron. Congrats on those 2 keeper reds! Awesome.

Yeah, those croaker were voracious... RIP all my gulp, rest in peaces. I must have caught 20, up to 13", and lost just as many gulp to tail munchers and gulp destroyers. It was fun.

[ictalurus]

Nice work, gents. Sorry I didn't join you. Today ended up being really chaotic. I'm looking forward to getting on more reds.

[ronaultmtd]

Bill- I lightly blackened the redfish and croakers on a cast iron skillet on my cajun camp stove outside tonight- Everyone ate fish- it was really tasty-

[RavensDfense]

Same conditions on the ES side.

[ronaultmtd]

Did you get any fish on the ES Side? We tried sitting still and casting due to all the loose grass, but for some reason trolling was by far, the most productive- they must want to study the lure and follow it a while before chomping- the redfish do not hesitate- they hit like freight train at full throttle- yank the rod out of the holder- I actually had three yesterday- the first one was early and barely hooked in the edge of the mouth- he fought so hard that he had wore a big hole in his lip- he was a nice fish and I lost him at the boat trying to land him- wouldn't have mattered if I had a net- first time I had him by the boat he was still green and he was gone- same story with a striper- but no big deal- that's fishing- some you catch, some you don't- it is amazing that the same waters I have fished before on the same phase of the tide are so different due to wind direction, grass in the water, and heavy clouds- you have to fish them differently- setup your troll at different depth, have less line out, use different weight jigs- totally different way of fishing than your previous trip- otherwise you get that nasty smell on your boat-

[AbuMasgouf]

Those croakers can get crazy. The rain was a surprise!

[RavensDfense]

I couldn't agree with you more. We managed three small fish. Two croakers and a small rock. When we launched at 0530, we had 3+feet of visibility and an outgoing tide. At 0900, when the tide changed and the SW wind picked up, the water visibility decreased to <1 foot. We were not able to troll more than a few feet before picking up grass. Had I not had success in this spot 24 hours earlier I may have chalked it up to a lack of fish, but this is a prime example of how varying conditions play into success. Changing colors, jig weights, and multiple mirrolures was useless. If they can't see it, or at the very least hear it/smell it, your chances are slim to none. I hope these strong S/SW winds chill out sooner rather than later.