Skunked and then fishing in a barrel

[Hemingway]

Sat. morning Kayak Joe, a newbie buddy Joe F., and myself hit the water at Kipto before 7:00 AM to find out if the big girls had arrived yet. We paddled North and out about 2 mi. to the channel and around 80 ft of water. Soaked eels until around 10:30 with zero success. We then came back to the ships, checked with a yakker tog fishing, and he said it was slow. We headed to the pound nets and beach…totally dead there. Beached for lunch, and considered our options. Joe F. had to leave after lunch, so Kayak Joe and I decided to load up and head to Wise Pt. We went to one of the small Islands around there. There was a creek we wanted to check out from earlier in the year. However, a super low tide made everything different. There was no water at all as we tried to find a way into the entrance. We had to drag the boats in about 4" of water for 200 yds. Finally we stopped, beached the boats, and asked ourselves if there was anyway this place would still be holding fish? Decided to take a hike with a rod to find out for sure. We casted and walked for about 300 yds., and the water was only a foot deep. I suggested we go back and check on the kayaks, since we had not anchor tethered them. Joe made one more cast, and the surface exploded, the screaming drag told us that there was at least one big red stranded inside. He was grinning from ear to ear as be beached a nice 24"er. We rushed back to the boats, started dragging them for several more yards until we could shallow paddle. A few casts, and in the least amount of water imaginable, it was on. We had three double hookups, and several back to back fish. Literally as easy as fishing in a barrel. There were a couple of small rock, and Joe got a surprise specked, but the rest were nice pups 20-24". I caught around 20, and Joe had a few more than that! All in about an hour and a half! One of the reds I caught was under 20", but it had 10 spots on one side, and 8 on the other...there should be some sort of record keeping I know it was a record for me. Joe and I agreed, that the biggest fighters of the day were the 22"ers. Man those guys were on steroids! This year has been off the hook for puppy drum, and they are all still there from Sat. We released all the fish in good shape.
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[chex]

Nice! I think you found my favorite school of reds

[tufnik]

What a pleasant surprise in shallow water. I wouldn't have guessed. Nice fish. Thanks for the report.

[mytmouse]

WTG fellas!

[Sun]

Sounds like fun! Thanks for the report.

[Hemingway]

What a pleasant surprise in shallow water. I wouldn't have guessed. Nice fish. Thanks for the report.

Hey, we all know they like skinny water and the flats, but I never realized that they would stay up in the creeks and risk being stranded. But, on second thought, they obviously know the tide will come back in

[scorpioreno]

THanks for the report those Reds are beautiful.

[AbuMasgouf]

Wow that was a awesome surprise! Way to go gents!

[russ498]

Outstanding!!

[Shady]

Wow, very nice!

[RavensDfense]

Nice going, guys! I am itching to get back out soon. Bowhunting has been the obsession lately, but it won't be long until every yahoo with a gun is trampling around the woods and that'll be about the time I give it a rest until things settle back down. Gary, that thing has spots galore; awesome catch!

[JohnE]

Good job. Can't wait to get out to that area soon. Surprised that the stripers have not shown up yet.

[Hemingway]

Good job. Can't wait to get out to that area soon. Surprised that the stripers have not shown up yet.

Very, very soon my friend

[chex]

That little 10-spotted puppy sure is pretty.

Yes, the red drum are definitely looking like a healthy stock. Talking to a guy from CCA last week, he said it was due to good redfishery management. The slot limits are working well for these fish and leaving the big breeders in the water. We now reap the benefits. And what an awesome fish... strongest fighters you'll find, beautiful and tasty (so I hear). Specks are on the same track to recovery. Stripers, however, will need a quota adjustment very soon, if they are to remain a viable fishery... people are killing too many big ones.

[JohnE]

Need to catch more reds and thin them out a bit. I think the huge population expansion is part of the reason why the crabs are so scarce and expensive this year.

I think all the guys who catch 50-100 in a weekend and keep them all--regardless of size or anything else--is hurting the striper population quite a bit. They hardly ever get caught. The penalties are usually not stiff enough to deter them from doing it again next year. I think they are planning on changing the recreational regs year after next. Killing the big migrating females full of eggs hurts the population bad, but the big males not as much. When you catch a big female full of eggs, you can usually tell by how swollen their bellies are.