The first evening trip of the week and I finally had some clients to take out for some windy winter fishing. They were not much at casting when they first arrived, but we worked with them a bit and they got good enough to hit the practice targets.
With a front approaching at around 7pm this evening, we had strong southeast winds that really uprooted a bunch of sea grass. It was hard to retrieve baits without picking up a bunch of grass and killing the bait's action. The grass was covering the bait totally in many good places that were holding good numbers of redfish and a few speckled trout here and there. Both species were following the baits but wouldn't strike it, they knew something was wrong! The clients all watched cast after cast, really thirsty for the hit that just wasn't happening.
We finally decided to leave the sand and grass beds that were about 18 to 30 feet deep to find somewhere that the winds were not blowing so hard. We came across a spot that was similar in depth and bottom that didn't have the floating sea grass but had some scattered oyster shells, which might indicate there could be some larger redfish holding there, but just not as many, it seemed anyway.
Working the Pink Hologram Devil Eye on a 1/16 oz. TruLoc jig head, slowly up and down, we thought we would have better results than with darker colors since the water was so clear. We were right, within a few attempts we had redfish chasing after the lures. When my clients saw the redfish following the bait and swirling the water they got so excited they kept retrieving the lure, so fast in fact, the fish couldn't catch it. I had to tell them to relax, and wait to set the hook once you feel the strike, since they needed to present the bait in front of the fish, with such clear conditions. The redfish started wolfing the lures down.
Five got creel limits of redfish in the two to two and a half foot range, that were hooked so good there was no way they could have gotten away!
Next, we hit a channel near some descending flats that was sand and mixed grass beds, to try for some speckled trout. The color we had been using was a bit sandier and we tried using the same action but the clients that were rigged differently, one with a Root beer Devil Eye and the other with a Strawberry one were getting all the hits, from pecker heads to 21 inches and there were a lot more where those came from.
While there were not as many of the larger trout, which were lying in holes on top of the flats, they were some good-looking fish. When we checked out the drop off, it actually had more fish that were smaller, but keepers were holding there. The clients ended up boating 14 speckled trout and the action was hot and heavy, making it a great 3.5 hour outing!
Part of the success had to be attributed to the new TruLoc jig heads, because they have some great quality, sharp hooks!!! We didn't lose a single thing because of the hooks, but lost tails from two of the lures because of the way those redfish were sucking them in and no other worm could have done any better with the abuse those fish were dishing out.
With a front approaching at around 7pm this evening, we had strong southeast winds that really uprooted a bunch of sea grass. It was hard to retrieve baits without picking up a bunch of grass and killing the bait's action. The grass was covering the bait totally in many good places that were holding good numbers of redfish and a few speckled trout here and there. Both species were following the baits but wouldn't strike it, they knew something was wrong! The clients all watched cast after cast, really thirsty for the hit that just wasn't happening.
We finally decided to leave the sand and grass beds that were about 18 to 30 feet deep to find somewhere that the winds were not blowing so hard. We came across a spot that was similar in depth and bottom that didn't have the floating sea grass but had some scattered oyster shells, which might indicate there could be some larger redfish holding there, but just not as many, it seemed anyway.
Working the Pink Hologram Devil Eye on a 1/16 oz. TruLoc jig head, slowly up and down, we thought we would have better results than with darker colors since the water was so clear. We were right, within a few attempts we had redfish chasing after the lures. When my clients saw the redfish following the bait and swirling the water they got so excited they kept retrieving the lure, so fast in fact, the fish couldn't catch it. I had to tell them to relax, and wait to set the hook once you feel the strike, since they needed to present the bait in front of the fish, with such clear conditions. The redfish started wolfing the lures down.
Five got creel limits of redfish in the two to two and a half foot range, that were hooked so good there was no way they could have gotten away!
Next, we hit a channel near some descending flats that was sand and mixed grass beds, to try for some speckled trout. The color we had been using was a bit sandier and we tried using the same action but the clients that were rigged differently, one with a Root beer Devil Eye and the other with a Strawberry one were getting all the hits, from pecker heads to 21 inches and there were a lot more where those came from.
While there were not as many of the larger trout, which were lying in holes on top of the flats, they were some good-looking fish. When we checked out the drop off, it actually had more fish that were smaller, but keepers were holding there. The clients ended up boating 14 speckled trout and the action was hot and heavy, making it a great 3.5 hour outing!
Part of the success had to be attributed to the new TruLoc jig heads, because they have some great quality, sharp hooks!!! We didn't lose a single thing because of the hooks, but lost tails from two of the lures because of the way those redfish were sucking them in and no other worm could have done any better with the abuse those fish were dishing out.
About the Author:
Captain Robert Brooks is a licensed fishing guide who specializes in wadefishing for big speckled trout and redfish on the Gulf Coast using fishing gear. Robert recommends that you try out some redfish fishing lures from Brown Lures for your next fishing trip.
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