Sometimes, things just seem to go your way. . .
On Sunday, I checked the wind forecast for the week - pretty much hurricane conditions predicted - 15 mph with 20+ gusts from morning till midnight every day, all week. Put the boat away, cleaned up the fishing stuff, and figured, “Hell, it’s 4th of July week, let the tourists have their fun.”
Woke up Monday a.m. to dead calm conditions and perfect weather. #$%^&*( weather morons! Checked the forecast for today, full on hurricane conditions predicted again. Said, “to hell with it” and yanked the boat back out last night for a dawn patrol session this a.m.. Told my buddy who was joining me that we’d make a 4:45 a.m. call based on conditions.
Fast forward to 4:45 - Clear weather, light winds - go time. Problem now is that it was going to be dead low tide and I didn’t have any strong prospects. I decided to take a gamble on an area I did well at earlier in the spring, but as we pulled up it was even shallower than I expected.
We sat well off the bank, making hail Mary casts of our topwaters into the shallows - third cast, I paused to set the power pole down and felt a tug. Figured it was a pinfish, so started the retrieve again and got a little pop - maybe a trout?
Fired a few more casts in there and then all hell broke loose - water blew up out of nowhere and suddenly I’m tight with a Red that is bigger than the water he’s swimming in. Long, hard fight, and he measures just under 27". Not bad for fifteen minutes into the session.
Next cast, blown up again. 23" Red absolutely annihalates my topwater. Over the gunnels he comes. A few more casts and another hole in the water, this time a 27" red jumps completely clear of the water and he is some kind of pissed. Over the gunnels, and we’re less than 45 minutes in with 3 beautiful reds landed. A few more casts, a few more blow ups, and then finally a full commitment from a fish that has decided to head for China. Finally turned him around and get the upper hand on him and he gator rolls and spits the plug. He was easily over slot, but I sure wish I’d landed him.
Worked further down the bank - a few more follows and a few more blow ups, and finally our 5th Redfish came over the gunnels.
It wasn’t even 7 a.m.
Not every day ends up like that, but it’s hard to beat that kind of morning!
