Hungry Redfish

We fished back in Centipede Bay today and the redfish where hungry. We started out with lures then came across a small school of mud minnows. The mud minnows seem to have moved in to the back of the bay.
The weather was perfect, so as you guessed, there where lots of anglers playing hookie on this Tuesday. There where a couple of places I wanted to fish, but there where boats in all of them. There was one area that I have seen several redfish, but I would need to be in stealth mode since the water is shallow and exits are narrow.

It took about 10 minutes to sneak in to this area and about 5 minutes to catch 3 redfish. I think we could have caught more fish but we only had 3 baits.

Redfish #1

Redfish #2

When I use live bait for redfish I always use circle hooks. The only draw back to circle hooks is that you never get to set the hook. But the upside is that most of the time the hook sets in the corner of the jaw.

Redfish #3
Almost to the boat
And the release.

Overall it was great day,

Tide : Raising
Water Clarity : Very Clear
Moon Phase: New Moon
Temp: 79F
Water Temp : 76F
Wind: N 8mph
Bait: Chatter bait, Mud minnows
Results: 3 Redfish

Whitebait Thick in the Hernando Beach Channel

Last time I was out I had a hard time finding bait. Mud minnows have been working great lately. But last week I could not find a single mud minnow. As luck would have it, I run in to another angler coming in from a camping trip on the channel island. Basically I wrote off fishing in the cuts due to the dredging. He reported that the whitebait was all around the channel and the snook are still there.

So I ran out through the channel and picked up about 200 nice whitebait with my little net. (The mud minnow net (it's in rough shape)). I made a couple of stops in the cuts while I waited for the tide to come up a bit. Lost a few baits to the pinfish and headed back to Centipede Bay.

With a 12mph NE wind the channel stays calm.

Most of the inshore waters are protected, but the wind still can cause problems. I typically fish in area that I need to cast towards the north-east so when we have NE winds these area can be changeling. That is why it is import to know areas that that can take advantage of the wind direction.

So we headed to an area on the north side of Centipede Bay, where I like to site fish. This area is very shallow and the redfish tend to spoke easily in shallow water. But with a good north-east wind at my back I can manage to anchor far enough away and still make the cast. It was not long before we caught the first fish.
This little redfish was about 19 inches, a little too small for me... Next summer, I'll come back and invite him to dinner...


The next fish was very interesting. I had a knot in my line and noticed it when I cast out a bait. One thing that really bugs me is to have the line knotted. So I reeled in about half the line to where the knot was. Leaving the bait swimming around about 20 ft from the boat, while I worked on getting the knot out. Now the one thing I learned the hard way, is that fish will strike at the most inopportune times. As I worked the knot out I heard a pop and looked over to the bait and there was this redfish chasing my bait. Just as the knot came out the line pulled tight and the hook set. This one was 22 inches just the right size for dinner...

The key to this trip was knowing how to use the wind to benefit the fishing trip. I could have easily added lead to the line and fished against the wind, but each trip should be planned to take advantage of the weather and tide.

Good Luck
Zippyjr

Tide : 2:38pm - 2.7ft late raising
Water Clarity : Very clear
Moon Phase: 94% off full
Temp: 83 F
Water Temp : 81 F
Wind: 12 mph NE
Bait: Whitebait
Results: 2 Redfish and 1 Ladyfish

Where's the Mud Minnows

We have had our first major cold front and the water temp dropped by about 4 or 5 degrees. I've been a little bit lazy lately, so instead of chasing down whitebait. We stopped by the island to catch some mud minnows and there where none to be found. I searched all sides of the island.

It was late in the day, so the fishing trip turned in to a boat ride. And it was a very nice day for a boat ride..

Tide : falling .6 2:45
Water Clarity : Very clear
Moon Phase: 50% full
Temp: 85F
Water Temp : 80F
Wind: 5-10 N mph
Bait: none
Results: boat ride

Redfish Redemption

Over the last few weeks we have been 4 or 5 times without seeing or catching a redfish. October is famous for the best month to catch redfish. So today, we decided to fish for redfish and snook in Centipede Bay. The tide was falling which that is strike one, going back in to Centipede bay on a falling tide with a late afternoon low tide, could mean the fishing trip turns in to a camping trip.

Since we where short on time, I decided not to head to Bayport to catch whitebait. Instead we could pick up a dozen mud minnows on the way back to the Centipede Bay. Fortunately the tide was just low enough to get the mud minnows of the banks of the island.

After sitting for about 20 min. one of the rods bent over. My first though was that it was a catfish, since victories have been somewhat difficult lately. As it turns out, to my surprise it was a trout. Not what I wanted but much better than a catfish. At this point I thought I may never catch another redfish.

A few minutes later we saw a snook cruising along the rock bar we were fishing. The rod doubled over and the snook started jumping. However there was one very unsettling component of this fight. While the snook was jumping of the port side side of the boat, this line was still going out toward the boa of the boat. That's right the line was caught under a rock, so the snook was fighting the rock and I was fighting the rock. I was hoping the rock would give up, but after a minute or two the leader gave up.

Fortunately, a few minutes after I lost the snook, I saw a big school of redfish moving over the rock bar. Finally my redfish redemption! The first fish must have trained for triathlon, and I thought the fish would be over slot. After several long runs and a couple passes under the boat (the water is only 6 inches deep) the fish was safely in the net. Lucky the fish measured a solid 26 1/2 inches. Yeah, redfish for dinner!
After that we caught a 29 redfish and released it. The next was a 20, since the bite was on we decided to release that one in hopes of a redfish a little bigger. The next one was 26 3/4 and it went in the box.

The little 20 inch

Over Size Redfish.. by 2 inches...
And away it goes....
Our second dinner guest.

To top the day off, as we headed in the Hernando Beach Channel, I saw a large school of whitebait, just be for the turn marker.

It was nice to have a day of redfish redemption!

Good Luck
Zippyjr

Tide : Falling 0.04 5:01pm
Water Clarity : Clear
Moon Phase: 34% full
Temp: 92 F
Water Temp : 85F
Wind: 5-10 mph SE : 10-12 mph W
Bait: Mud Minnows
Results: 4 Redfish, 1 Trout and an auto release snook.