Pushing off we paddled to the first spot and on the second
cast Renita landed a legal black drum. An hour later we hadn’t had another bite
and so we pulled up the anchor and headed for some other spots on the sailboat
channel.
Not too far up a secondary cut, a rosette fed greedily and
seemed unconcerned allowing us to both take multiple images of the feeding
bird. A little further we passed a flock of least grebes, which is a common
bird here but rare elsewhere. Snowy egrets, great blue herons, and reddish egrets
all waded and paused to watch as we glided by.
We fished three other spots but the fish simply weren’t
there, or they weren’t biting for me. Renita did catch a small red fish, called
rat reds here because they are too small to keep. After our picnic lunch, we
kept at it, but to no avail. A nearby wading fly fisherman caught a nice fish
and whooped and hollered announcing his catch.
The wind blew harder than the twelve mile per hour forecast
but it was till doable and so we paddled back down the side cut before turning
and heading for the main channel. Three boats blocked the entrance and I told
Renita that it must be the only place to fish, ( a joke really as it always
amazes me how fisherman anchor nose to nose when there are so many other places).
Snaking though the fleet we reached the main channel and
headed to the first spot we had fished. There was no one there and after
anchoring we both made our first cast. I had a good bite and missed the fish
but Renita was fast onto a nice seventeen inch black drum. Rebaiting I fought a
nineteen inch red, while Renita had another keeper black drum.
Soon my job was to net her fish as she caught a big red and
then another. Adding to the stringer she switched back to black drum and the
girl was hot. Finally I hooked up on a black drum and now I didn’t have to
resort to begging for fish for dinner.
It was one of the hot bites that sometimes happen in the
gulf and just as soon as it started it stopped as the big fish moved on.
Without going into all the details suffice it to say Renita ended up with two
nice reds, a twenty seven and a twenty five inch fish, along with her limit of
black drum. I added three black drum myself and the whole bite had lasted less
than thirty minutes!
Of course the wind shifted and we had to paddle hard against
the wind to reach the truck. We were both tired and happy and I certainly don’t
mind being out fished by my favorite fishing partner! Clear skies
Nice catch!!!
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