A Decent Alternative to Redfish
Capt. Ron Presley
April 6, 2009
Cocoa Beach - Saltwater Fishing Report
Catching the Redfish's Cousin
The day started out as a spot tournament for redfish. Following many days of windy weather the light 5 to 10 mph winds were a welcome relief. I was taking my grandson fishing in the "Fishing for Spots" redfish tournament out of Titusville. This event was organized by the same folks that put on the "Hunt for Reds in October" tournament and they always put on a great show with lots of quality prizes and raffle goodies.
I think my grandson likes the raffles as much as anything, but wanted to catch a redfish and win the Junior Division. Well, I will just tell you right off, nobody won the Junior Division. No juniors caught and checked in a redfish. The general division was won by a nine spot redfish.
So, with the fact out of the way that we did not catch a redfish, what did we catch? We caught the same varieties we have been catching all winter. Spotted Seatrout, Ladyfish, Black Drum and Sheepshead all fell prey to our bait on this day. We were pinning medium sized live shrimp on a ¼ ounce Rip Tide jig head to tempt the hungry fish. Robert struck first with a nice seatrout; I caught a ladyfish and then a seatrout. Not finding reds we moved on to other areas. In our third stop near some docks Robert casted up close to a piling and nailed a really nice sheepshead.
After a quick photo and release of the sheepie he throws back to near the same spot and hooked up again. This time it was pulling hard and it was about all he could do to keep this fish out from under the dock. He was fishing with a light action rod equipped with a 2000 size Shimano. He fought the fish like a pro and boated his first ever black drum.
He went on to catch #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6. He got four of them to the boat, the other two broke off. He caught a couple more sheepshead before we called it a day and headed back for the raffle at the tournament headquarters. Although our tournament hopes had been squashed our day of fishing was outstanding.
That's what it's all about. Good fishin'.
Capt. Ron Presley
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