Sometimes It's the Quality Not the Quantity!
Capt. Charles Damiens
March 16, 2009
Gulfport - Saltwater Fishing Report
I had the pleasure of chartering Larry Hinds and Charles Butler from Atlanta, Georgia this past week. These two guys were best of friends and fishing buddies. Ribbing each other from the time we launched to the time we loaded the boat. Day one was buried in fog. We slowly navigated to a few islands chasing reds, but couldn't get any to take the bait. With a subtle lift in the fog toward the inside, we made a round in a familiar cove in back bay only to see the familiar surface strikes of Trout, but once again no significant takers. We set up on a point where the most activity was and Larry pulled in a small throw back Schoolie Trout, followed by another as well as a very nice 16" flounder landed by Charles. The surface activity was crazy, but no topwater takers. Another 18" Flounder was landed then Charles decided he wanted to give the fly rod a try.
After settling in on a nice 5" shrimp pattern Charles was gently placing that fly like a Master. After just a few casts and retrieves, Charles was on!
A nice 16" Rat Red was Netted, Photographed and released. A few casts later and a School Trout was landed and released.
A Flounder, Red, and Speck,that was an inshore Grand Slam for Charles.
The fog lifted as the morning moved on and we went again in pursuit of the big Reds. The Black Drum were everywhere and spooky as could be. We finally began seeing the Reds, or should I say they were seeing us. They looked like F 16's pealing out in three's as we approached. Several triplets spooked and a pod of 4 just sat there feeding, but would not take the bait. Finally after a long cast into a pod of 6-8 fish Charles was Hooked Up!
A small little battle ensued with a short trolling motor chase down. Finally one Nice 37" Red was landed and released unharmed.
Day 2 presented with zero fog and great visibility. But the wind, it was blowing 5-10 in the AM and predicted to be 10-20 by Noon. The temperature had already changed by 20 degrees from yesterday, so finding feeding fish on the flats wasn't likely with this first day of a cold front. It is March and some Trout will begin the spawn this month. As well as the full moon was out all night. And three days before a full Moon until three days after is the time too look for the spawning sows. The weather wasn't going to make for a comfortable ride to the Islands or FH10, so the Katrina Reef would have to do. We started our slow troll on the southernmost tip of the west side and headed north. We worked topwater, followed by popping cork with a DOA, and then a gold bladed spinner to follow. The three of us worked the reef intensely. I had a few top water blow ups and Charles had a couple of buried corks before he finally hooked up on a Nice 19" fat Sow Speck.
A short delicate fight took place before landing the nice fish. Another throw back or two were netted, but by now it was tome to move back inshore before the wind really started blowing. We tried various drifts and several reefs only to pull in school trout, croaker and sugar trout. Due to the temperature change and socked in cloud cover the flats never warmed up enough to put the Redfish Bite on.
We ended our bay in another cove pulling in Black Drum, Croakers, School Trout, and Sugar Trout.
Sometimes it isn't about the Quantity of Fish, it is about the Quality of Fish and the Quality of the Fisherman you are with to share it.
This is a great time of the year and a wonderful time to go fishing. Give us a call and we will set up your next fishing adventure!
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