Spent the morning doing almost nothing. The fog was threatening and it was a cloudy day. About noon I told the wife I was going out on the boat. Thought about going to Venice and getting trout or out in the river for some of the same. The ride to Venice with the boat and back late in the day did not seem feasible and the fog threat in the river was out for sure. The river can and does sock in as quickly as 1 minute. Not a place to be with ocean going container ships, freighters, tankers, and other boat traffic. I went out back and headed west looking for some good winter places.
On my second cast I nailed this beauty. I can honestly say there will be no shortage of sheepshead this winter. They were all over the place. Almost every place I went they were swimming around the boat. I caught them all on plastic. Although I had shrimp, spinner baits, and rattle traps set up I never used anything but plastic all day. I found some places I went to during the spill but since have forgotten how to get there without hitting oyster reefs or underwater pilings. I remember this place just before Katrina. All the groups of pilings were fishing camps. It was like a village out here. There are still some of these places around but every storm takes some of them out and they all do not get rebuilt. As the land goes away so does the fishing villages. A sad part of this beautiful area.
I have spent so many years fishing offshore that I just love to explore this vast area and do some of the wonderful inshore fishing this area has to offer. I found some nice trout but most were very short. Only ended up with 6 for the day that were keepers. This one went 14 inches.
Things were calm most of the afternoon so it was very enjoyable out there.
Mid afternoon the air got that cold damp feeling the fog brings. I look around and see the river starting to build up with fog.
Not wanting to be caught in the mess I start heading in. I notice some birds and turn toward them.
I shut down the big motor and set up the trolling motor. I position the boat so I can drift with them if needed and begin catching trout. At this time I only had 2 in the boat. I was getting 30 shorts to every keeper and 1 fish on every cast. If one would get off I would stop for a second and another would hop on. I had some white trout in the mix. Although small they do make some grease look good, I kept these for the cats. The birds moved on but I still had the fish. The air was getting more of that raw feeling but I remained there having fun catch and release. I was only a short distance from the dock and at 40 - 50 mph if needed. I could beat the fog if necessary. Suddenly I hear a familiar noise. The blow of a dolphin. My fishing ended abruptly. 3 of them showed up so I headed in. As I went through the flood gates the back half of the bridge was showing fog.
When I turned the corner into Delta Marina the locks were just getting socked in and the large ships were blowing the fog horns.
A quick but nice time out in the back yard.
Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.
CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM
11-23-2013, 10:50 AM
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