Lured away to catch a few specs
Published 2:35 pm Thursday, June 23, 2011
Even with the heat on the water above the 100 degree mark, it is never to hot to fish. When Brad Seals called and wanted to try out a few of hot spots and check out some new water for his charter service I was all over it. Some of the best and most fun fishing is the run and gun from point to point, chasing birds and looking for new water.
Knowing it was going to be a long day we packed plenty of water, long pants for the horse flies, and loads of plastics and asked another accomplished fisherman Wayne Ulrich to join us. Wayne is a pro when it comes to the Mississippi waters.
Meeting at Bayou Caddy and launching at 5am was the beginning of a great day. The plan was to catch our limit of speckled trout and pick up a few white trout in the process. We picked up the first dozen off of some birds and points at Flat Boat then took the ride to the east side of the Louisiana marsh to finish off the limit.
The first baits thrown were Brad chunking an H&H purple Cacahoe under a cork, Wayne casting a multi colored Deadly Dudley on a tight line and me with my favorite three inch Berkley Gulp white pearl shrimp on a tight line. The tight line with an eighth ounce jig head was the preferred action and a dozen specs hit the deck in short manner. The water was calm and stained with a falling tide all day so we were looking for a terrific day.
As the day moved along we worked several sets of birds mostly with plastics under popping cork. The Gulp and Cocahoe both did great but as the sun got higher the H&H Cocahoe in clear with blue tone metal flakes became the hot bait especially with Brad’s custom dipped fluorescent tails. The color combination proved to be the ticket and it didn’t take long before we had a box filling with specs and white trout.
As the tide began moving a little harder later in the day the color of choice changed to solid red and the bite also moved. With our plan to run and gun we knew we were not going to sit on one spot and load up but get a few at each point. It was a great plan and worked well. At the end of the day we limited on specs and had a bonus of over 60 white trout to split up and left them biting.
Even though we fished plastics do not discount the top water action for reds and specs in the still morning in the cuts and on the points. Spending the day on the water with Capt. Brad Seals of Lured Away Charters and good friend and expert salt water fisher Wayne Ulrich was a huge learning lesson for me and I appreciate it.
If you plan to hit the saltwater for some fishing action there are a few items you really need to consider. First and foremost let someone know the areas you plan to fish pack plenty of water, a few snacks and a pair of long pants for the horseflies. Always remember that fish feed when the tide moves and from about 10am-3pm fishing gets a little harder especially with no tide movement.
Try a day of running and gunning to find new points and as always get outdoors and enjoy what God has given us.