The fishing early yesterday morning around Goose Island wasn’t what the anglers were hoping for, until two whooping cranes appeared and saved the day for the group, including Lone Star Outdoor News Founder David J. Sams.
“We had caught a few sheepshead and not much else. Then the guide said, ‘I don’t like the fish we are catching — we’re moving.’ We then saw the two cranes and pulled into an area to look at them,” David said. “While we were looking, we noticed some activity very near the shoreline. We began to fish as the birds looked on, and we began catching redfish right against the shoreline.”
It wasn’t long before a 33-inch, oversized redfish was peeling line off of David’s reel.
“That big red ripped off line and went right into the grass,” he said. “He got way up in there and I had to work to get him out of the thick stuff and land him.”
David reported extremely high tides this morning, something that has been common along the coast this month.
“The tide is super high,” he said. “Everything is very flooded, and the fish are right up along the shoreline in the newly flooded grass.”
Several boats were fishing in David’s party — all part of a group attending the Coastal Conservation Association media summit this week.
While David’s boat enjoyed a morning catching limits of redfish, along with good numbers of black drum and sheepshead, boats around them were pulling in trout. One boat caught several oversized redfish and a flounder, but little else.
“Everyone was different,” David said. “We were throwing live shrimp under a popping cork and fresh, dead, peeled shrimp fished on the bottom. One group couldn’t find a fish until they found a school of drum around lunchtime.”
David said it is always important to listen to your guide and go with what is working, as one group of anglers, including CCA’s Pat Murray, found out this morning.
David said Murray began by throwing top-waters, but the fishing was very slow. Then, he switched to an Attraxx Baits scented plastic in New Penny color and the action heated up in a hurry. Murray quickly caught several oversized redfish on the scented plastics, before switching back to top-waters.
“They didn’t catch a single fish on the top-water,” David said. “The guide told them to get rid of the top-water and put that scented plastic back on. Right on cue, they started catching fish again.”
David said despite the East wind and balmy conditions, the fishing was outstanding.
“It was one of those mornings where the fishing was just great,” he said.
