I fished yesterday and today. The weather is weird and this wind seems odd for August. Its bright outside but not a pure sunshine. The water is high and dirty so seeing fish is difficult. It sounds like the recipe for crappy fishing but totally the opposite.
Yesterday I launched at 9:45 and quit fishing at 2:45. I didn't see tons of fish but enough to get 6 reds and 9 black drum. Every fish was caught on what looks like a black wooly bugger with dumbbell eyes. Tied on #4. Where I fished the bottom was pretty bare so the weight kept the fly on the bottom so the drum could find it. The reds liked it too.
Today I fished a very different locale. Launched at 9:30 and quit at 3:30. Deeper and dirtier water and with more grass on the bottom and floating. Black drum everywhere and all fell to a black spoon fly tied on #4 also. Lots of tailing and plenty of cruising groups of drum. The wakes give them away and lead me close enough to cast in front of them. Either way they are fairly hard to entice into eating the fly but with all the targets I was always chasing or casting to something. They wear me out once they are hooked up. Dang hard fish to get to hand. Anyway in this dirtier deeper water I didn't see many red fish. Tally for the day was 14 black drum and 1 red fish.
Watching the tides to pick tomorrow's spot.
John
AP, the first two days
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Re: AP, the first two days
Nice report! Thank you for sharing! That's a lot of drum!!!
Re: AP, the first two days
I know of a place where you can catch very large Black Drum but no Redfish.
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Re: AP, the first two days
Not bad at all. For me, the black drum have been saving my trips, and have been very cooperative. The last few trips, my fish have been fooled by an accurate cast right in front of them on the fall, no retrieval necessary. Various patterns like small bonefish flies, and even a wooly bugger style fly exactly as you described, only in a shrimp color. While the 6lb and under fish have been quite cooperative, I did stalk a 40”+ fish for over an hour to no avail. I made many good casts with two different flies and was rejected every time. I finally gave up when she swam within five feet of me and I dangled a fly in front of her without a reaction. Not five minutes later I found some more willing fish, and forgot all about my wasted effort on the other drum..I guess it’s back to the tying bench for a picky drum fly.
You seem to be getting good numbers of fish, and certainly don’t need any help from me, but for what it’s worth, making accurate casts on the nose of the fish has been resulting in good eats for me. That’s for shallow water; add some depth and turbidity, and the difficulty of making that cast increases.
If I take my time, I can get very close to these fish, making an accurate cast that much easier.
Good luck on your next outing.
You seem to be getting good numbers of fish, and certainly don’t need any help from me, but for what it’s worth, making accurate casts on the nose of the fish has been resulting in good eats for me. That’s for shallow water; add some depth and turbidity, and the difficulty of making that cast increases.
If I take my time, I can get very close to these fish, making an accurate cast that much easier.
Good luck on your next outing.