Windy day report

[Tombo]

Conditions were wind about 14 mph, around 10:30 AM paddling parallel with the shoreline about 30' out casting Spook Jr. topwater and Redfish Magic spinner lure. Couple missed blow ups close to shore, no hook ups. Casting away from shoreline resulted in nice Redfish lost at the kayak using spinner lure. Switched to top water when water clarity was better, about a foot visibility. Started getting more hits and landed a mid slot Redfish. Casting further out resulted in nice 20" Trout coming out of the water to get my topwater. Several missed trout later it was too rough to drift much further. Even with the Hobie it was tough.
Bottom was soft mud mixed with shell and grass.
On the way back I was about to give up, no bites for an hour, when my spinner lure received a big thud. Set the hook and away my line goes. Had to chase down the fish as it kept taking drag.
I could not get the fish off the bottom, when it finally came to the surface I noticed the lure was stuck in its dorsal fin, giving the Red an advantage.
Still, it was big. My check it stick only goes to 30" so had to guess it as 32". Got to weigh it, went 13#s.

[Johnny5455]

Nice red and nice pics! Thanks for sharing.

[txspeck]

You gotta love that sound of line peeling off your reel! WTG on the big red!

[shoffer]

Nice action shots, Tombo. Thanks for the report!


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[reddog]

Nice redfish!!!!

[Tombo]

What I took away from this trip is a couple days of warm weather really made a difference. Topwater lures work during the winter and there are over slot Redfish hanging around.
Next time I hope the wind is down so I can get those trout using a topwater. I know of many other places around Rockport/Aransass Pass with similar bottom structure.
I can see a jig head doing just as well, but the constant action required aggravates this old body.
The big Red was a bonus, fish can be caught in the winter. Does not matter the location, its the conditions that matter.
There was some bait I could see here and there. If no bait was present, I am sure the results would have been different.

[Yaklash]

Yikes!!! A 32" redfish foul-hooked?!? What a workout

[Drifting Yak]

Very nice red Tombo and really enjoyed reading your write-up!

[The California Kid]

Good job tom! That's a healthy lookin red! Haven't thrown my spinner in a while, might have to give it a try again.