And the geisha's in the shack
And you better believe I'll hold them there
Till the feds, they pay me back"
Clutch--A Shogun Named Marcus
I've been away from my redfish compadres for too long. Where was I, you ask? In the words of the immortal and much beloved Johnny Cash: "I been everywhere, man. I been everywhere." But today, I made it my one and only driving ambition to get back to the marsh and visit my finned friends and spend some quality time catching up with them. Of course, the haunting light of predawn reminded me that All Hallows' Eve is not long in the future.
I was fully armed to do battle with any spooky goblins or spirits, having just bought a pumpkin-orange, floating landing net. I've seen them around and figured in the spirit of the season, I'll pick one up and test it out. BUT...would I be able to convince any fish to give it a test drive? Hmmmmmm...the tide was super high.
That means fish...and sinister marsh witches...could be ANYWHERE. I got to thinking about all the people who go missing every year. It can't be marsh witches doing all the abducting because people go missing in forests and deserts and houses. ALIENS!!! I hope I don't run into any of them today. I don't want to be poked and probed. Then again, I remembered some aliens I saw on tv once.
Maybe abduction wouldn't be SO bad. Best put that out of my mind though. I'm here to catch fish and eat granola bars...and I'm all out of granola bars. The atrophied paddling muscles are gonna get a workout today, brother. Best get to it:
I had high hopes of spotting a tail or two and throwing flies. I tossed a cocaho on a 1/8 jig head at something busting bait on a shoreline and hooked a flounder. SCORE! Just gotta get him to the Great Pumpkin net and...blammo. He spit the hook. I said bad words.
I realized I should call on my silver bullet, never fail, ever-reliable spinnerbait to summon my copper quarry.
Bam! First ever fish in the pumpkin spice net.
A smaller one showed up too. But c'mon TKF. This is a family-oriented fishing report. Only 18" and up fish in this post, ya savages. Did I mention the tide was preternaturally high? Coz it was.
Stick fish abounded too!
By mid-day, I had covered a LOT of water and caught a fish here and a fish there, but some of my usual spots were unusual in lacking fish. Time to pump some nutrients into my brain.
Aaahhhhhhh. That'll do. Reinvigorated, I managed to pull in a 4-spotted specimen.
Then a couple of smaller ones and then...it got weird. I spotted something floating along the shore looking evil. I peed myself a little and snuck up on it. Could it be?!
Yes! The horror! A zombie flounder!! Lurking and waiting to pounce on the living and make short work of them. I skeedaddled out of there post-haste. You'll not snack on my brains today, undead flatfish from hell! Hahahahahahaa!
That brings us to my next stop. A spot I've seen boats and kayakers pass up because they don't know it's secrets. But I do. And I always stop and throw a cast or two to see who's home. Today it was Pete the trout.
Pete explained that he was curious to try a spinnerbait and see what all the fuss was about. The redfish gab nonstop about how much they dig spinnerbaits. Spinnerbaits and angel dust. Redfish are all criminally insane. Pete is drinking his milk and growing big and strong.
Hopefully we'll meet again this winter and he can show off his bigger, badder self.
I checked a couple more places in the massively flooded marsh, but didn't score any more on the fish front. Though I did see a frigate bird, tons of egrets, herons, ibis, terns, hills, pelicans, and cormorants. Also a couple of diamond back terrapins. Driving home, I realized the evening was a perfect booked to the morning.
I hope you got out and caught some fish. If you did...what're you waiting for?! Post a report! If you didn't, well...get out ASAP and catch some fish. Your brain and sense of well being will thank you. And watch out for aliens and marsh witches! They're out there.
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