4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

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jgg696
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4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by jgg696 »

Paddled out to Rattlesnake pt. in christmas bay and caught a few small reds early on with vudu shrimp, but then just small croaker on dead shrimp. Anybody have advice on how to fish reefs? It was windy as heck, and a little chilly high 60's. Fished the mud area as well with no luck.
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Yak-n TX
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Yak-n TX »

The fishing has been kind of tough lately because of the high winds surrounding these fronts so it might not have been anything you were doing. Trying to find clean water in these conditions isn't easy.

I'm not an expert but the way I fish reefs is with a bait suspended under a cork or a lightweight jig head to minimize the hangups. Sometimes I like to use a weighted hook Texas rigged to be even more snagless. Using a fluorocarbon leader will help you maintain abrasion resistance around the shell.

I like to focus on the areas that are small channels and dips in the reef that create an ambush point for the predatory fish. Also areas where the reef is adjacent to deeper water or where the reef creates a point are good areas to target. I'll work the bait over top of these areas by casting over them and working the bait back towards me. Sometimes you can run the bait down a channel and have success. Other times the fish are up on the reef if the tide is high enough so you just have to pattern the fish. I like to start by focus on my high success rate areas and systematically work through the areas and different baits/techniques until I can pattern the fish.

Hopefully some of that makes sense.
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kickingback
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by kickingback »

Great tips Yak-n-TX.
Don't forget about the weather and how to fish it. Heavy winds push bait by moving the water. Fish the sides where the wind pushes the water over or around the reef and fish the areas where the bait would be forced to float by the reef and near deeper water next to the reef. That is where the predator fish will sit and ambush floating bait carried by the water pushed by the wind.
Also the sun location or cloud cover will effect the way the fish sit in ambush mode. They will not sit where they look up and stare at the sun as they will not see the bait. Think about what the fish see and be in the spot where the fish can see the bait and easily ambush it. Cloud cover is no issue but darker colors will help make the bait silhouette to the lighter sky.
Use weedless rigs to find them and throw open hook lures when you find them to get a better hook up.
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Chubs
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Chubs »

I dunno if getting out a drift sock and drift fishing the area till you find something is a good idea, but that is probably what I'd do over a reef if I had no idea what the bottom contour is, or if I didn't know the good ambush points.

Would want to make sure there is water movement too, but of its so windy it's pretty much assured.

Wind to your back is always a good idea too.
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Chubs
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

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kickingback wrote: ...They will not sit where they look up and stare at the sun as they will not see the bait.
...
Use weedless rigs to find them and throw open hook lures when you find them to get a better hook up.
Great ideas, I never thought about those.
jgg696
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by jgg696 »

Thanks for the advice! I'll try it out next time.
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Yak-n TX
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Yak-n TX »

kickingback wrote:Great tips Yak-n-TX.
Don't forget about the weather and how to fish it. Heavy winds push bait by moving the water. Fish the sides where the wind pushes the water over or around the reef and fish the areas where the bait would be forced to float by the reef and near deeper water next to the reef. That is where the predator fish will sit and ambush floating bait carried by the water pushed by the wind.
Also the sun location or cloud cover will effect the way the fish sit in ambush mode. They will not sit where they look up and stare at the sun as they will not see the bait. Think about what the fish see and be in the spot where the fish can see the bait and easily ambush it. Cloud cover is no issue but darker colors will help make the bait silhouette to the lighter sky.
Use weedless rigs to find them and throw open hook lures when you find them to get a better hook up.
Thanks kickingback! The angle of the sun is something I never really thought to consider. You learn something new every day!
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Chubs
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Chubs »

Oh, something to consider on angle of the sun, the angle the fish see the sun at is different than the angle we see the sun at. This is due to refraction, the sun is always going To appear higher to the fish than to us, until the sun is directly overhead.
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Dandydon
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Dandydon »

Thanks to all for those terrific fishing tips! I'm especially impressed with Mr. Chubb's physics lecture on light wave refraction. Yes, it is true that light waves slow down through denser media like water. Flounder giggers learn early to allow for that shift in apparent location.
I nominate Chubb as Chief Science Officer for our upcoming NIGHTTIME TOURNEY. I hope he'll post his thoughts on "night-fishing science" before the May 19th tournament. For example, how do those weird underwater lights distort true fish locations as perceived by us looking down? Do surface lights have the same effect on target location as the underwater light sources? What happens if you're fishing an underwater & overhead light simultaneously? Egad!
And finally, do you recommend use of red lights at night in order to maximize NIGHTIME vision? Shoffer uses a red light & he's the NIGHT MASTER.
See you soon...
--Dandydon
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kickingback
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

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He uses a "red light" does he?!? Is he advertising for money or using the light to look cool? :lol:

Did you know the refraction is different for saltwater versus freshwater? Yep, the salinity makes a difference in refraction. Everyone knows that! :wink:
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Chubs
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by Chubs »

Before I try to take the credit, let me state that picture came out of the book "sight fishing the flats and beyond" by nick karas.

And a thought about the red lights (besides the obvious lols :))
Red light absorbs into salt water faster than any other color, ask any scuba diver. I'd suspect the fish can't see the red from a distance past about 20 out 30 feet. Blue (or maybe it was violet) goes the furthest (maybe 300 ft???).

Our eyes are most sensitive to yellow light but keep in mind a fish sees differently than us.
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by TroutSupport.com »

kickingback wrote:Use weedless rigs to find them and throw open hook lures when you find them to get a better hook up.
Just depends on what you're throwing. Friday I missed 5 trout on a topwater.. just becuase a bait has a lot of exposed hooks doesn't mean it converts into better hook up ratio.

With weedless rigged baits there are 2 things to know.. 1 the bait itself does matter a lot.. a lot of previous other weedless baits have been too big.. there is a fine line in this category between too big and not big enough. Secondly, we've all gotten so used to setting the hook lightly with med light action rods and exposed jig heads. If used with a weedless rigged bait you're not going to move the bait enough in the fishes mouth to set the hook. Saturday I missed 5 trout on a one knocker and then switched to the TSL rigged weedless and had an almost 100% hook up ratio. It take a little practice to do this with higher hook up ratio but its possible to get better hook up ratios or at least close. The trick is to take your time setting the hook, have a tight drag, use braided line, and when a fish strikes slowly reel down the line toward the fish without him feeling your pressure, then with the slack removed, set the hook hard. This applies with all weedless rigged softplastic baits. You have to set the hook hard enough to move the bait and get the hook into the fish.
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kickingback
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Re: 4/20 Fishing Christmas bay

Post by kickingback »

All great info Tobin!!! I agree!

I was merely pointing out how to not keep getting "stuck while looking" for them.
I was referring to if he felt a bite then he could switch to open hook.
Only to find, not fish unless it is the only way to keep form losing lures.
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