Sea Isle, 08/04-05/20 - Limits and a Slam
Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:04 pm
Dandydon posted up that we (Dandydon, Shoffer and I) were going to fish Sea Isle last night and what a night it was. Light wind, decent but not terrible current, and no powerboats to be found.
We launched just past 11p and I think Shoffer and I each had a keeper speck within the first ten minutes maybe. Lots of undersized trout were caught once again. I think there should be an exception to the 15" rule and you should be allowed to keep one 12-14.9" trout if you have mortally wounded it in the catch. I hate watching a 14" trout float away upside down.
So we cruise through the canals just catching fish and split up as usual. I fish Sea isle a lot, but I found a light last night that I don't recall seeing before. As I pedaled closer, I thought it looked like a good place for a red to hang out. So I flipped my Vudu shad in between the light and the bulkhead, gave it a couple of bounces, set the hook, and reeled in my 20.5" red. A few minutes later I was back at an overhead light that I fish quite a bit that's usually good for a keeper speck. Toss the Vudu and the line starts screaming. I tighten the drag a bit and start to bring it in. Big red. As I get it near the yak it decides it has more run in it and takes off again, this time wrapping me in a dock piling and cutting me off on the oyster/barnacles. Bummer.
I radio to the others that I now have two specks and red in the bag. Shoffer has three specks at this point I think. Shoffer replies, "now you just need your flounder." Hmmm...
So I start throwing at docks trying to find my flounder. I manage to catch a few more rat reds and a bunch of dink trout.
Don has left the canals for the pier, where he radios to us that it is on fire. I head over while Shoffer continues fishing a couple of surface lights. When I get to the pier, they are popping everywhere. I quickly catch about three reds in the 15-17' range. And then a few dink trout. And then lose two solid trout (see post from a few weeks ago where there was discussion about lazy hooksets and bad habits after catching dinks all night and the quick release). The pier yielded another keeper speck for me so now I am at three with a red. I try to move to the marsh and grass line to find my flounder but it was too shallow for the Hobie.
I decide to cruise over to the boat lane that comes out of whatever subdivision is east of Sea Isle and see whee my flounder is to be found. It is lined with cinder blocks and oyster, and then sandy bottom. First cast, rat red. Second cast, 15" flounder. Mission completed.
Don radios that they are heading in and I decide to head in as well. It is after all, about 8:15a now. I have my slam and they have trout limits.
Side note: Impulse was right about the mosquitoes. Holy cow. Between the recent rains and lack of wind last night they were swarming. Even after being sprayed down with Backwoods Off! they would swarm around your head pestering the heck out of you.
We launched just past 11p and I think Shoffer and I each had a keeper speck within the first ten minutes maybe. Lots of undersized trout were caught once again. I think there should be an exception to the 15" rule and you should be allowed to keep one 12-14.9" trout if you have mortally wounded it in the catch. I hate watching a 14" trout float away upside down.
So we cruise through the canals just catching fish and split up as usual. I fish Sea isle a lot, but I found a light last night that I don't recall seeing before. As I pedaled closer, I thought it looked like a good place for a red to hang out. So I flipped my Vudu shad in between the light and the bulkhead, gave it a couple of bounces, set the hook, and reeled in my 20.5" red. A few minutes later I was back at an overhead light that I fish quite a bit that's usually good for a keeper speck. Toss the Vudu and the line starts screaming. I tighten the drag a bit and start to bring it in. Big red. As I get it near the yak it decides it has more run in it and takes off again, this time wrapping me in a dock piling and cutting me off on the oyster/barnacles. Bummer.
I radio to the others that I now have two specks and red in the bag. Shoffer has three specks at this point I think. Shoffer replies, "now you just need your flounder." Hmmm...
So I start throwing at docks trying to find my flounder. I manage to catch a few more rat reds and a bunch of dink trout.
Don has left the canals for the pier, where he radios to us that it is on fire. I head over while Shoffer continues fishing a couple of surface lights. When I get to the pier, they are popping everywhere. I quickly catch about three reds in the 15-17' range. And then a few dink trout. And then lose two solid trout (see post from a few weeks ago where there was discussion about lazy hooksets and bad habits after catching dinks all night and the quick release). The pier yielded another keeper speck for me so now I am at three with a red. I try to move to the marsh and grass line to find my flounder but it was too shallow for the Hobie.
I decide to cruise over to the boat lane that comes out of whatever subdivision is east of Sea Isle and see whee my flounder is to be found. It is lined with cinder blocks and oyster, and then sandy bottom. First cast, rat red. Second cast, 15" flounder. Mission completed.
Don radios that they are heading in and I decide to head in as well. It is after all, about 8:15a now. I have my slam and they have trout limits.
Side note: Impulse was right about the mosquitoes. Holy cow. Between the recent rains and lack of wind last night they were swarming. Even after being sprayed down with Backwoods Off! they would swarm around your head pestering the heck out of you.