It must have been a month since I was last on the water. Damn wind. I’ve been wanting to make it to Jones Lake for quite a while and finally made it today. It didn’t disappoint and was worth the 10-mile peddle, paddle & push-pole.
The first half of the day was pretty disappointing with only this guy to show for my efforts.
I had cast out a Skelly Shrimp and brought this thing to the yak. How does that happen? What is it? I had another fish spit one up on a previous trip.
I went deep. The first “real” fish I landed was a 24” Red where the heart symbol is. I had lost two smaller fish earlier/deeper into the marsh and I was already on my way out.
Continuing on my way out, I made a cast near a drain and landed a 20” Red. Too close to keep so I let it grow some more.
Continuing on my way out, I saw the back of a Redfish sticking out of the water. As I got closer, I realized it was a very tight school of about 5 or 6 fish. They were about 40’ off the bank and slowly making their way away from me. I peddled until I got close enough to where I thought I might spook them. Then it was push-poling the rest of the way against the wind. That didn’t work so well in my Outback. Next time I will carefully use the paddle. I stopped twice and made a cast, but both came up short. I finally got close enough to put a cast on them and one of them immediately took my lure. It wasn’t long and it came unbuttoned. I never saw the school again. Very frustrating as I stalked them for a good ¼ mile.
Cont'd...
