Fishing

[Chief Dick]

Thanks all. I should probably clarify - when I say handcrafted/assembled here in the United States...we literally make each of these in our garage in Kansas. Some of them he hand carves. Some of them we create by assembling parts we buy or make. So my son (and me) have our hands on every lure he sends out.

 

[rajncajn]

Was thinking about this thread this past weekend. I went fishing on a buddy's boat and it was one of those days when you put in the water, see bait everywhere, fish popping the water. Then get to your spot and it's dead. We spent half the day out,  I broke the ice with a nice 15" flounder,  then my buddy caught his twin. I had a couple get off and he caught another undersized. Just wasn't our day, but it was really nice to get out on the water.

 

The next day my buddy went out and limited on reds as well as a couple flounder. Sometimes it works that way. He tried out a new lure, said the fish were loving it.

Edited September 21, 2022 by rajncajn

[rajncajn]

Also went a few weeks back. Another coworker from out of town has been bugging me about taking a snapper trip. I think this trip was doomed from the start. First it was trying to find people for a 4 man, then we had too many for a 4 man, so we booked a 6 man and then two dropped out. I was scrambling for almost an entire week to find guys to fill the spots. Otherwise, we all had to eat the cost or cancel the trip. Most guys were either going out of town that week or c I uldnt get off work. Finally,  the day before, we got two more.

The day of the trip,  we all show up at the dock and the weather looks naaaasty. Bit this is Mississippi, wait 30 minutes and the weather will change. The captain told us that he couldn't bring us out where he usually goes for the bigger snapper because the buoys reading 26 knot winds. We could go,  but we wouldn't want to be there when we got there. So instead he offered to take us off Cat Island. We'd still get snapper, just not the big boys. So we agreed and headed out. About 10 minutes out and we could tell the offshore weather wasn't going to let up anytime soon. The captain shut it down and came down to weigh our options. We had three choices: We could anchor up behind Ship Island for a few hours and try to wait it out, we could head to Horn Island and fish for reds and specks or we could cancel, head back in and he'd refund us as long as we tipped the deck hand. I wasn't keen on sitting around for half our day waiting in hopes of better weather and I'm not paying for a charter to catch something I can get any day on my own, so we headed back in.

 

On the way in we passed two more charters heading out. My buddy asked me why they were still heading out. I told him that's the difference between a good and bad captain. Those guys really don't care about the well-being of their charter. All they care about is getting paid.

[League_Champion]

10 hours ago, rajncajn said:

 

On the way in we passed two more charters heading out. My buddy asked me why they were still heading out. I told him that's the difference between a good and bad captain. Those guys really don't care about the well-being of their charter. All they care about is getting paid.

That's very true. Most charter Captains here are nothing more than a dude with a boat. 

[League_Champion]

I recently traded in my Pathfinder for a Scout. I took my buddy out in it a couple weeks ago. We boxed some Mahi, some Reds, a shizz ton Jacks and even boxed a beautiful keeper Cobia, by accident. 

[rajncajn]

Not a super productive morning, but I did get this beast.

[irish]

4 hours ago, rajncajn said:

Not a super productive morning, but I did get this beast.

Nice!  And definitely not the karate kid, more like Mr. Miyagi!

[stevegrab]

Curious what kind of fish is that? 

[irish]

2 hours ago, stevegrab said:

Curious what kind of fish is that? 

That's a fluke/flounder.  Classic flat fish with both eyes on 1 side of its head, that lives on the bottom.  You use a weight and squid or other small fish for bait and pop it off the bottom. 

[rajncajn]

3 hours ago, stevegrab said:

Curious what kind of fish is that? 

Flounder, of the doormat variety, 20." I ended up catching 3 keepers on the morning. 2 undersized and another big one that, if I hadn't been too lazy to tie on a leader, would have been another nice sized one. 

Edited October 8, 2022 by rajncajn

[rajncajn]

14 hours ago, irish said:

That's a fluke/flounder.  Classic flat fish with both eyes on 1 side of its head, that lives on the bottom.  You use a weight and squid or other small fish for bait and pop it off the bottom. 

  thanks Mr Dance...

Yes, its a southern flounder.

 

@stevegrabIrish seems to know all about them if you want to learn more. 

Edited October 8, 2022 by rajncajn

[irish]

19 minutes ago, rajncajn said:

  thanks Mr Dance...

Yes, its a southern flounder.

 

@stevegrabIrish seems to know all about them if you and to learn more. 

Lol, Mr. Dance?  

[rajncajn]

10 hours ago, irish said:

Lol, Mr. Dance?  

If you know fishing then you know who Bill Dance is. And just fyi, it's technically not a fluke, which is a different species. Fluke are a northern east coast fish. It's a southern flounder, which is found in the southern east coast and the gulf. For emphasis, halibut and sole are also flounders, not flukes.

Edited October 8, 2022 by rajncajn

[irish]

5 minutes ago, rajncajn said:

If you know fishing then you know who Bill Dance is. And just fyi, it's technically not a fluke, which is a different species. Fluke are a northern east coast fish. It's a southern flounder, which is found in the southern east coast and the gulf. For emphasis, halibut and sole are also flounders, not flukes.

Ah yes, Bill Dance, for sure. I included both fluke/flounder, cause I wasn't sure where you were fishing, thought it might be down by you. The fluke up by me are more of a gray/tan color, the flounder you caught is much more brown/red. And both fish look weird as hell being very flat with their eyes on one side.  Fun to catch for sure!

[rajncajn]

Here's a shot of the redfish my buddy caught yesterday. He was off the scale,  but my guess was about 35." He weighed in at 19.5 lbs. We don't keep them that big though as they tend to have worms and they are the breeding stock. Beautiful fish though and a ton of fun to catch. Took us about 20 minutes to land him as he tugged us around the bayou.

Edited October 8, 2022 by rajncajn

[League_Champion]

On 10/8/2022 at 11:27 AM, rajncajn said:

Here's a shot of the redfish my buddy caught yesterday. He was off the scale,  but my guess was about 35." He weighed in at 19.5 lbs. We don't keep them that big though as they tend to have worms and they are the breeding stock. Beautiful fish though and a ton of fun to catch. Took us about 20 minutes to land him as he tugged us around the bayou.

Wow, nice catch. What did he catch him on? 

[rajncajn]

2 hours ago, League_Champion said:

Wow, nice catch. What did he catch him on? 

White chatterbait with a white shad. The flounder was a yellow/white chatterbait as well with a matrix tigerbait shad. My first time using one as well. For flounder I typically catch more with a straight shad on a swim bait jig head. Down South Lures Chicken of the C works really well for me. If I'm targeting reds and specks, sometimes I'll add a spinner and I'll mix up the color palatte to see what's drawing the attention.

We both tried a little top water with no luck. There were specks in the area, but we didn't take any off the top and what we did catch was undersized. 

If we had wanted and if we had some live or dead shrimp, we could have spent all day catching white trout. Another boat came in  from fishing the same area brought in 50. However, neither of us wanted to spend the rest of our evening cleaning them and I don't like to keep them unless they're either massive or I'm prepared to have a big fish fry that day or the next. Great eating fish, they just don't keep well for my taste.

Edited October 10, 2022 by rajncajn

[rajncajn]

This is one was 16". I caught it this weekend as well off a rock jetty by my house using the Chicken of the C shad.

[League_Champion]

1 hour ago, rajncajn said:

This is one was 16". I caught it this weekend as well off a rock jetty by my house using the Chicken of the C shad.

Damn Rajn, nicely done. We can get small reds/drums in the inlets but for something that size we'll usually have to jig a structure. For whatever reason I never had luck with Flounder, I'll catch a scraggler here and there but nothing worth boxing like that one. 

[rajncajn]

1 minute ago, League_Champion said:

Damn Rajn, nicely done. We can get small reds/drums in the inlets but for something that size we'll usually have to jig a structure. For whatever reason I never had luck with Flounder, I'll catch a scraggler here and there but nothing worth boxing like that one. 

The reds here like to patrol the shoreline of the marshes for baitfish or hide in the grass near the banks. What's fun is casting near the grass and seeing it part as they come out after your lure. I like those best because they tend to be slot reds as the bulls are too big to hang out in the shallows. For flounder, they tend to congregate at points at a bend and the edges of outlets to catch baitfish as the tide is moving in and out of the marsh. Just envision where the currents will be pushing the bait and that's where you'll find the flounder. You can also find them in the flats, such as the one off the rocks posted above, but you have to have a bit of patience and cast a wide area. In both the pics above you can see the grass shoreline on the opposite side of the bayou. We typically troll along the shoreline if the prime spots are too crowded, which they were that day. That's Graveline Bayou. I've pretty much fished that entire bayou/bay either by boat or kayak all the way back to the bridge.

[rajncajn]

2 hours ago, League_Champion said:

Wow, nice catch. What did he catch him on? 

I posted a pic of his rig here. Mine was similar, but my chatterbait was yellow/white with a silver spoon and Tigerbait.

[rajncajn]

Getting that time of year again. Finally cooling off a bit and the inshore catch is picking up. Went yesterday with a buddy from work and we caught a very wide variety. The morning started off slow until my buddy hooked into a beast of a jack crevalle. On light tackle it was a hell of a fight. He put in about 10 minutes of work on it then I took over for him because he's got a bad hip. Ended up about a 30 minute fight before we finally landed it and my arms felt like jello the rest of the day. I'll post a cropped pic since I didn't take one with it. We took a quick pic and then sent him on his way.

After catching him it stateted to pick up a bit. We ended up catching two really nice eating size reds and came close on a few more. I had at least one on the line and he shot for the rock jetty we were fishing before I could tighten my drag and he broke the line on the rocks. The one I did catch was a beautiful fish with nice coloration on the tail (picture doesnt do it justice at all) and a heart-shaped spot.

At the end of the day we had a nice cooler full with the two reds, two flounder, a mangrove or gray snapper and a Spanish mackerel. Fish tacos are on the menu tonight with grilled spanish mackerel.  We caught some specks and white trout as well, but no keepers. 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by rajncajn

[devilwoman]

Yes!  Lived in Alaska for 20 years....ate a ton of Salmon and Halibut.  I miss fishing now....just have not made the time since I moved to Oregon in 2014.