As the wind let up over the course of the day we moved to a second location to see if we could locate some bigger fish. Our efforts were quickly rewarded. As soon as we launched we began to spot redfish roaming the grass flats in and around shallow patches of oysters. We came up on our first school of 10+ tailing redfish soon thereafter. As we moved into position to attempt to get a double hookup, a lone Tern decided it wanted in on the action. The bird proceeded to dive-bomb on the feeding redfish and the entire school dispersed before we even had a chance to make a cast. Oh well, nothing you can do about an animal’s natural instinct to seize an opportunity for an easy meal.
We worked the area where we saw the school and Austin managed to catch a 24” redfish on a topwater. We continued searching the area for any signs of activity and we ran into another similar-sized school tailing about a half mile away. I managed to pull out a 23” red on top as well that spooked the rest of the school when it ate.
The rest of the school regrouped shortly afterward about 50 yards away, so I decided to sit back and let Austin catch the first fish out of the school before I made a cast. After a few misplaced casts due to the wind, he decided to cast closer to the feeding fish and it landed right in the middle of the school. The fish reacted to the lure exactly how they reacted to the diving tern, getting out of the area like a cockroach when the lights turn on. With no signs of the spooked fish in sight after waiting several minutes and darkness sneaking up on us swiftly, we decided to head back in.
On the way in we encountered another school of foraging redfish. I decided to sit back and capture footage while Austin tried to redeem his prior plight. Austin quickly hooks up but the fish breaks him off on some shell after one stalwart and calculated dash for survival. When fishing around oysters remember to frequently check your line for frays and hold your rod tip high while fighting a fish to prevent the fish from putting its head down amongst the razor-like shells. Another lesson learned the hard way, by experience.
We continued down the shoreline on our way in and we spotted yet another school. Again I decided to let Austin go first while I videoed the action. After several missed attempts Austin made the perfect cast with his soft plastic, and he was able to get the fish out of the school without disturbing its counterparts. With posteriors wagging in the wind it was hard to focus on shooting footage. I stopped the tape and yelled over to Austin, I was leaving in pursuit.
I moved into position and made a cast with my topwater beyond the outside right edge of the school. Twitch… twitch… boom; our first double of the day. Nothing quite compares to the sound a redfish makes when it explodes on a topwater; a sound so incredibly distinct and exhilarating, if I couldn’t see I would still be able to recognize the difference between when a redfish inhales a topwater versus any other fish. Austin lands his 25” redfish shortly followed by my 24” red. By this time there’s barely enough daylight to see each other silhouette several yards away, so we decided to call it a day.
It was Austin’s first time experiencing a school of tailing redfish. Later on that evening he described the feeling he felt the moments leading up to the hook up while chasing tail. He said each time we snuck up on a school of reds his legs were trembling from nervousness and anticipation, and he was overcome with excitement just like greenhorn hunter when he sees his first big buck. He also said that there was only one other feeling on earth it could be compare with. I let your minds wonder and put the pieces of the puzzle together but it involves chasing tail of another kind.
The second day we slept in after getting home extremely late from the previous night. We fished for a few hours in the evening but it was very windy until just before sunset. We caught a few small trout and reds in deeper cuts leading into the flats on an outgoing tide.
The third and final day we hit the water at sunrise and to catch the last of the outgoing tide and the start of the incoming tide on one of my favorite flats. The wind was blowing pretty hard for the first few hours of the day and we covered a bunch of water with no luck. The wind died almost completely right about the time we made it to the outside edge of the flats. We worked an area with deeper 3’-5’ sand pockets in 3’ of water. We began spotting fish cruising the edges and middle of the sand pockets and it didn’t take long for one of us to hook up. Gold and copper ½oz spoons were the only offerings the fish didn’t pass up entirely. We caught several redfish up to 23” by anchoring up or wading grassy areas that dropped off into deeper sand pockets.
We decided to move back to the area where we started to see if the incoming tide had pushed any fish up shallower. We got there only to find that the tide never came in and had actually dropped even lower than its previous level. We moved back deep to a large cut leading into the flats. We spotted a few fish so we stalked the edges slowly, and we were able to sight cast to a few more reds to 24” on soft plastics.
We found a majority of our fish in shallow areas over grass and scattered shell or hanging near drop offs from 1’-2’ to 3’-5’. Hard baits of choice were Skitterwalk Jr.’s in holographic bone/chartreuse and silver mullet, LC Sammy in ms american shad, ½oz Secret Redfish Spoon in gold, and a ½oz Eppinger Rex Spoon in copper. Soft plastics of choice were Bass Assassin Sea Shad in copperhead, Gulp Shrimp in molting, Gulp Jerk Shad in pearl white, and TTF Flats Minnow in matagorda magic and sabine shiner.
I was thoroughly impressed by both the LC Sammy and Eppinger Spoon. The Sammy has a different walk, sound, posture in the water compared to other topwaters, which I believe led to more strikes and hook ups. I purchased this bait on sale a few years ago and it sat in my tackle box ever since. I took it out of retirement and brought it along this trip. I knew I was onto something when my first cast with this lure resulted in a redfish. The Eppinger Spoon is one of the best looking spoons I’ve seen to date. It has a smaller profile compared to other spoons in the same weight class and it holds up pretty well.
Although I didn’t get any video of our encounters worth posting this trip, look forward to me posting videos of my fishing adventures in the near future. I should be getting a waterproof HD video camera very soon. I’m excited and can’t wait to put it to use.
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