Captain Chickenwing Charters: No shortcuts in fishing

I stayed at home for an extra hour while I waited for the sun to come up and start warming the water up. Last night's lows were 48 with a high of 61. I put in at Campo's Marina in Shell Beach (free for yakkers). I got on the water for 7:30 or so and battled the wind to cross the MRGO so I could position myself against some marsh and get some protection from the eastern wind. I see two other yakkers ahead of me, but they turn around shortly and head back the direction we all came.

I figured with the wind lasting all day and never changing direction, I'd head as far as I could as early as I could so I could catch a tail wind on the way back. I was in about 2 feet of water for most of the trip as I stayed facing mostly east winding my way through the marsh. I hadnt seen a single sign of life in the water other than a few nutria until about 9:30. I spooked my first red which I ran right up on, but in seeing it, i knew thatt they would be heading into the shallower water to warm up. I found a random pass that was well over 6 feet deep while the rest of the marsh stayed shallow. As I got closer to Douluts Canal, I started looking for ways into it, in hopes of finding some trout in it.

I found myself trying to take shortcuts into Douluts Canal, looking for an entrance, where at times I was only 10 feet away from it with only marsh mud and grass in between me and my goal. Eventually I made it after I got stuck and had to do the "Humpty Dump" move to scoot my kayak through the mud and slop.

At this point, zero fish have been landed, zero bites have been had, and only 1 red and a few gar have been spotted. I made the decision to head back closer to home and through the ponds that I had seen fish in earlier, in hopes of them showing up to bask in the flats.

I somehow find the same pond and the same spot I caught sight of the first red, and see the 2nd red sighting of the day. The wind has a firm grip on my kayak and the redfish goes from 12, to 3, to 6 o'clock real fast, which I stick the stakeout pole in the mud just in time to miss him and see a mud swirl brew up. My kayak continues to turn around and face me west where I can see some sort of something in the water, which I couldnt tell if it was a fish, or a rock, so I cast past it and slightly right, and as soon as my Seein' Spots got perpendicular with him, he took off like a rocket and inhaled the lure. Fish on!! First fish on my new setup, and the reel is screaming and the rod is bent in half. I like everything about this moment. Get the fish into the boat, picture, unhook, tell him a secret, and release.

I pick up my stakeout pole and let the wind drift me accordingly. I was hard to sight cast with the wind and the waves, so I was mostly just casting where I figured fish would be. Fish 2 and 3 also caught on Seein' Spots.

At this point I'm figuring I've worked this area hard enough, I'll head even closer to home and maybe I can pick up 1 or 2 more, and maybe finish the day with a limit of reds caught. I get back to familiar territory and 2 casts in a row I miss a fish, where the 2nd one was splashing on the surface chasing my lure. I drop the anchor and cast in the same area multiple times, with at least 1 bite every cast, sometimes more. I determine that I'm playing with some smaller fish, so I change over to a cork and jighead method. I catch this beautiful large mouth bass, followed by another 2.