When the cat's away, the mice will play

My wife is enjoying herself on a much needed vacation, while I stay at the home front to keep an eye on the dogs, and fill the freezer back up with fish.

On my drive to Delacroix this morning, Dogdad passed me up while I was pulled over, and he was kind enough to stop and ask me if everything was alright.  Everything was, but that is the comradery that I enjoy so much about kayak fishing.  He offered me an invite to one of his honey holes, but I had to decline as I'm trying to learn new parts of Delacroix so I can be the best teammate I can be for AWFC.  

After talking to Jumpmaster0664 (sorry, I'm horrible with names) at Sweetwater marina, we went our separate ways.  He was in search of trout, while I was looking for bass and/or redfish.  I paddled for about 45 min before I even put a line in the water, and even then, I had another 15 minutes before I really started fishing.  I found a canal with ponds coming off of it on Google earth, so I thought it would be deep, but for most of the day I was only in 2 feet of water or less.

As I wind my way through the canal, it opened up into a large pond, and I could see several tails breaking the surface.  Water visibility was extremely low, but the fact that the redfish were waving a flag as if they needed a refill at Poncho's made finding them easy.  I wasn't really planning on keeping any, so the first 3 or 4 were all released before I decided to start keeping them.   

Around 11 I left the main canal and ponds, heading deeper into the broken marsh, where I was able to pick up 3 reds right at the 17" mark.  After a small throwback red, I saw something busting up some bait down wind of me, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I was in casting distance.  1st cast aimed at him, was just right.  A short battle later, 27.5".  I stop to take a Massey's Fish Pic, and release him.  

The wind was starting to pick up pretty bad so I figured I'd hit one last spot that was on the plan, and then I'd head home.  While letting the wind drift me to where I needed to go, I slowly drift over a pretty decent size red.  The first cast was too far ahead of him and I didn't have enough room between him and the kayak, so I had to recast, this time he took the Seein' spots inline spinner.  He starting pulling me in the direction I was originally going which would mean less fishing area, so I threw down the stakeout pole, and fought the battle anchored.  When I finally get him to the boat, hes bigger than the last bull red, so I take out the token, take a pic and let him go.  

All of the reds had leaches on them.  The bite was never phenomenal, but it was higher than normal, and with the water warming up, so should the bite.  

I missed several large reds that would pull off 40+ feet of line on the initial run, then turn and spit the hook.  It was rather frustrating because I know that they were likely to be over 30".

 The 7" tapered fillet knife by Bubba Blade made short work of the fish today.

Temps: 63-73
Wind: 0-10 MPH
Skies: Clear
Water clarity: 6 inches tops
Water temps: 58-68
Seein' spots with black/chart

Exploratory Delacroix trip

In lieu of the recent Mardi Gras murders, I opted out of going to parades and spent some time on the water.  As I began unloading the boat, I immediately realized that I remembered to grab the fish finder battery, but forgot the faceplate.  So much for having a true water depth for the day.  I ended up combat launching so the paddle wouldn't be as long as if I had launched from Sweetwater.  The goal was to get on the north side of Lake Robin, which was successful.  I didn't see any fish action until the afternoon.  Found some grass patches in about 3-4 feet of water and was able to pull 7 bass out of them.  The red was caught on a mud flat that I could see them tailing while I was fishing for the bass.  Ill be changing my tactics up for next week to see if I can pull a larger bass from a bed.

 This little guy must have been sick.  He didn't fly away with all the others, but when I splashed my hand in the water he came to me.  He allowed me to pick him up and pet him for a minute or 2.

 Possibly my biggest bass to date.  I hope to get one over 10 lbs this year, but that is a high goal.

 3 casts, 3 bass

 Id throw my Seein' Spots over these grass pads and try to pull the bass from them.

 The only red I was able to catch.  Most of the reds that I was able to see, had about an inch or so of their tail sticking completely out of the water.

Temps: 46-68

Wind: West 6-9 MPH

Skies: Clear

Pressure: 30.26

2/7/15

Full moon, north wind, and falling tide, all together results into some extremely low tides.  Having launched out of Campo's marina with Dominique, we headed behind the rocks so we could catch some fish, and I could hopefully find one of the large bass I had caught last week.  With the weather being warm, I had high hopes for both of us getting into a mess of fish.  Finding an opening of a bayou into a large shallow flat, we saw plenty of swirls which ended up being reds.  Dominique isnt much of a stander as hes been swimming 2 of the 3 times hes come with me.  I was able to put him on a red early, and I was able to find one for myself, but no large bass this time.  

Dominique with his 26.5" red

My red was a hair over 28, but pinching the tail, taking a picture, and keeping him in the boat was out of the question.

Temps: 46/65

Skies: clear

Wind: 5-9 mph NE

Tide: Extremely Low

Seein spots with lemon drop, and purple haze

Pressure: 30.26