Winds blowing in at at 20-25 knots put yesterday's fishing on hold. I went out, but you couldn't get a cast to go very far.
This morning conditions had improved greatly. Partly cloudy skies, temps in the upper 80s, but with a 10 knot breeze; quite comfortable. Water visability was also significantly improved. Nice to be able to see what's around you, especially this morning.
Got out about 0930, on the outgoing tide, and about a half hour before the bite was supposed to be on. Again, the solunar calendar was right. Started with a purple/chartreuse Paul Brown's Dyne XL. It's characterized as a "suspending" twitch bait. But if left sitting, it sinks. Not a biggie. You just have to put on a few cranks of the reel, which brings the lure wobbling up. Then you pause, and the lure wobbles back down. Rinse, repeat.
According to the guys at Ocean's East Tackle Shop, just down the road, it's a Red killer. They are correct.
A few casts into the grassy water and the first Red slammed the bait. A great fight ensued, and I managed to bring the 26-28 inch "Puppy Drum" to the boca grip.
(Yeah, a lousy picture. Kind of tough manhandling a big fish with a rod under your arm and a crummy camera in the hand. Gotta work on this...) We need GoPro to sponsor this blog.
The problem with the Dyne XL is that it's a soft plastic, with a wire through the center to give it rigidity. A Red doesn't eat the bait, it crushes it. And if/when you get the lure out, it doesn't look the same when you take it out of the package. Gets kind of bent here and there. (maybe that's the point ... at $11/lure). The other problem is the two treble hooks. Hellacious to get out of a fish's mouth.
I was able to bend the lure back into a reasonable shape to keep fishing. A few moments later and a Red crushed it again. Another 26-28 inch fish. Unfortunately, it ate the lure, and instead of just going back to the house with dinner, I kept fumbling around trying to get the lure out, not noticing the tension I was putting on my rod. The snapping sound I heard, followed by seeing my rod tip sliding toward the fish, told the story. Still tried to get the lure out, but eventually the leader broke, and off it swam.
Note: this was when the camera decided to stop working.
Fortunately, I'd brought along another rod, not on the possibility of breaking the first, but rigged with a popping cork and paddle tail. So I high-tailed it to dry land, picked up the working rod, and got back in the fight.
It quickly went from catching to fishing. Which was fine; I could have left and it would have been a great day. But I stuck around, casting, popping, retrieving, rinse, repeat. It's a technique that can get mundane. And then something happens which almost makes you crap your pants.
On one of those mundane retrieves, the cork was about 5 feet in front of me. I was beginning to reel in the paddletails, when I saw a large brownish object come out of the grass and swim towards me. Now, it's the salt water. We're not the apex predators. So seeing something that looks really big swimming at me was kind of disturbing. Then I realized it was a big Red. It was all I could do to wait until the fish ate the lure. Another great fight and I landed my third slot Red.
After calling in a brief report to Capt. DiPaola, I returned to the mundane for the next 45 minute, with one exception. As I was wading down the beach I spooked Reds EVERYWHERE. Singles, doubles, multi-fish schools. Many in knee-deep water. I managed a few follows, but for the most part they were scooting back to the grass. It was a pretty cool sight. Almost as much fun as catching. Almost.
The solunar calendar shows conditions tomorrow are ripe for another great hour or two of fishing on the outgoing tide. I'm already rigged, and will be taking the 8 wt as well.
And, thanks to Oceans East, a new Toadfish spinning rod ... and another Dyne XL.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
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