With the air temperature and tide tables in harmonious balance, we headed to the boat ramp Sunday morning (Feb 22, 2009). The plan was to fish the “skinny water” and try to scare up some of the larger Black Drum Captain Kevin Faver had been reporting catching – the 10 pound variety.
Unfortunately, the one check that we didn’t make before launching was the wind. Wow, what an oversight that was! It was honking. I don’t know what the official report was, but our guestimate was a constant 15 to 20 MPH with gusts in the range of 25+ MPH.
But of course that wasn’t going to be enough to make the boat turn around and point back toward the ramp. Once we arrived at the first location, we got our lines wet immediately and were greeted by some very eager Yellow Mouth Trout. They were on the short side of respectable, measuring in around 10” or so.
The Yellow Mouth Trout kept us pretty busy until the Black Drum decided to show up. However, the Black Drum only showed up in small numbers and there were not any 10 pounders like Kevin Faver was reporting. The Black Drum were about 16” to 18” – very nice fish, but not the adrenaline creators that we were hoping for.
That said, we also had an appearance from the man in the red spotted suit … yep, the Redfish also showed up for a short time. These guys were just about a 1/2” shy of the slot, measuring in at 17 and change. Nonetheless, the Redfish that showed up were beautiful fish, a lot of fun to catch and a welcome surprise.
After about 2 hours of letting the wind show us who was in charge, we decided to call it a day and head for some protection in doors. We had caught several Yellow Mouth Trout (double digits), 2 nice Black Drum and a couple of Redfish. So it wasn’t a bad day or a phenomenal day, but it was a fishing day and that’s what counts the most.
