Fishing was very interesting the past few weeks as some seriously cold weather made a showing here in Charleston. Heavy winds, ice and freezing rain greeted me the date of a recent morning charter. Brad from the mid west was the lucky fisherman who booked 4 days with me the week of our frigid temperatures and constant chilly, if not frozen forms of precipitation. As I spoke to Brad shortly before we were supposed to get under way, I had my best “it’s not going to be very nice out there” speech prepared. Before I could get started Brad let me know that it was -14 when he left his house and he brought plenty of clothes with him, so 33 degrees sounded pretty nice to him. I threw on all the foul weather gear I could and off we went. We found a creek to keep us out of the heavy winds and laid our baits near some creek mouths. Brad was quickly rewarded with several bites that peeled drag and wrapped him around oyster beds until the line broke. Being a quick study Brad was ready for the next one. A fish grabbed the bait and Brad played him like a pro. Even though the fish ran across the oyster beds Brad knew now that too much pressure would cause another “early release”, so he kept the rod high and line tight. As the fish came in front of the oysters Brad applied the heat to him and shortly had his first Red to the boat. As we were heading out of the small creek towards our next spot we saw a giant tail moving just along the grassline. We slowed and turned back to stalk the fish and saw the tail once again brushing the grass. When we were in position to make a cast the fish seemed to disappear. We made several casts to likely targets in the vicinity and after awhile it looked as though our prey had eluded us. Just as we decided to make a move the fish struck our line and Brad had a battle on his hands. The fish first ran for a dock and as soon as he was fought back into the clear he headed under the boat and towards the engine, anchors and everything else he could break the line. Brad worked his way around the boat clearing each obstacle one by one and bringing the fish closer to the net. The fish made one final run towards the back of the boat before Brad swung it’s head around and led it to my grasp. This fish was clearly a trophy, 33 1/4 inches and over 16 lbs. What a way to end his first day of Red fishing! Brad boated many more on his subsequent trips and we had great time swapping stories and chasing schools Redfish. I am looking forward to his next visit. Why don’t you join me in the meantime?
Lets go fishing!
