SaltyCajun.com - Wind and rain

Had Larry and his wife Emily from Minnesota in for 2 days. The night they arrived they visited the marina and some people there told them they picked the 2 worst days of the year to fish. A massive cold front pushing through with soaking rain and wind on Wednesday and very high wind for Thursday. This was the one time of the year the weather man was right.

I met them at the dock early. She asked me if she had a chance of catching a fish. We commented on that and off we went. Once I had the boat in place I set them up and she hooks and catches the first trout. It was also her first one ever.

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Her husband was a little slow to get the presentation down but eventually he caught on. He was giving us lessons for a while including this nice double.

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The most memorable moment was when she landed this beauty not knowing what she had and not only asked what it was but if it was a good fish or a trash fish. ***Poor girl mostly fished bass all her life***

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By 8:00 we had a good amount of trout we went looking for more flounder and some redfish. I headed down the river and hit several places. We could not find any flounder in the places I went to. The redfish were mostly rats but as the beginners luck goes she got a Venice tri-fecta.

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Around 10:00 the rain was at the mouth of the river and coming at us from the south. I attempted to stay ahead of it but before I could get out the rain gear I was soaked. I could have headed in at 10:00 but kept stopping and looking at various points and cuts for a keeper red or two. By 2:00 I was soaked and so were Larry and Emily even though they had gear on. We ended the day with 25 trout, 2 reds, and one flounder.

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Thursday called for 15-25 mph winds with gusts to 30 and the temp dropping. SPOT ON &$^%&**% weather forecast! To add to the problems of the day the water dropped over 2 feet, in the short time we were out there, with the wind pushing all the stirred up water out of the marsh and ponds. If in a bad position the wind would blow our lines back at us as we casted. I managed to find some rocks with the big motor, No damage, and I even had the trolling motor in the mud as a power pole holding us into the wind. I wanted to call it off but could not see then sitting in a motel all day.

We started out hitting a few places that I had always done good in and wanted to hit them before things got shallow there. Should have not even attempted them. Nothing but a few lost jigs and spoons. We were looking and not doing well at all. I noticed a few birds and ventured over to look. We found a bunch of very small trout with a few keepers mixed in and also some white trout.

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This was the better of our fishing adventures for the day. Suddenly the big surprise of the day wakes us up abruptly. This one eyed beauty took Emily around the boat a few times. I even tightened up on the drag a bit to slow this monster down a bit. After a good fight we had her alongside and in the net.

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After the photo shoot she went back with no trouble at all. This 37 incher weighed in at 18 pounds and will be out there waiting to have her picture taken again with another happy angler.

They are traveling and did not want to keep much fish so I will be making some neighbors happy with free meals of fresh filleted fish. Todays catch was small but under the conditions we still had a good amount of action with many throwbacks.

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Had a great 2 days under very trying conditions. I told them no matter what the next time they come here the weather will be better.

Life is Good!
Fishing is not a matter of life or death. It's more important than that.

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM