Headed out of ICY the last couple of days to see if I could find a few fish. Wednesday I was joined by Shellman and my 11 year old fishing buddy Logan. It had been a while since I had taken Logan fishing and with school starting soon I figured I better get him out. Logan had never caught a trout and I really wanted to make sure he would so I swallowed my pride and let Shellman catch us some live. He managed to scoop up a mix of shad, mullet, and shrimp without too much trouble and we were off. Hit the pass around sunrise to find the seas in the gulf confused and a tad violent. Rising tide and and west wind makes for a long 15 mile ride but we managed to make it there with the motor still attached. Tied up to the platform and began casting. Tried everything under the sun but could not get them to eat. The current was ripping harder than I had ever seen it run out there and I figured that was most likely the problem. After the tide turned around the current slacked a little and I landed the first fish of the morning. Shortly there after Logan landed his first trout. We tried a little while longer but once the tide started falling the shimp boats started trolling and before long the water went from 3' of vis to around 6". With the seas calmed down we decided to give Diamond Reef a shot. Passed an armada of shrimp trollers on our way there and it was obvious finding decent water anywhere south of Marsh Island was going to be a problem. Got to diamond to find it dirty, checked Pavy and it was worse. Manage to pick up a few in the pass along with a bunch of sand trout and latched on to 4 or 5 bull reds. I managed to get a 34" bull in the boat with my Med Light Duce which took a minute but we had already snapped 2 other rods that morning so I was sweating. When we called it a day we had 8 or 9 solid trout with only one about 13 inches or so. My little buddy was all smiles when I dropped him off which made the tough day of fishing pretty rewarding. I wanted another shot at them so I decided to re-saddle and head back the Thursday to see if I could figure out what the deal was. Had a small incoming tidal movement in the morning so I decided to see what was going on at Tette Butte but everything south of redfish point looked like it had been regurgatated by a pelican. When I got into the gulf I met up with a boat coming strait back from Tette Butte. One of the guys in it gave me the finger across the throat to let me know there couldn't be much living out there but I decided to see for myself and he was right. I kept my boat heading west to the Vermilion blocks and managed to find some decent water. There are a couple of toadstools with big shell pads I've fished a few times. Found them stacked up and hungry at one of them. They were in about 12' of water and from what I could tell they where pretty much everywhere in the water column. Had a 5/16ths jig head and would throw it out as far as I could, count to 10 and start popping it in. They hit it on the top and the fall mostly. Put the ipilot on spot lock on the down current side of the shell pad and worked the bait back with the current. Caught 90% of them with either Chart/Glow or Chartuse Flash Downsouth Plastics which have hands down become my go to bait. Had close to 20 when the bite shut down around noon. All 18" to 20" with a few hammers and one that was close to 26" that I didn't weigh. Headed back in and found that the water had not improved at all and was probably worse if that's possible. The tide was trying to come out of the pass but the stout SW wind was slowing it down to the point where it wasn't pushing up on Caldwell as it usually does. There were birds working so I decided to give it a shot. Fish long enough to see some Pointer slam his catamaran full throttle into the north end of the reef. I wanted to laugh but there were a few kids onboard and what I am guessing was his wife and mother in-law, or some older lady who's body language said my daughter could have done better. Ive watched crabbers cut that corner and run the bank to Tette Butte since I'm 10 and I won't do it unless I'm running from lightning. After the collision I decided I would give one of the Bayou's in Marsh Island a shot to see if I could pick up a few reds. Found the water to be decent to good the further back i went. Followed it back until I started kicking up mud, turned around and started beating the banks. Didn't take me long to see them and they where everywhere. I put my ice chest up on my front deck and started sight casting. Probably caught 6 or 7 before I got sick messing with them. The smallest one was about 30". Decided to call it a day and headed in. From the pass to the 4 Mile the bay was a mess. I would describe the water as viscid, its pretty bad. All of that pretty water that was in there a few days ago got runoff and all thats left is a mixture of cow $hit and water lilies. FYI, if you find yourself crossing the bay watch out for the sunken shrimp boat sticking out of the water about 10' or so. Its 2.5 to 3 miles Southeast of the mouth of the 4 Mile, maybe a couple miles east of the channel just north of redfish point. If you were running out of the Boston headed to Redfish Point it would be right in your path. It's visible, not flagged or lighted as far as I can tell. I marked on my GPS but I don't feel like going out to my boat at the moment. I took a pic though. Don't get your hopes up if your looking to slay them in the bay this weekend, its gonna take a minute for the water to recuperate along with my back. Boy did I take a beating yesterday morning but if there is one thing I've learned about trout fishing offshore is that they don't bite if the tide's not moving. If its flat the tides probably not moving. I am pretty sure I am not gonna break and I know my Cape Horn won't, but I wouldn't have put many people through that ride yesterday. It's probably going to be rough this weekend but they are still out there. If you're mad at them, tighten up your hardware and go get them.
08-07-2015, 05:32 AM
Vbay/SMI/Vermilion Blocks Last 2 Days.
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