Too wet? Go fishing!

[capt hoop]

With all the rain we have had in the last 4-5 days we had another 4 1/2 inches yesterday and this morning.



Waited till almost 1:00 in the afternoon for tail of the front to pass and headed out. Was too wet to paint the outside of the house. I would have to wear boots due to all the pools of water around. Nothing soaking in. I may not be able to mow the lawn for a few more days (IF it does not rain again).



Every where I went the water was too dirty for anything. This racoon was most likely flooded out of it's resting area. After covering several miles of the Empire area for over 2 hours with nothing but dirty water and a lady fish I found a place with some almost clean water. Problem was I could not get to it. It had some good redfish there and if I had been in a tournament I would have gone up to the bank and horsed them over the edge to the boat. This is the kind of place only a go devil or air boat can get to. The center is deep.




I played this area ducking into tight, narrow pipelines and found a trout or two. Had to put the boat right in the weeds to be able to fish the canal. It paid off.



Being in this area has som additional meat getting on the boat. When they bite the blood flows from your body. My boat has a fly swater and 2 cans fo spray on board. They get thick. The worst I had was last year 4 dozen killed in 1/2 hour My boat was covered with them. The picture is blurred but the green heads or horse flies are almost as thick as the mosquitos.



Moved into some other tight areas and picked away at the fish.



I found some rat reds and even got a nice 16 inch flounder with the trout.



On the way in I saw some movement back into a very narrow ditch.



I eased in about as far as I could. I casted as far back in the direction I saw movement. With the first cast I disturbed every other fish back there. As I was fighting this fish I sadly watched all the others run out right past my boat. Looked like they were having a convention back there. One heck or a sight. A lot of nice fish went past. At least this one made my Empire trifecta for the box.



I saw some birds working in bay adams outside the flood gates and casted only to find a sail catfish. I decided to bring it home for Buddy and Sushi. Those are my 2 16 pound cats.



Ended the afternoon hunt with 12 trout 13 and up, a 16 inch flounder and a nice redfish. Once the bite started and I found the clean water things were not that bad.




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

CAPT HOOP -- OUR FREEDOM