My friend’s Keith, Birthday boy Jim & I kayaked the Indian River on Saturday, Sorry about the late report. Almost immediately we saw baitfish moving around, which we all know is a good thing. After watching them for a minute or so I could see some longer fins in the picture that were not mullet. We had kayaked ourselves into a nice school of redfish that were hanging with their buds the mullet.
The three of us each approached the fish from different sides with the shoreline serving as the fourth angler. We made very short casts and managed to land 3 nice reds and a hungry trout from the school before they managed, as they do, to elude us.
My friend Jim asked me later why he missed so many strikes. We discussed the process and came to the conclusion that the fatal Trout strike was the problem; i.e. lifting the rod to set the hook. I remember when I first began chasing salty fish and did the same thing. A new saltwater angler has to learn quickly that a strip strike is the only way to consistently hook fish.
We used small weedless Black Clouser minnows and a gold bendback to catch these fish. The trick was to keep the flies out of the weeds. I have been tying most of my flies lately with a mono V shaped weed guard and using bead chain eyes instead of lead.
Later that morning Keith ventured out on his own to find fish. He returned much later in the day after finding and landing several Black Drum. Jim and I spend time chasing some big reds. We also had fun, and wasted time, chasing a chartreuse bobber around that I believe was attached to a large redfish. I hoped to free the fish. Let’s hope saltwater will do its thing and quickly rust that hook out allowing that fish to be back to its normal routine. Best of luck on your next fishing trip.
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