This past weekend was my spring break so a friend and I headed home from Auburn to OBA/Pcola to do some fishing. My buddy is from Maryland and has came down fishing with me some times before but in the worst of conditions and has yet to catch a red so that was the main objective.
Saturday (3/28) we hit the flats in Pensacola in the paddle boards hoping to find some reds and specks up shallow. In the deeper water we found ALOT of spanish /skipjack schooling on top that quickly ate a topwater. Caught 2 spanish and since I'm not a fan of mackerel we left the fish still schooling on top to find the reds and specks.
As we reached the flat we quickly realized the wind was being funneled into the flat and made it really tough for us on the boards.The flat had more quality fish sitting up shallow in crystal clear water than I have ever seen in my life. Overall we saw more than 30 redfish and 10 or so gator trout sitting in potholes and prop trenches.
The reds were absolutely stunning! They had that dark bronze tan and the tips of their tails were almost fluorescent. The trout were positioned a little deeper and I was able to catch some on a KVD pointer jerkbait that dives 4-7. The reds were in the shallow grass and had some follow a mirrodine and a keitect 4.5 in. swimbait on a 1/16 oz. jig head but only a couple rat reds fully committed.
The problem was the wind pushed the boards so fast that as soon as you saw the fish you had milliseconds before they spooked.
In conclusion, we found plenty of large bulls and tournament sized upper slots but only caught 3 rats and 2 lower slots that I quickly released back in the water. On the speck side I caught one FAT 23 incher and 2 or 3 14-16 in. but I wasn't keeping any so I didn't measure.My buddy did get one to eat but he spit the hook crushing his dream of catching a red but he was able to see plenty of these magnificent fish in the shallow grass flats just like we've watched on TV many of times. Unfortunately he was not able to catch any reds but he was able to sight-fish alot and while we didn't scratch the redfish off his list I know the day made him even more a fan of the flats style fishing and tournament aspirations even greater.
Those reading with flats boats, I have no doubt that you can catch tournament winning slots in the flats right now and fun fisherman will have no problem finding large bulls up shallow to scream some drag! My friend had his Go-Pro rolling so when I get the footage I'll see if I can find some good pictures to post. Hope this helps you out on your next fishing trip and tight lines.
Tide: Low tide was around 3 or 4 am and we fished the rising tide all the way to high tide. The most activity was around 10 or 11 am.
Water Clarity: Even though we had just got a lot of rain water clarity was very clear but the stout wind lessened the visibility.
Wind: E wind 15-20 mph
Tackle:
Topwater was a mirrolure pro dog jr. on 65lb braid on a med-heavy action duckett casting rod
Swimbait was a keitect 4.5 paddle tail swimbait on a heavy action duckett micro magic casting rod 12 lb seagur flouro
Mirrodine 17 MR color was a a light greenish body with a black back on a lews medium action spinning rod and 8lb flouro
Saturday (3/28) we hit the flats in Pensacola in the paddle boards hoping to find some reds and specks up shallow. In the deeper water we found ALOT of spanish /skipjack schooling on top that quickly ate a topwater. Caught 2 spanish and since I'm not a fan of mackerel we left the fish still schooling on top to find the reds and specks.
As we reached the flat we quickly realized the wind was being funneled into the flat and made it really tough for us on the boards.The flat had more quality fish sitting up shallow in crystal clear water than I have ever seen in my life. Overall we saw more than 30 redfish and 10 or so gator trout sitting in potholes and prop trenches.
The reds were absolutely stunning! They had that dark bronze tan and the tips of their tails were almost fluorescent. The trout were positioned a little deeper and I was able to catch some on a KVD pointer jerkbait that dives 4-7. The reds were in the shallow grass and had some follow a mirrodine and a keitect 4.5 in. swimbait on a 1/16 oz. jig head but only a couple rat reds fully committed.
The problem was the wind pushed the boards so fast that as soon as you saw the fish you had milliseconds before they spooked.
In conclusion, we found plenty of large bulls and tournament sized upper slots but only caught 3 rats and 2 lower slots that I quickly released back in the water. On the speck side I caught one FAT 23 incher and 2 or 3 14-16 in. but I wasn't keeping any so I didn't measure.My buddy did get one to eat but he spit the hook crushing his dream of catching a red but he was able to see plenty of these magnificent fish in the shallow grass flats just like we've watched on TV many of times. Unfortunately he was not able to catch any reds but he was able to sight-fish alot and while we didn't scratch the redfish off his list I know the day made him even more a fan of the flats style fishing and tournament aspirations even greater.
Those reading with flats boats, I have no doubt that you can catch tournament winning slots in the flats right now and fun fisherman will have no problem finding large bulls up shallow to scream some drag! My friend had his Go-Pro rolling so when I get the footage I'll see if I can find some good pictures to post. Hope this helps you out on your next fishing trip and tight lines.
Tide: Low tide was around 3 or 4 am and we fished the rising tide all the way to high tide. The most activity was around 10 or 11 am.
Water Clarity: Even though we had just got a lot of rain water clarity was very clear but the stout wind lessened the visibility.
Wind: E wind 15-20 mph
Tackle:
Topwater was a mirrolure pro dog jr. on 65lb braid on a med-heavy action duckett casting rod
Swimbait was a keitect 4.5 paddle tail swimbait on a heavy action duckett micro magic casting rod 12 lb seagur flouro
Mirrodine 17 MR color was a a light greenish body with a black back on a lews medium action spinning rod and 8lb flouro