Red Drum on the flats in NC

[gottaflylee]

Had father (Peter) and son (Philip) from Raleigh yesterday to sight fish for Red Drum (Redfish) in less than favorable conditions but we pulled off a long 1/2 day in the morning, without getting soaked with the 60% of rain they were calling for . Winds were less than 10 kts but with the overcast skies, visibility to see shadows, was lacking to say the least. The water was very clear even though the wind had been blowing and I saw no Mullet mud's.

As I hopped on my perch in the first bay, Philip on the bow with the "feather duster" and Peter on the spinning rod, I begin to pole the boat, it was not long before I saw the first push of water from fish. As hard as I tried, I could not get within casting distance to them as they moved away from us. As we got about midway of the hook of the bay, I saw the first "winking" fish of the day with in our reach. Alas the fly fell to short and the "twitch" bait was to far to the side for us to come tight, fishing it is...

We moved to the next bay to fish on the windward side, concentrating on the creek mouths edges and Oyster rocks. The guys changed places on the boat and after a few casts, Peter changed to my Colton fly rod as it was casting better than his. On the 3 creek mouth he fired a nice shout down the center and came tight on the second strip. Turned out to be a nice Flounder, not the quarry we were looking for but that black and white furry thing, flew out of the boat and started its long swim home...ah, slime on my hands. Sorry but no picture as it was sprinkling at the time. We worked our way back to the ICW with seeing any other fish so it is on to the next spot.

This area is heavy on Oyster bars and this time of year, on the low tide I tend to see "tailers" and fish with there backs out, feeding on small crabs and blood worms, but it was not to be today, wither it was the clouds or cooler water, the fish were not there. I noticed waking in one of the creeks and we went to check it out and blow out a nice fish that headed up the creek in less then 4" of water but that's the limit for what my boats floats in...

On to the next spot, that I call the Bahamas flat as it is a large sand flat that borders a big expanse of Oyster rock and the visibility is good most of the time and today the vis was great. The clouds had let up some and I got my Polarized glasses out and that made it better. Up ahead of us I could see 2 groups of fish pushing water but by the time we got there, they had moved into the deeper water and with the clouds, we could not see them. I staked the boat out and slowly surveyed the water, "there" I pointed, "they're "winking"...Philip spied them and made a cast, but it went way right and the school was moving left. He made 2 more good casts but the fish had faded into the deeper water and out of our sight...fishing it is. We moved down the bank, seeing fish push water ahead of us but we were not able to get to any of them. Stopped at the Trout hole for a while and anchored but no nibbles there, so on to the last spot.

We started on the North side, water was very clear and we say very large Flounder "tracks" that lead from the deep to the shallows, it was very cool to see how it moved as it was looking to ambush the smaller fish. As we rounded the point, Philip fired the top water over the top Oyster rock and started walking it back when "Whooshsmack", the TopDog got creamed but the line never came tight and the big fish never came back... We fished on around the bay fishing the edges and creek mouths. Peter was on the bow and shot one down the mouth of the 4th creek and came tight as soon as it hit the water, Red Drum, not big but what we came for. Fish came to the boat, unhooked, pictures and hi 5s all around. We worked on around the bay seeing some pushing fish but were never able to get to them. Well, fishing it is...not bad for a cool dark day in March...

Peter with his Red Drum

[ice cream man]

Great to read that someone caught a Red.
This weather has been keeping me at home or hanging out in The Man Cave............

Capt. Lee stop by Tex's tomorrow about 10 got some Brown Eyed MirrOlures for you.........Billy aka ICM

[Tenacious]

Nice report Lee!!! Turkey

[btglenn]

nice report lee

sight fishing is definitely tough in the rain

[SeaBiscuit]

Cute little blue tail rascal! Thanks for the nice report captain Lee. Very encouraged to hear about the flounder sign inshore already. Hoping for a better flounder fishing year than last.
Please keep up the reports.
SeaBiscuit

[austin ensor]

nice report