Captain Ken Kennickell of Miss Judy Charters his daughter Kate (black vest) and is niece Emily
Inshore
Red Fish Rules!
This is 42 inch red fish which was caught, fought, tagged, and released by Christopher Miller in October 2013 while bottom fishing at the near shore artificial reefs.
I am going to be talking a lot about the fall/winter bite in the next months to come. The good news is that the information that I will be sharing with you is going to be very good. There are many reasons for me to make that statement. The first the “fall/winter times” makes for some great inshore fishing. The fact of the matter is this time fame offers all fishermen inshore or offshore the best fishing ever. I know you are looking for my second reason and it’s the simplest of them all to explain. Since my father taught me I am going to share with you some of the best suggestions that there are! Come join me to where writing is a pleasure and the reading it is even better!
Beach Side Reds
In my book of fishing I put the red fish in several categories. I am talking about the same fish, but in my world I believe that there are those fish that go and those fish that stay! With that being said, “I had better go to explaining!”
Large red fish AKA “bull reds, stag bass, spot tail bass, or channel bass” fit into that category of fish that “GO!” It’s said, that they spend their summer months lurking and holding in deep holes in creeks, rivers, and sounds. However, when fall weather gets channeled into the mix this class starts their migration to the beachfronts. With that being said, “lets fish the beachfronts!”
My definition of “beachfronts” is a simple one. I’m talking about those beaches that face the ocean, which get the “ocean’s roll!” The “roll” that I am talking about is the wave that crashes the beach bringing with them all sort of feeding possibilities. Once large red fish makes the move to this area this is one of those areas that they “come to feed!” So therefore this where you need to fish!
Here’s how it works…
My father always likes to center his fish day on an incoming tide. At the end of the out going tide stage we would stake out the area in which we were going to fish. He would pick an area and we would watch for any surface schools of bait or any swirling near surface activities. This routine became known as “the training of the eyes!” My father always told me that to catch fish you needed to be aware of everything in the area in which you were fishing. He called them “fish signs!”
Daddy’s “Fish Signs!”
Birds in waiting or feeding, fish wakes caused by surface activity, any surface baits, any sort of floating sheens on the surface, any sort of surface swirling, or formed rips.
Heck, if we had all that I mentioned above we would have been in “fish catching heaven” for sure! According to daddy if you had any two of these signs you could be in catching business! So let’s assume that you have found such a place. Your best bait could be any of these listed: finger mullet, mullet fillets, large pawn shrimp dead or alive, live pin fish, menhaden, and etc. It’s best to use a single “J” style hook and put your bait on the bottom. I suggest any sort of rig that had sinker first, leader, and then hook. The sinker used is going to help keep your bait near or on the bottom. Rigs that have sinker first allow you to move your bait in a more natural manner. This boils down to the fact, that you can cast out far, let your bait sit still, and after a few minutes reel in a few times. This technique allows you to get more bottom coverage and to move your bait more naturally. The sinker first when slowly retrieved sends out so called smoke signals that normally gets the fish’s attention. As you slowly move your bait the sinker causes any loose sand particles to float up a bit looking like a “meal that trying to flee!” It a known fact that small fish and those crab types swim close to the sandy bottom can “cause quite a underwater sand storm, which is basically the trail to follow!” Fishermen as well as fish find this occurrence something interesting to watch and in turn “makes them most curious!”
Another way to present your bait is to go with the oldest stand by, which is “float fishing.” My father with all of his fishing wisdom always said, “the fish are coming in from out there not in here!” This means “fish don’t come from the land, but from the water!” I know this all sounds stupid to say, but hear me out. No matter what “fish stage” while waiting for that feeding opportunity, which in this case is the rolling action of the waves on the beach. He always suggested fishing this area with a float. He still fished his bait deep keeping it close to the bottom. However, when using a float to present your bait it gets the “full Monty!” It didn’t always work! However, when it did it certainly made those times that it didn’t more worth wild!
I got a great report from Captain Little Tommy Williams this past week. Although it rained like heck and the winds blew the shrimp weren’t not affected. Captain Little Tommy fish’s for us inshore and he also catches bait for Bull River Marina. He report was about a simple as they get. All you need to do is to pull your shrimp net and the catching is good. Since size does matter, when it comes to inshore fishing especially this time of the year according to this report the shrimp are prefect bait size. Now for those that want to sling the old cast net instead of purchasing shrimp well it is a good time for this. It not only fun it’s productive. You get to catch your own bait and who knows you might even catch a few to eat! So let’s recap…catch your own bait, possibility of catching a few to eat, and then there is that window for catching some nice fish too! Heck, you got to go, because now you know!
Spotted Sea Trout Bite
Here’s the bottom line..The more the water temperature drops the more the fish want to eat.
Artificial Reefs
We only caught one and saw none!
Frank Murray is holding a Spanish mackerel that he caught while doing a little trolling at the artificial reefs located in less than 50 feet of water…Now here’s the crazy thing…we only caught one and we saw none!
Steve Howell and Captain Kathy Brown holding a just caught female black fish.
Stan Walters and Bob Rothman while trolling a most usual lure behind a #3 planer Bob caught this nice size little tunny!
"Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!”'
Captain’s log books as early as the 14 hundreds showed records of encounters with single large waves. It took many years before encounters like these became real to those on land. The fact of the matter is according to most drinking might have been involved, triggering an array of larger than life sea stories to be born. However, finally there was no way to deny their existence!
Forces of Nature 1956 Style
Back in the fifties, my father’s 40-foot yacht called “Miss Jerry” was hit by a “rogue wave.” As this wave hit the boat it laid her over on her side. My father told me that it had come from out of nowhere. In fact it came in from the opposite direction of the rolling sea. A rouge wave has an unbelievable uncertainty about it. You never know exactly where it comes from. Not only that, but it rolls on its own power. It didn’t need said power from the present wave motion. My father always said that for every 6 to 9 consecutive wave the 6th or the 9th one is going to be bigger. This is due to the fact that the larger wave is created from the conditions of the smaller ones. These are just regular waves that you see all the time. A “rogue Wave” according to my father could be caused by a number of things such as a underwater earthquake or some sort of strong pushing disturbance on the surface.
This is the Miss Jerry that was laid on her side by a single rogue wave. As you can see if you were fishing on the stern you could have been easily thrown in the water by the actions of a large wave. On this day that this picture was taken I must have not been with him. The reason I know this is because I would have been fishing out of the large vacant window located to the right of the photo.
I wasn’t on the boat when this happened. After hearing the story I found myself happy that I had stayed at home on this particular day. When my father came home on this particular day, didn’t have his usual smile on his face, and wasn’t full of jokes I knew something had to be wrong. As he set down at our at our kitchen table he had the strangest stare on his face. When he started talking I listen, because he really did always have something interesting to say. He began by saying, “I turned the boat over today.” That sentence alone got my full attention. As he told the story my eyes, I’m sure, got bigger as well as the visions in my mind. My father told me that the wave did indeed lay the “Miss Jerry” over on her side. While this was taking place everything according to daddy kind of went into slow motion. The wave rolled in from the south hitting the boat on the port side. Daddy and customers on board was all bottom fishing while facing to the north. This was the direction in which the wind and current sea conditions were coming from. When the large wave hit, the boat jolted, and rolled on her side throwing everyone to the starboard side of the boat. Some customers were thrown overboard while others were hanging on to anything that they could find. Anything that wasn’t attached to the port side now became loose cannon and went flying over to the starboard side. My father said, “It was if everything was in slow motion.” He watched in fear and surprise as customers were tossed into the water. As the boat momentarily lay on her side water started to rush in. However, another wave or force from the wind side hit the boat and somehow righter her back to her present position floating position. According to daddy it happened so fast that it almost didn’t happen as if that makes any sense, but I somehow did understand.
After what seemed like minutes, but only lasted seconds everything was back to normal. That is with the exception of customers in the water and portside things being piled up on the starboard side. According to Daddy the boat was a total wreck, but still fixable. The after math was simple. Absolutely no one got hurt, but they did get wet and scared to death! However they did have one heck of an experience and a great sea story to tell that would stay with them for the rest of their life!
After thinking about what had happen out there that day in the ocean I have come to grips with the fact that some things do happen for a reason. In this case of two apparent “rogue waves” coming from different directions I can only assume two things. The first thing is that the wave from the south was definitely a big destructive wave in which the story should have ended with the sinking of the boat. However there was this second wave, which could have only been caused by a power source of a different
Search Fishin.com
Recent Articles