Redfish University
My brother Richard and cousin Bobby came to visit me from Louisiana with a knowledge-challenged, but enthusiastic plan. "We need about five hours a night of sleep, otherwise we'll be fishing. Put us on the fish, bro."
The two have been fishing together since they were nine, more years ago than I care to calculate. All long-time fishing duos have a running patter. In their act Bobby is the fast talker and Richard is the "thinker", as Bobby puts it.
The two even lived on St. George Island for a while in their lost yourh so they were no strangers to cold-weather redfish. In December most of the redfish around the island, especially the big ones, are caught bottom fishing in the deep waters of Bob Sikes Cut or East Pass.
Like many island visitor and resident anglers they had heard that reds and trout go "up the creeks" in the winter but they had no practical idea of what that meant. Bobby said, "We are open to education, Professor John."
One of the more famously productive "creeks" in our area is Whiskey George Creek. With depths of over 20 feet it's more a small river. Both Whiskey George and its cousin Doyle Creek can be reached from a new state boat launch on Hwy 65, eight miles north of the intersection with Hwy 98.
Large redfish inhabit the dark, deep waters of these creeks during the winter. In December they feed at the mouth of the creeks during strong outgoing tides. Their preferred diet is mullet.
"Find the mullet and you'll find the reds,"I lectured my students. Well, it was a little more complicated than that; actually we were looking for feeding mullet. As the fresh water of the creek mixes with saltier tidal flow of the bay, the estuarine supports a variety of shoreline grasses. The dominant is needle rush, a.k.a. marsh grass. Then there is another greener grass that grows in front of the marsh grass called spartina grass. Algae grow on the spartina grass that are beloved of the mullet. In the intermittent patches of the grass you can usually see the stalks shaking as the mullet grab mouthfuls and pull it loose. Mullet eat the algae, redfish eat the mullet. Food Chain 101.
Casting accuracy is important as you must put the lure at the edge of the grass, but not in the grass. Many anglers use gold spoons with a weed guard but we were using chartreuse Top Dogs. I told them,"If you make a good cast, let it sit and barely twitch it."
Bobby was the first to see a swirl around his Dog and then it got sucked in. He fought in the nice twenty-four inch red and posed grinning in the early sunrise,"I feel like I've been schooled!"he whooped as he released his diploma.
"You wishing or you fishing, boy?"he needled Richard, which is the right of the first catch. But his advantage didn't last long.
Richard had switched to his largest Spook, a giant red-and-white, nine-hook model, during Bobby's fish fight. He mumbled something about bigger baits for bigger fish. A couple of grass patches later it paid off with a crushing strike. There was a long battle that consumed a lot of adrenalin and a few cuss words but eventually the over-sized red posed for its picture along side my happily educated brother.
Like Bobby said, "Have mercy! He done graduated from Redfish University."
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