REDFISH EVENT SET FOR MAY 20TH

If you are a student in Jr. High or High School and between the ages of 12 and 18 it is time to start making plans to fish the Orange County Chapter sponsored CCA Redfish tournament on May 20^th .Both the Captain’s meeting and weigh-in will take place at the Orange Boat Club located on DuPont Drive.

Not unlike the High School Team bass format, each team must include a designated Captain at least 21 years of age and everyone in the boat must be a member of the CCA.The entry fee for the tournament is $50 per team. For all of the rules and more information call Brian Weaver at 713-626-4222 or Lou Moore at 409-988-3667.

This is sure to be a fun event that is also an investment in the future of saltwater fishing.Lou Moore says that depending on the success of this initial tournament, this could well become an annual event.I can’t think of a better way to gear up for the summer long S.T.A.R. event.Every cast has the potential to pocket $50,000 toward the cost of a college degree!

For those of us compelled to go fishing simply because we like the pull on the end of the line or the taste of fresh fried fish, the bite of late has been a challenge.High muddy water doesn’t help the cause much, but it is the seemingly never ending wind that limits choices of where you can even fish.Safety should always be the number one priority and there have certainly been a number of unsafe days of late!

The “fall back” plan this time of year is usually the river or the bayous, but the high and dirty water has rendered them an even tougher venue than the lake.There is more protected water, but the bite has been no better.

While the bull tides in combination with the stiff south winds continue to stymie the release of all of this unwanted fresh water, they have at least improved the catching south of the Causeway and in protected areas like Taylor’s Bayou and Keith Lake. That water looks much better following incoming tides and the trout fishing has been much more productive.

To some degree, the mystery is why the bite on the Causeway reef has not been more consistent as well. It has been lights out a time or two, but the huge schools of trout that are there one day are gone the next.Sam and Louise Perry found the reds and some very nice trout drifting 17 to 22 feet of water over the shell two days last week only to zero the next three.

I found it interesting that they went old school and caught all of their fish on seven inch black chartreuse curl tail worms.“We haven’t fished over here in several years so we just tied on what used to work,” said Sam.The one thing that they did do differently that may well have made a difference was fishing their worms on a Carolina rig.

“The wind was blowing one way and the tide was moving in the opposite direction and we were losing a jig head every other cast,” added Sam.“I thought Lou was going to break us!”He added that they still lost a few baits, sinker and all, but the Carolina rig with a four foot leader worked much better.

We have definitely experienced that inconsistent bite when we have been able to fish the north end of the lake including Black’s Bayou and East Pass. We found out last Wednesday that choice of baits can make a big difference, but for the most part it has been more a matter of being at the right place at the right time.

We fished one small area for two hours and never got a bite only to return later and find another pair of fishermen hammering small trout under a group of terns.Back at the landing they said that a four inch red shad Cocahoe minnow was what the fish wanted.They had nine trout and four redfish and we zeroed so I am thinking they got it right!

At least for us, the flounder have produced the most dependable bite.For the first time in a long time we went back to tipping our grubs with shrimp and it has made a difference.We have caught more undersized flounder, but a bite is a bite and we are still able to cull some very solid keepers.

At this point the formula for improved “catching” is simple………less wind equals more fish!