Freeport December 1st.
Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2021 5:43 am
I couldn’t shake loose until noon. Originally wanted to hit the mouth of the Bernard area for a redfish hunt, but with the never ending road construction by the Clemens Unit and the waning daylight, I opted for something a little closer and maybe with less road construction issues.
The Freeport Area is as close as it gets. Marsh, creek, channels, drains, shell, mud, this is what is nearby. I wanted to fish the marsh lake and drain complex over by the mouth of the Bernard, but the marsh in Freeport seemed sort of lifeless, plus the water was up pretty high, so I changed plans as I paddled along and instead made my way to deeper water over shell. The incoming tide was really pushing water over the reef. This particular stretch of hard live reef I staked out on is generally good for fish, mainly trout, on an incoming tide. Water was a nice green, maybe or not quite 2’ of visiblilty.
The presentation involved casting a paddle tail upwind and up current, letting it fall to the shell, lift up the rod tip, repeat. I was using 1/16 ounce jig heads and Assassins in Hammertime. I caught a lot of 13-14” trout. I had three keeper sized fish on. The first one was probably 21-22”, but my net got caught up in something, fish lost. Hooked another around 20” that spit the hook at the kayak. Landed a 17”. Saw one more good one that followed my paddle tail to the kayak. I lost one jig head to the shell.
I caught 5 redfish to about 19” caught a couple of small flounder, and one small sand trout. Everything in no less than 3’ of water, 4-5’ seemed to be the best zone. I repositioned several times. It would be either almost a fish every cast for a stretch then deadsville for a period, sort of a yo-yo between those.
Home by 5:30. Weather was great. Wind pretty light, Southeast. Didn’t see another soul fishing. Saw plenty of boats motor by. Talked to my commercial crabber friend Ernie. We almost always run into each other on the water in Freeport. Don’t steal his crabs, that really ticks him off. He said it had been slow fishing except at night under the lights. Good to get out. Mosquitoes were horrific. Bring some DEET.
The Freeport Area is as close as it gets. Marsh, creek, channels, drains, shell, mud, this is what is nearby. I wanted to fish the marsh lake and drain complex over by the mouth of the Bernard, but the marsh in Freeport seemed sort of lifeless, plus the water was up pretty high, so I changed plans as I paddled along and instead made my way to deeper water over shell. The incoming tide was really pushing water over the reef. This particular stretch of hard live reef I staked out on is generally good for fish, mainly trout, on an incoming tide. Water was a nice green, maybe or not quite 2’ of visiblilty.
The presentation involved casting a paddle tail upwind and up current, letting it fall to the shell, lift up the rod tip, repeat. I was using 1/16 ounce jig heads and Assassins in Hammertime. I caught a lot of 13-14” trout. I had three keeper sized fish on. The first one was probably 21-22”, but my net got caught up in something, fish lost. Hooked another around 20” that spit the hook at the kayak. Landed a 17”. Saw one more good one that followed my paddle tail to the kayak. I lost one jig head to the shell.
I caught 5 redfish to about 19” caught a couple of small flounder, and one small sand trout. Everything in no less than 3’ of water, 4-5’ seemed to be the best zone. I repositioned several times. It would be either almost a fish every cast for a stretch then deadsville for a period, sort of a yo-yo between those.
Home by 5:30. Weather was great. Wind pretty light, Southeast. Didn’t see another soul fishing. Saw plenty of boats motor by. Talked to my commercial crabber friend Ernie. We almost always run into each other on the water in Freeport. Don’t steal his crabs, that really ticks him off. He said it had been slow fishing except at night under the lights. Good to get out. Mosquitoes were horrific. Bring some DEET.