I hit the road around 2:30 pm. Traffic was lite this Sunday afternoon. First, I stopped off at Academy for a quick item. Next, I stopped at the Buc-ee's down toward Galveston (Exit 17). For those of you that are unaware, exit 17 is closed. You have to get off an exit before and ride the feeder road until you arrive at Buc-ee's. I had already filled up on fuel the day before so no need for diesel. I did go in to use the restroom and to grab some food and coffee. From here I made my way toward the island. I don't normally use live bait most of the year but something was telling me to pick some up just in case. I stopped off at Smitty's right off of the feeder road once you get on the island. Smitty's had plenty of live shrimp.
I use a Bait Butler to hold my bait. For those of you that are not aware of what a Bait Butler is, put the words "Bait Butler" into the Amazon search engine and it will pop up. This is perfect for the kayak angler. Everything can be done with one hand. You can also purchase these at Fishing Tackle Unlimited, Amazon, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's, and a few other shops. If you want to know more on this, feel free to call my cell anytime and I will be happy to discuss this with you. 832-588-7091
Continuing with the night fishing trip, I got my bait and headed on my way. By the time I arrived at the launch spot, it was plenty dark. Usually I find that if you wait awhile instead of hitting the lights immediately when it gets dark, the bigger fish will come out to play. Finally, I am ready to hit the water and it's 7:05 pm. The first set of lights I come to I cast and managed a small spec trout onto the kayak. It's not a keeper but at least I start the night with no skunk. The night conditions were supposed to be no rain, 6 - 10 mph of wind, and good tidal movement with air temps in the upper 50s. Instead, I get no rain, 0 - 3 mph of wind, not much tidal movement, and the air temps were spot on for the night. I was concerned about the lack of tidal movement but you will see later how that all worked out.
As I moved on, I went down another alley. I saw some fish in the lights so I decided it was worth casting at. I had four rods with me this trip. Three of the rods had artificial and the other was set up for live bait. Just to give you heads up, the fishing was so good with live bait this night that all I used through the entire night was live shrimp. The way I had it rigged is as such. From my main line of 20 lb Yo-Zuri braid, I connected a 4.5 ft leader of 20 lb Segar flouro to the main line with an Alberto knot. From there I tie on a size 8 Owner treble hook. Next, I go up 6" from the hook and tie an overhand knot. Just on top of that knot I will put a bee bee weight (split shot). The reason for this is so that my split shot will not move up and down the line causing it to frey when fighting a fish. From the hook go up 18" - 24" and I will place a Comal float on. The kind of float I am talking about is sold at Academy. They are sold three in a pack. Each float is approximately 3" - 4" long. Each side of the float has a peg. One of the pegs is regular and the other is weighted. The weighted side inserts on the bottom of the float. I take one of the barbs of the treble hook and run it through the horn area of the shrimp. Finally, you toss the line past the light and slowly bring it into the light. If there are fish in the light, that float will go under fairly quick. Usually you can see the fish come up to ambush it.
My second fish to take my line came up out of nowhere. Once it went under I started to reel in while setting the hook with reasonable force, nothing heavy or too lite. After fighting this fish, I got it in the net and realized it was a sheepshead. I usually don't find sheepshead at this location but it was a keeper and I was not going to turn it away. As strange as it was, all five back to back catches in this one alley were sheepshead and all keepers. That limit came really fast! From there, I went in pursuit of red fish and trout. It seemed that the trout and reds came later in the night. The slower the tidal movement, the better the fishing. I know what some of you are thinking and I was just as confused as well.
Eventually, I hit a light where every fish in it was a keeper red. I would have to say there was around at least 10 or more reds in this particular light. I just needed to make sure I made the perfect cast so as to not spook the fish. I casted and it was successful. I slowly moved the juicy shrimp into the light and not even a second went by before the float went under. All the fish scattered because of the fish I have on the line. The fish went for the dock. I put the mirage drive in reverse as well as tightened up the drag and worked this fish from going into the dock. After some careful navigating I managed to keep the fish out of the dock without me being pulled into the light and I landed a nice red fish.
I finally have my first red in the fish bag. I don't use stringers when I night fish due to sharks. I run a fish bag on the front of my kayak. Since it's cold out and usually will run 10 lbs of ice in the bag. Now there is 10 lbs of ice, some sheepshead, and a nice red fish.
I continue to head to another alley and just on the outside, there is another light which usually holds good fish. Sometimes this light will hold trout and other times it will be red fish. You just never know until you arrive at the light and see for yourself. As I approached it, I see some red fish in there. I repeat the same process and I ended up with success, another red fish goes into the fish bag.
As I went into some other alleys I managed a few trout. The two trout I landed are 19" and 20". Trout were hard to find. Many times I would see some good lights with fish in them but when I casted, no matter how far I threw past the light, the fish would spook. The fish were very skittish. Even when you got a good cast in if you didn't drag your line into the light slow enough, that would spook the fish. The movement through the water of your line was just enough sometimes to scare away the fish.
I thought to myself at this point, I have two trout, two reds, and a limit of sheepshead. That's a good night of fishing. I decided to not stay up the duration of the night trying to find a limit of trout and reds but if they happen to find me as I was working my way back to the launch, who am I to ignore them. lol
In the light where I caught my first red fish, time had past enough to where the fish were back in the light again. Once more I duplicated the same casting series I did the last time I was at this light. Before you know it I have another fish on. This was a bigger red fish. I just needed to land this one last red fish for a limit. I took my time and didn't yank it in. I got my net and the rest was history. I now have a limit of red fish. I lacked three trout from a limit. I wasn't even bothered at this point about that. I had a limit of reds, sheepshead, and a few trout. I was beyond happy! I went straight back to the launch. Once I got loaded up, I hit the road. I stopped to get some coffee along the way. This worked out nicely because I needed to walk around for a few minutes so that I wouldn't get tired. I got home around 4:00 am. I got some sleep and woke up around 10:00 am. I cleaned my fish the next day.
What a wonderful night on the water. I couldn't of asked for a better night. Next time I call you to go fishing, you may want to answer that call. lol Sorry for the late report. Life had me tied up but I did want to share with everyone so that you guys know that night fishing isn't just a summer thing. It's a winter thing as well. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. Stay warm and tight lines!!
