After suffering through about 10 days of sub-freezing temperatures and no fishing, I was about to go stir crazy. It was still on the cool side this morning when I launched at the North End, but the sun was coming up and there was only a slight breeze. I had acquired a smorgasbord of bait comprised of live shrimp, finger mullet and a hand full of fiddler crabs with the intention of trying some new spots. The tide was low and coming in so I quietly trolled some shallow areas near Tiger Island looking for any any Redfish wakes. The wakes I saw were HUGE, but made by dolphin as they pushed up into a creek, and then back out again. Finding some downed trees, I anchored up and experimented with live shrimp and fiddler crabs, either on a jig or under a float. I soon had a bite that took my shrimp under a float, so I quickly baited up and tossed it back to the same location. The cork disappeared and the fight was on! After a number of powerful pulls, the fish gave up and came to my waiting net, a 20" Sheepshead. I had no more real bites so I moved on and ended up down below Shave Bridge in a small creek. Again I anchored and used both jig and float rigs. The float rig was the ticket and I soon had a bite, and lost my shrimp. I tossed another to the same spot, hooked up, and boated another 18" Sheepshead. Thinking I might just catch a mess of Sheeps, I tossed another bait, saw my cork disappear and soon realized THIS was a fight! The fish "pulled drag" down the creek a few times, then crossed the creek and ran up into the marsh grass and as I worked him (or her?) out I saw it roll and it's tail came out of the water...a large Redfish! He went in and out of the grass trying to shake the hook but I kept the pressure on, eventually boating the fish, weighing in at 12lbs and measuring 31". On the way back to the ramp I was treated to a sighting of a larger Osprey perched on a dead tree. Now that's a great day out on the water!
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