New Years Eve Redfish

[RidgeRunner]

Found them stacked up on one another and what a beautiful day it was at the mouth of the Suwannee River.
At the "Honey Hole" it took one cast each and my 75 yr old mom and I had our keeper Redfish. I mean, double hookup, (frozen bait) shrimp tipped jig that weren't even thawed out yet. A 20" and a 21". I swear the water was still running out the tell-tale of my 90 Johnson. We put the rods away and went back to the house. Went back to the same spot with my 79 yr old dad and my 8 yr old daughter. They caught their keepers within a few minutes with lots of fish in the slot and lots of just under the slot. That was my little ones first time catching a keeper red by herself. For dad, it was his first expedition where he actually practiced catch and release, AFTER he had his keeper in the livewell. He has never been too good about throwing fish back.
Pictures to follow.

[willy]

sounds great RR glad someone is out catching. looking forward to the pics

[phatdaddy]

My mom always told me whatever you do on new years day, you will do the rest of the year. looks like your in for a good year of fishing, me, i guess i'm going to be working in the yard

[RidgeRunner]

Yeah Phat, My mom has the same philosophy. Greens, black eyes, cornbread, prime rib so we made the same trip on New Years Day. It took a few more minutes to boat the keepers but the fishing was still excellent. If you have never been thoughrougly outdone by your 75 year old mother you don't know what you are missing. She caught the first two keepers before I got a bite, later she used her electric fillet knife and put me to shame cleaning two to my one, her technique is nothing short of surgical. God love her she is one of a kind. I am one lucky guy.

[Road King Cole]

that's not fishing...


that's catching!




Bring em on!

[redfish chaser]

RR, Please don't take this as bragging, just feeling really fortunate to have the fishing resources we have here in Louisiana. The week between christmas and new years 2009, I made 7 trips to one of my "honey holes" with varying amounts of souls aboard (5-people, 5-people, 3-people, 4-people, 2-people, 4-people, 3-people). We stayed legal on our keepers, limiting out all but one day. We hooked over 350 reds in those seven days usually having the limit in the icechest in 1 1/2 hours. Then catch and release till the arms went into muscle failure. I was able to get another christmas/new years trip in this year (2010), we found them stacked in another spot. Two adults, two twelve year olds and one ten year old limited out in two hours. There was no catch and release on this trip, we were whipped after putting our 25 legal reds in the box. They ranged from 24" - 26". I have been fishing that area for 36 years, I am 41 now, and that was the most beautiful stringer I ever saw. Plus the looks on those kids faces when they would say "got another one".

[RidgeRunner]

Hey, it ain't bragging when it is the truth. I love Cocodrie, been there a few times. The fishery there is fantastic. Reds, specks, ling, mangos, mahi, tuna you are lucky and I am jealous. Every time I have a good fishing day my buddy from Mississippi reminds me that the fishing in Florida kinda sucks compared to LA.

LA. limits- 5 Fish 16" to 27" with one allowed over.
Ours in FL is 1 Fish 18" to 27"

The best my mom and I ever did in a single day was 107 reds. Roughly half were in the slot.(None Over) I bought one of those lanyard mounted counters to keep track of the numbers and we rolled it over LOL.

There aren't many stringers of fish to take pics of when you only have a couple people onboard and the Fish Police won't let you keep them. BUT The look on the youngsters face... priceless..

I am sorry I haven't posted up a picture or two. The wife has the camera and the home computer just got replaced. There were 250 pictures on the camera the last I looked. Several years worth. I will get to it

Thanks for sharing.

[RidgeRunner]

Here is my buddy with a nice catch out of Grand Isle.Zi6_0674.jpg

Here is one at Cocodrie Inncocodrie,la and cobra 011.jpg
Liquid libation.

[redfish chaser]

I fish one settlement west of Cocodrie, it's called Dularge. We rent the REEL INN. We make one huge trip per year there with about 20 people and 8 boats. The guy who rents us the camp is a guide so since we are handing him a couple thousand $$$ in rental he points us in the right direction. We have a blast, we cook as much as we fish and drink more than we cook. Usually in June is our time, Specks are at the coastline and live shrimp although expensive are easy to get.
The pics are from various trips with friends and family. I own a camp in an area called Pecan Island. 6 miles inland from the gulf. We catch crabs, shrimp, reds, a few specks and whatever offshore fish I can reach. The v20 is gonna help me increase my offshore takings.
(pic 134) Me with a 37"
(pic 135) My mom in my honey Dec. 27,2009
(pic 139) My nephew, He seems happy with his catch
(pic 194) One of the 25 fish limits christmas 2009
(pic 346) My girlfriends son and friends, they hooked and reeled, I was the net man most of that trip
I involve as many kids in my fishing trips as I can, They are the future of the sport and I intend on heavy recruitment

[RidgeRunner]

Very nice catch. That is the best catch of reds I ever seen. I don't know that many youngsters or adults for that matter that I could stand to take in the boat all day fishing. More power to you. Then again with catchings like that...
Went out with capt. Joey Seeber, I think he is now with the Sportsman's Paradise, my buddy forgot the rods so he picked up three WallMart combos, no-name spinning reels with 12lb line and LD rods. The specks were no problem but we wrecked two out of three on big reds that day. Reds the size most west coast Florida fisherman dream of, like the ones in your photo.
I hear the east coast of Florida produces huge schools of giant reds.
Ever heard of Port-la-chaoux?