October 18, 2005 - Red Snapper, Redfish, Spanish Mackeral and Trout

After a long day at work, starting at 5:30 in the morning, the lure of a flat ocean was just too much. At 3:00 Michael, Shawn and I decided we had worked long enough for the day and left to go fishing. By 3:30 we were on the water and out at a rig 25 miles off by 4:15.



The seas were very calm, around 1 foot, and we had clear skys. Total bag for the day was very good considering we only fished for an hour and 45 minutes. Michael got his first keeper redfish (2 to be exact) and 2 red snapper.





I was able to get in 1 red snapper, 2 spanish mackeral and one nice sand trout. All the fish were caught on squid except the mackeral, which went for Spanish Sardines that were freelined.

The lesson of the day though came as soon as we got to the rig. Upon our initial inspection of the area we saw some fish tailing in the water. At first we thought they were stupid spadefish, but we realized that they were too large. We decided to try trolling by a couple passes with jet heads, but it only appeared to break up the school and did not get a strike.

After Michael pulled in his first redfish minutes later it finally struck me what we had witnessed. It was a school of redfish on the top of the water. I had noticed a faint orangish/red color glimmer through the water, but I never would have thought we'd find a school of reds 25 miles offshore. Someone should have warned this newbie that redfish can be found so far out.