When fishing with friends, it doesn’t matter what you catch

They say you are judged by the company you keep. This week, I fished with Ron Silverman and Fred Danzinger. So (for once) the judges should give me pretty high marks. Given the opportunity, I would fish with these guys every day. However, our schedules only allow us to fish together once or twice a year. So it was good to have Ron and Fred aboard my skiff on Friday.
Our plan was to target Trout during the last of the falling tide and then switch to Redfish as the tide began to rise. Upon our arrival at the first fishing spot (a small marsh drain) the water was 72 degrees and clear but slightly stained with tannin. Given the conditions, we each selected Z-Man MinnowZ lure colors that were more visible in the stained water. Fred chose Houdini. Ron selected Opening Night. I decided on Pearl.
Once rigged, we took turns casting our lures into the marsh drain and letting them bounce them along the bottom. Every so often, a Trout would eat one of our lures. The bite was kind of slow, so we moved to another location (a deep creek channel with lots of oysters). At this location, the fish had a distinct preference for Ron’s Opening Night color and he caught and released a couple of nice Trout. While the bite was better, it was still not the hot bite I was hoping for. With the tide bottoming out, we turned out attention to Redfish.
While in transit to the Redfish flats, I noticed a float being towed by a fish (that must have broken off during the fight). We decided to try and catch the float so we could release the fish (which is easier said than done). Surprisingly, it only took a few casts to catch the float (and the nice size Trout that was towing it around). With our good deed done, it was back to the Reds.
Fred had the hot hand (and lure) when it came to catching Redfish. Ron also released a couple of good ones. We never really found the hot bite but we had a pretty good day. Then again, they are all good days when you are fishing with your friends.
Contact Capt. Greg at: captgregp@gmail.com and (843) 224-0099.