Fishing can be a great birthday gift!
For years, it has been a tradition for my son, Elliott, and I to fish together on my birthday. However, now that Elliott lives in Japan, my brother, David, has picked up the tradition. So, on my birthday we launched the Pathfinder and set off in search of fish. Idling away from the boat landing, I asked David what fish he felt like targeting. He said it was my birthday so I should decide. Without much thought, bull redfish became my birthday target species.
After a quick run to the jetties, I spot locked the Pathfinder within casting distance of the rocks. The outgoing tide was creating current seams as it passed between gaps in the rocks. We cast Z-Man 4-inch Jerk ShadZ on 3/8-ounce jigs into the current seams. Our most productive casts were literally right on top of the rocks. The current was strong enough to sweep the lures off the rocks and into deeper water. Speckled trout, weakfish, bluefish and ladyfish were crushing our lures as they bounced down the rocks. This technique caught a lot of fish, but we also caught a lot of rocks. If you give this technique a try, bring lots of jigs and lures!
The bite was hot with a wide variety of species, except bull reds. So, I set the trolling motor on a track parallel to the rocks and we began casting our lures to fishy looking places that we passed. We continued to catch weakfish and bluefish. The bulls reds were elusive. Then, we passed over an area that was slightly deeper and I could see big fish on the side scan sonar. On my first cast into the deeper area, an upper slot redfish ate my lure. The redfish bite was steady. However, none of the reds were bulls. After releasing several, we left them biting to seek out my birthday bull redfish. As it turned out, I never caught one, but David released a couple of nice ones.
On the ride back to the boat landing, Elliott called to wish me a happy birthday. I stopped the boat and put him on speaker. David told him to come back soon because he was getting tired of carrying me. We all had a good laugh. It was a very happy birthday.
Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.