Summers End

As I post this report, it is the last day of Summer.  Tomorrow officially kicks off fall, but honestly, we've been getting a pretty good taste of it already.  Not only have we seen some cooler days and NE winds, but we have already seen the arrival of some of our favorite species.  Before we jump headfirst into fall fishing, I wanted to take a look back at our summer inshore season.

We had some early summer hot days with air temps pushing a hundred degrees.  In the past, the hottest I've ever seen the inshore water temp, was 91 degrees.  That's enough to push the redfish off the shallow flats and make them lethargic.  Imagine how tough it was when I saw water temps hit 94 degrees this summer.  I put my hand in the water, and it made me nauseous.  Fortunately, it was short lived and pretty soon the Redfish returned to the shallow flats.

Good eyes and catlike reflexes paid off for Greg.

We had our fair share of rainfall this summer which kept the water stained and sometimes just plain muddy.  If the water was low enough, we could still pick out sight fishable reds a few feet in front of the boat.  If the water was high and muddy, we relied heavily on gurgler flies and walk the dog style plugs to find the reds along the grassy shorelines.

Net man getting it done.

We had a good size range of redfish this summer, from 18" up to 30".  In some spots we would have mixed size groups, while other locations would have fish that were all the same size.

Skitterwalks at high tide always produce.

I love Redfish "firsts"!

Another Gurgler crusher.

Back ya go.

I spent some time with great repeat clients, and we had a fun time chasing reds.  I also got to fish with some wonderful anglers for the first time, and I hope to see them again down the road.

Afternoon topwater red.

Back into the drink.

Panic at the Disco-Shrimp.

I'll just say I became a big believer in this little foam fly this year.  I generally shy away from topwater flies for my anglers, because most of them struggle getting enough distance with them.  Between dirty water and lots of high-water days this year, gurgler style flies saved us more than one day.

Yellow eyes.

The release.

Another first.

Pretty red, sight casted just a few feet of the bow.

As the summer season wore on, we had a ton of shrimp show up in the marshes.  Late August and early September, the reds absolutely started crushing the shrimp.  This led to some amazing low tide action with reds acting in ways I haven't seen in years.  There were a few days when I just had to stop and look around at the wakes, muds and splashes as big reds busted shrimp in inches of water.

I'm all Albies for the next few months.  After that I will be running some more Redfish charters in December.  When I reach December 31st, I will have completed two full years of 100% catch and release on Redfish.  I don't have a problem with people keeping fish, I only have a problem with waste.  I'm proof that someone can make a full time living as a fishing guide, while releasing 95% of the fish we catch throughout the year.  I hope I see more anglers and guides following this path in the future.

#makeconservationcool

Well, that brings my summer of Redfish to a close.  The Redfish aren't done, but I'm done with them for a while.  Time to turn my full attention to Albies and other nearshore species.  Redfish, I love ya, and I'll see you again in December.