DaParson's Fishing Adventures

Last year about this time, Dr. Jim Barksdale, a long time friend of mine, came fishing. We talked him down from Sulphar Springs - and took him and Danny Webb out to the Jetty today. Danny hooked the first Bull Red of the day. It was beautifully colored and put up a good fight. We fished an strong outgoing tide - with water clarity crystal clear at the end of the jetty - but stained further in. It turned out to be an incredible frustrating day. We were surrounded by fish - but caught very few. People were slaying the Spanish Mackerel at the end of the North Jetty. But we did not have any shrimp - and they wouldn't take spoons. We chased schools of Bonita as they thrashed the surface past the end of the North Jetty - had several strong strikes and runs - only to loose spoons and have fish pull loose - we didn't land any. We also had several runs with Reds - only to have them drop the bait after the initial run. Just one of those days!

Here was the first Red that Dr. Barksdale caught. It was shortly after this that we moved towards the end of the North Jetty. Everybody was catching Spanish Mackerel. We noticed several schools of fish thrashing the water out past the Jetty Poll - so we went and tried to catch some. We were told they were Bonita. The swarmed over the water - we threw spoons at them - hooked several - most of them came loose - some broke the line - but we did not put any in the boat. Still - it was something none of us had ever seen before.

Danny somehow caught this Bull Red. It was the largest of the day. On the day, Danny caught 2 Bull Reds, hooked up with several Bonita, and lost something that almost spooled him. We assumed it was a Jack Caravelle. Danny did a good job fishing .... but ask him about the last bite of the day! (grin)

Dr. Barksdale was fighting a nice Bull Red. Using the Shimano Baitrunner was a new experience for him - he really liked the dual drag feature.

This is the second Bull Red of the day for Dr. Barksdale. All in all - a pretty frustrating day at the Jetties.

We were able to take out Ronnie Jacoby (my brother-in-law) and his son Dillon out to the Jetty today for some Bull Red action. It was a beautiful day - first day after a full moon - the tide was outgoing strong - and the water was fairly clear. This is the first Bull Red that Dillon caught.

Here is Ronnie fighting his first Bull Red of the day. 

This is the first Bull Red that Ronnie caught. 

This is the second Red that Dillon caught. For some reason today - I think we were jinxed - we had 5 lines snap while fighting fish. Not on the same rod - but rather on 3 different rods. As best as I can figure - there was an extremely strong outgoing tide making the bait difficult to keep on the bottom. Each of these lines had smaller weights that needed more line out to keep them on the bottom. With the current - the lines twisted around itself and when the strike happened - the monofilliment snapped. That was the only common denominator between the line breakage. All of the lines with 6oz weights fared fine.

Ronnie caught this Red in about 27ft of water. All Reds were caught on cut shad fished on the bottom. 

It was a beautiful day at the Jetty. After a late start - I went to Dads and Donuts at Nathan's (my youngest son) school - we fished for a while in some really dirty water. At that point we couldn't move further out because of the wind and waves. Later in the day we were able to move out further toward the end - but still it was kinda bumpy. The water was 78 degrees - and there was weak tidal movement. On the day, we caught about 15 Bull Reds - 1 three-foot blacktip shark and a couple of gafftop and hardhead. All was cut on cut shad. This first fish I caught on Dewey's Pole. I was sitting next to it - talking with Dewey - when it went off. I grabbed it - tried to hand it to Dewey - and he just looked at him - made no attempt to get the rod. Well! You didn't have to tell me twice!!! Might have been his rod - but it was MY FISH! (laughing) Dewey may tell some variation of this story - but mine is accurate! (grin)

This was one of the Bull Reds that Wayne Hamilton caught. Dewey and I have fished with Wayne on his boat - we went offshore with him back in August. It was much much cooler today! It is always a joy to fish with Wayne! 

Dewey caught a 3 foot Blacktip Shark and 3 Bull Reds on the day. He also caught a hardhead ... but we only keep track of "real fish." (grin) 

Wayne caught 5 Bull Reds on the day. This was one of his larger ones. 

This was the last of the Bull Reds we caught on the day. This Bull had a beautiful coloring to him. One the day I caught 7 Bull Reds - all between 39 - 46 inches.