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megalomaniac

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Joined
Oct 28, 2005
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Mississippi
Good grief, what a day!

Specks here and there, no every cast bite today. Bailed on them to look for reds, and went into some shallow drains. Saw a red tailing, threw to him and watched him eat. He had a buddy with him who didn't leave even as I was getting mine. Rinsed and repeated sightfishing reds in clear water 1.5ft deep. Caught 9 out of 10 (one i messed up on and threw too close to him and spooked him). Went back to specks and caught some more as well as some more incidental reds and a flounder.

Normally I only keep 1 red, but there were so many I decided to keep my limit (3) of 21 to 22in reds, released all the 24 to 25in ones.

In total, I ended up with 15 reds, 35 specks, and 1 flounder. Also lost a huge black drum right at the boat

I cannot imagine anything more fun than sightfishig reds when they are that hungry. Usually when I sight fishing them, I can only get about 1 out of 3 to bite. Not today, they made feel like I knew what I was doing!
 

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Took home 3 reds, 3 nice specks, and the flounder
 

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Cache said:
Awesome! You've been wearing them out lately.
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This is the time of the year when the fish move into the marsh (where I can reach them in my little microskiff) from offshore (where I will most certainly die in my little microskiff :) )

It just sucks that the very best fishing I can access happens to be right during deer season :(
 
7mm08 said:
Awesome day there. Congrats.

Those reds are working the fiddlers hard before it gets too cold and they go into the mud for hibernation.

What are you feeding those reds?
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I think it's hard to beat a paddletail on a jig. For sightfishing reds in skinny water, I prefer a 1/8 oz head, less splash. So windy yesterday I had to use a 1/4oz head.

Matrix shad is my preferred brand of paddletail, mostly because they are made a little over an hour away from me

For color, i just dont think you can beat 'tiger bait' when it comes to reds. It looks like nothing in nature, but for whatever reason reds hit it more frequently than natural colors.

I'm also a big believer in using the gold heads, but that is probably just psychological since we are all taught gold is a reds favorite color.

I will say this... I had real fears these lighter wire hooks were going to be a problem with reds when I started pouring them a few months ago. I was used to fishing with MUCH heavier wire hooks for years. But nothing I've hooked so far with the new heads has come close to straightening out the hook, and I get WAY better penetration with much less effort on hookset. Only lost 1 red and I assume a black drum.

The screw lock for the soft plastic on the shank is truly a game changer. I've literally caught over 100 fish on a single soft plastic, and don't have to push the bait back onto the head every other or 3rd fish like I used to.

In the pic, the bait has been chomped to heck, normally the hook would be more parallel to the body of the soft plastic.

I don't put scent on my baits, although I do think it may give an edge. Just dont feel like wasting time reapplying every 5 to 10 casts
 

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Oh.... and it was another day where I didn't see a single boat while fishing, even tho the launch was packed. Well, except for one poor fellow in a 21ft nautistar that followed me where he shouldn't have. He grounded his boat in 12in water during the hard falling tide. I thought he was going to have to wait it out for 12 hours until next high tide, but we got it off after 20 min. He will need a new impeller I'm sure...

That's the 4th boat I've seen run aground there. Such a strange sound... the combination of outboard revving combined with a bubbling gurgling noise as the prop buries itself and sand and mud slings out the propwash.
 
megalomaniac said:
I think it's hard to beat a paddletail on a jig. For sightfishing reds in skinny water, I prefer a 1/8 oz head, less splash. So windy yesterday I had to use a 1/4oz head.

Matrix shad is my preferred brand of paddletail, mostly because they are made a little over an hour away from me

For color, i just dont think you can beat 'tiger bait' when it comes to reds. It looks like nothing in nature, but for whatever reason reds hit it more frequently than natural colors.

I'm also a big believer in using the gold heads, but that is probably just psychological since we are all taught gold is a reds favorite color.

I will say this... I had real fears these lighter wire hooks were going to be a problem with reds when I started pouring them a few months ago. I was used to fishing with MUCH heavier wire hooks for years. But nothing I've hooked so far with the new heads has come close to straightening out the hook, and I get WAY better penetration with much less effort on hookset. Only lost 1 red and I assume a black drum.

The screw lock for the soft plastic on the shank is truly a game changer. I've literally caught over 100 fish on a single soft plastic, and don't have to push the bait back onto the head every other or 3rd fish like I used to.

In the pic, the bait has been chomped to heck, normally the hook would be more parallel to the body of the soft plastic.

I don't put scent on my baits, although I do think it may give an edge. Just dont feel like wasting time reapplying every 5 to 10 casts
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Thanks. Will look those up although I prefer flyfishing in skinny water.
 
megalomaniac said:
Oh.... and it was another day where I didn't see a single boat while fishing, even tho the launch was packed. Well, except for one poor fellow in a 21ft nautistar that followed me where he shouldn't have. He grounded his boat in 12in water during the hard falling tide. I thought he was going to have to wait it out for 12 hours until next high tide, but we got it off after 20 min. He will need a new impeller I'm sure...

That's the 4th boat I've seen run aground there. Such a strange sound... the combination of outboard revving combined with a bubbling gurgling noise as the prop buries itself and sand and mud slings out the propwash.
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If you ain't been stuck you ain't fishing……

At least there are no thunderstorms now
 
7mm08 said:
If you ain't been stuck you ain't fishing……

At least there are no thunderstorms now
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Raises hand slowly. I learned "Red Right Returning" the hard way on a sand bar at Duck Key in the Key's... lol... Y'all shoulda heard my wife when she was helping me while skates were skimming across the bar and then a shark swimming by.... I'm so glad the boat came free right then because she was outta the water fast...lol
 
7mm08 said:
Order 3 8 packs.

You and SCN are going to make me have to go back to work!!!!!
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You save a couple bucks if you order the 25 pack instead of three of the 8 packs!

And specks will hit them just fine... in fact, I'm a HUGE believer in adding just a touch of chartreuse dye to the tip of the tail on all of my paddletails that don't already have chartreuse on them. Maybe psychological as well, but I've seen too many live shrimp swimming around that have chartreuse tails in real life.

This color is 'green hornet'. It's one of my staples when going more natural later in winter when fish are primarily feeding on minnows after the shrimp are gone. I just touched the end of the paddletail to the inside cap of the dye solution bottle to stain the last 1/8in of the lure.

Prob good for smallmouth as well.


Oh, and these Baits are much cleaner out of the pack... they just got chewed on a bunch yesterday. Reminds me, need to retie both before next trip, flouro leader is a bit chafed.
 

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And while you are at it... look into 'Magneto' color... that one is impossible to beat in really clear water, esp if there are shrimp around. 'Holy Joley' is also a home run in clear to slightly stained water
 
megalomaniac said:
You save a couple bucks if you order the 25 pack instead of three of the 8 packs!

And specks will hit them just fine... in fact, I'm a HUGE believer in adding just a touch of chartreuse dye to the tip of the tail on all of my paddletails that don't already have chartreuse on them. Maybe psychological as well, but I've seen too many live shrimp swimming around that have chartreuse tails in real life.

This color is 'green hornet'. It's one of my staples when going more natural later in winter when fish are primarily feeding on minnows after the shrimp are gone. I just touched the end of the paddletail to the inside cap of the dye solution bottle to stain the last 1/8in of the lure.

Prob good for smallmouth as well.


Oh, and these Baits are much cleaner out of the pack... they just got chewed on a bunch yesterday. Reminds me, need to retie both before next trip, flouro leader is a bit chafed.
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You mean like this? Ha!

1729440377782.webp
 
megalomaniac said:
And while you are at it... look into 'Magneto' color... that one is impossible to beat in really clear water, esp if there are shrimp around. 'Holy Joley' is also a home run in clear to slightly stained water
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Dang it Bobby!!! One color at a time ! I don't want the guys at Salt Strong and Z man to suddenly go out of business!!!!

I wore out the reds couple of weeks ago under their new PRAWNstar Cajun Cricket and a cork! Works do good they are " out of stock " on them….
 
7mm08 said:
Dang it Bobby!!! One color at a time ! I don't want the guys at Salt Strong and Z man to suddenly go out of business!!!!

I wore out the reds couple of weeks ago under their new PRAWNstar Cajun Cricket and a cork! Works do good they are " out of stock " on them….
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I just can't fish a cork. It works great, but I love to feel the bite itself and not stare at a cork.

Going to try tiny Ned rigs on bottom with light tackle this winter to see how they work in upper 40deg water temps.
 

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