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High Island 10/4/14 -- Bull Red Run
Had a great day at High Island this past Saturday! Ended up catching and releasing 32 bull reds and 2 nice sharks between 5 and 6 feet. Everyone in the kayak group caught a bunch of reds.
Arrived to the beach around 7:00 AM and saw a couple shrimp boats about ½ mile out. Surf conditions while paddling out were not too bad considering the winds were cranking out of the NE around 20-25 mph. I paddled out to about 8-9 feet and found some shad popping around me, so I anchored there and didn’t move the whole day. It was a rodeo out there. Seas were choppy with that occasional large “spilling” wave that would get me a little nervous especially while fighting a fish. The bite was slow in the early morning, which may have been due to the shrimp boats that were trawling the area. Landed 6 bull reds by about mid morning, then around 10:00 AM the bite turned on!
The next few hours consisted of many doubles and some stubborn, hard fighting bull reds that would not give up. Average soak time for the bait was less than a minute, in some cases it was hit instantly when nearing the bottom.
Rough nearshore waters had the bull reds biting good!
Big red with a big mouth
Even caught one that was almost a slot red
These fish had some cool looking spot patterns on the tail
A few of the many doubles
Around 1:30 PM, I noticed a color change line in the water further offshore. It was quickly approaching and eventually moved in to where I was at. Water conditions went from dirty to about 3 feet visibility. Also, the shrimp boats made a pass nearby. I continued to catch bull reds for the next 30 minutes, but had a feeling the sharks would eventually show up. Right on cue, I hook up with one that dumped 200 yards of line before I could put the brakes on it. The fight went on for about 30 minutes. As I’m fighting this fish around the kayak and avoiding my anchor rope, all hell breaks loose as my other line starts screaming. I continued to battle the 1st shark which was around 5.5’-6’ and quickly took a couple pictures. The pictures don’t do this fish any justice. This shark was a fatty with a huge head.
Turn my attention to my other reel that stopped screaming and was slacked up. I thought the fish came off but soon found it had swam back towards me and was lurking underneath my kayak. This fish eventually tangled up in my anchor rope which I managed to get undone. After another tug of war battle around the kayak, it surfaced and was a slightly smaller shark around 5’-5.5’.
After landing 32 bull reds and those 2 sharks, I was exhausted and paddled back in around 4 PM. The weather turned out to be beautiful in the afternoon with light winds and flat surf.
Arrived to the beach around 7:00 AM and saw a couple shrimp boats about ½ mile out. Surf conditions while paddling out were not too bad considering the winds were cranking out of the NE around 20-25 mph. I paddled out to about 8-9 feet and found some shad popping around me, so I anchored there and didn’t move the whole day. It was a rodeo out there. Seas were choppy with that occasional large “spilling” wave that would get me a little nervous especially while fighting a fish. The bite was slow in the early morning, which may have been due to the shrimp boats that were trawling the area. Landed 6 bull reds by about mid morning, then around 10:00 AM the bite turned on!
The next few hours consisted of many doubles and some stubborn, hard fighting bull reds that would not give up. Average soak time for the bait was less than a minute, in some cases it was hit instantly when nearing the bottom.
Rough nearshore waters had the bull reds biting good!
Big red with a big mouth
Even caught one that was almost a slot red
These fish had some cool looking spot patterns on the tail
A few of the many doubles
Around 1:30 PM, I noticed a color change line in the water further offshore. It was quickly approaching and eventually moved in to where I was at. Water conditions went from dirty to about 3 feet visibility. Also, the shrimp boats made a pass nearby. I continued to catch bull reds for the next 30 minutes, but had a feeling the sharks would eventually show up. Right on cue, I hook up with one that dumped 200 yards of line before I could put the brakes on it. The fight went on for about 30 minutes. As I’m fighting this fish around the kayak and avoiding my anchor rope, all hell breaks loose as my other line starts screaming. I continued to battle the 1st shark which was around 5.5’-6’ and quickly took a couple pictures. The pictures don’t do this fish any justice. This shark was a fatty with a huge head.
Turn my attention to my other reel that stopped screaming and was slacked up. I thought the fish came off but soon found it had swam back towards me and was lurking underneath my kayak. This fish eventually tangled up in my anchor rope which I managed to get undone. After another tug of war battle around the kayak, it surfaced and was a slightly smaller shark around 5’-5.5’.
After landing 32 bull reds and those 2 sharks, I was exhausted and paddled back in around 4 PM. The weather turned out to be beautiful in the afternoon with light winds and flat surf.
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