Report Date: August 26, 2004

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Yesterday and today Capt. R.J. Messmer and I had the pleasure of fishing with Eric, Mike, Bill, and Dave from Memphis, Tenn. The guys made it clear that they did not really care what they caught as long as they caught fish. With that in mind, We decided to give them a real treat and head out for some big Bull Redfish on top waters. This time of the year if you find big schools of baitfish in the outer bays, it is almost certain that the big bulls will not be far behind. Heading down river I noticed that there was a little stiffer breeze than I had initially thought, but I figured it would lie down when the sun came up and allow us to get in on some hot action. Sure enough, the wind did quit, and when the tide started to fall, it was all the big bulls the guys could ask for on top water. I almost forgot to mention that Eric was a fly fishing fanatic and that he had asked me if it would be o.k. to bring his fly rod along just in case the opportunity presented itself. Well, was he glad he did. He had a ball watching those 15-30 ld. red coming up and engulfing his popping bugs at the boat. Talk about excitement. All the guys ended the day saying how awesome the trip was and that they had never caught so many big fish in 1 day, much less on top waters.

Today Capt. R.J. and I had the same group. The guys decided that they wanted to try to catch some of those big bulls again on top waters, but that they would also love to catch some eating sized reds to bring back to Memphis. We headed back to the same location that had produced so good for us yesterday, and proceeded to drift along the flats looking for the signs of big bull redfish. It was very calm and you could see bait fish flipping everywhere, so I knew that the red fish had to be around. We hooked several good fish with both the fly rod and the spinning rod, but the bite never did get as crazy as it did yesterday. The conditions were perfect, except for a big thunderstorm blocking the sun, which made it impossible for me to see the big reds cruising just under the surface. The guys did well, each hooking several fish before we decided to head off in search of come small keeper reds. It only took 1 stop and about 2 hours for the guys in both boats to fill their limit with nice 20-26" reds. All the smaller fish were caught sight fishing along the flats. Looking for bait fish was the key.