Dr.Shark and Awesome Redfishing

[Pope]

What a wonderful Thanksgiving, despite not being with Blake or the rest of my family. Instead, I spent the holiday surrounded God, his critters and hordes of redfish.

After making the journey to the coast (top secret location), which took 7 hours due to traffic, I was greeted with fresh sashimi and a glass of Chianti provided by Dr.Shark. We discussed the plan of attack for the next morning between bites and got ready by settling in for the evening. The next morning we took off to chase the reds in the skinny waters off the Texas coast (remember the location is top secret). No water! The tides are low and water is limited. Who cares? Noboby! We look to the drains and find plenty of redfish.

We mess around as he shows me his native waters and I take careful note of all the exposed shell. Soon we find ourselves in the drains and begin to pick up a few reds. Vance in not satisfied! “We need to find some real fish, lots of them,” pouts Vance. “Sit down, we are out of here. I have a few more places to look.” I oblige and we set off to look for reds in earnest.

We pull into a major drain and I watch Vance hook up before I get my rod out of the holder. Within minutes we have double limits of reds, but something happens before we load the box. Vance hooks a nice fish! “Do I need to get the net?” I ask. “I think so,” he replies. I ready the net as Vance guides a defeated red to the waiting mesh of nylon. As I watch the red draw closer I hear a thud on the deck and a huge splash. I turn to see white water. “Oh no, I am going to be have a hard time finding his body in the muddy water,” I think to myself. Just as the thought crosses my mind, I see a hand reach out of the water, like hand reaching from the grave and grab the gunnel. “Good, he is alive,” I say to myself. Then I see his rod and reel about to be pulled overboard. I grad the rod and look to see Vance rise from the depths. He starts to pull himself in the boat as I release the red. He is soaked! “We need to go back so I can get some clothes,” explained Vance. I make another cast and hook up despite the recent noise from a recent intruder.

I could tell he didn’t want to go with the reds stacked in the gut and eating whatever we threw at them. The next thing I knew Vance disrobed to reveal his old bare ass. I am laughing to myself as his old butt is standing on the deck completely nude. Vance begins rummaging through his dry storage and finally pulls a sweat shirt from a hatch. He is standing there studying the sweat shirt and I am wondering, “What the hell is he going to do with it?” He looked at it, turns it upside down, stepped into the arms of the shirt, draws it over his belly and used a belt to secure it tightly. I erupted into a hysterical fit of laughter. He looked up, grabbed his rod and began fishing. First cast and he hooks up with a sweat shirt hood hanging like a giant scrotum between his legs. It was hilarious!

Meanwhile, it gets warmer as the morning wears on and I am getting hot, plus we have caught over 50 reds by now which just made it worse. First, I pull off my jacket, next shirt and I finally ask, “Vance, will you get offended if I take my pants off and fish in my underwear?” He looks at me in a strange way. “This ain’t no damn Broke Back Mountain,” he says. “I know old man, look at you,” I replied. “I am hot and at this point who cares.” Therefore, we turned into the craziest looking set of fishermen on the water. You guys should have seen it. Vance and I just annihilated the reds standing on the deck barely clothed. I wish I had a camera. I boat with a husband and wife pulled up and started fishing further down the ditch from us. I know they must have been thinking, “Don’t ask don’t tell.”

The next day I took my boat and Vance took his. We ended up fishing in the mornings and meeting up for lunch before heading back out. Without a doubt we completely killed the reds everyday. I know we caught and released over a 100 redfish a piece the past three days, plus several trout and one jumbo flounder. It was awesome!

All fish were caught on plastic or topwaters. Skitterwalks jrs and TTK II jrs in roach would crush the reds. Thanks for the hospitality Vance! The food was excellent, laughs great and memories will last a lifetime.

[MrBill]

Great story. That's what I like about the great outdoors. Every trip is different and each one has a story. Glad you had fun and got on the water.

[wacker]

[/b] That was more than I needed to hear!!!

[SkeeterRonnie]

LOL!! Thats defiantely gonna stick in your head for awhile.. glad yall had fun, in the end- thats what it is all about.

[bpitcher]

Originally Posted by wacker

That was more than I needed to hear!!!

No kidding!

Glad you caught some fish, Brandon.

Brad

[Pope]

Thanks. Caught some fish is an understatement. We completely mopped up on the reds. I think I brought 52 filets home!

[Bret]

Cool Report Brandon!!!! sounds like load of fun.

[lite-liner]

I KNEW there was something wrong with that guy........JK!
Glad you caught some good fish.
-B

[Pope]

Here is a pic of the flounder. The red to the immediate left was 23"! Halibut is more like it.

[Minnow]

Great report.
That's big ass flounder, congrat.