by John Kumiski
The waterfront mansions glowed regally in the early morning light as we ran past them, north up the Intracoastal Waterway, on to our hoped-for rendezvous with redfish. Capt. Seth Vernon, of Wilmington, North Carolina, was running the Beavertail. His friend, Capt. Eddie Stuart, was riding shotgun. I was just there as the camera guy.
The tide was high when we got to the marsh, and Seth was complaining. "I never catch fish when it's like this," he said. And other than a very aggressive pinfish, we didn't get any, either. "We try to fish the flats on the moderate tides and the low tides," Seth said. "When our fish get in the grass in five feet of water they get real deep into it and are almost impossible to fish. We probably won't get anything until well into the outgoing tide."
We kept looking though, up a couple of lovely little tidal creeks. We saw a lot of mullet, and plenty of blue crabs, but only a couple of redfish crossed our path and we didn't connect with either. Seth kept telling me about the local redfishing. "We have resident schools of fish. There are certain habitats that always hold fish here, as long as they haven't been heavily fished or netted out. Depending on the season there might be 100 or more fish, or only 12 or 15. When the bait is concentrated so are the fish, and vice versa.
"The dolphins here do a lot of patrolling, but they can only get up on our flats at the highest tides, which might explain why the fish get so far back in the grass then. The flats slope so gently and so long that at normal water levels the dolphins just can't get up there. Because of this we find fish on the flats all year, regardless of the water temperature. In the summer the water will be 90 degrees and they're still up there, feeding. Overfishing and commercial netting are the only things that will move those fish off the flats.
"We usually fish the bottom half of the falling tide or the first half of the rising tide. The fish seem to be most active then, and they're much easier to see. Things that I look for are typical redfish behaviors- fish that are tailing or pushing in shallow water, fish that are cruising or schooled up and pushing bait.
"A lot of times the fish are there and you can't see them until they flash, when they roll on their side. That lets us know they're there in dirty water.
"If the water is clean we just pole in areas where they fish have been holding. If they were there on a certain tide today, they're going to be there on that same tide tomorrow, unless someone overfishes them or commercially nets them. Our fish use the same areas year after year after year- the same flats always hold fish. The fish that stay on docks, they are always in that same area.
"I usually just pole a lot of water after looking at aerial photos, nautical charts, even topographic quads. I pick likely looking areas and then hunt for fish there. In Texas where I grew up most guys use the 'redfish rodeo' method, which I don't approve of. They run the flats looking to hump up schools of fish. I won't do that. Some guys use a trolling motor and zigzag the flat at high speed, looking to spook the fish. Then they anchor up and wait for the fish to come back. I don't do that either.
"I prefer to have the sublime experience of hunting for and finding the fish and maybe getting six fish, instead of only getting one, or two, or none, because they were nervous and spooked.
"Sometimes nature tells you the fish are there. When I see a congregation of gulls and pelicans, I know that the reds are pushing bait up so the birds can get them. We usually have to go and hunt the schools, though.
"There are several flies we like to use here. Umpqua's Rattle Mullet is one, and Weber's Rattle Shrimp in gold and brown is another. The Flexo Crab and the Velcro Crab are wonderful crab patterns. Murdoch's Wiggler is a new fly from Umpqua that likewise works very well. Tim Borski ties some wonderful patterns. The Bonefish Slider works great. I like his Chernobyl Redfish fly, too. Bunny fur flies work beautifully. The Spoon Minnow from Kreel Tackle works very well. That's a fist full of flies that we use."
Of course all this time Seth and Eddie were hunting, and the tide was falling. They found a school of about 75 fish in a tidal creek, fish that were feeding aggressively. Seth tossed a fly into them and got immediate gratification. After Seth boated his fish, Eddie took a turn and was quickly rewarded too. It continued for almost an hour, and then we were done.
On the way back the mansions weren't glowing any more, but my companions sure were. A great morning's fishing will do that to you. To contact Seth Vernon call 910-233-4520, or email sethvernon@hotmail.com, or
visit www.doublehaulguideservice.com.
During my visit to Wilmington I stayed at the Harbor Inn, on the water in Wrightsville Beach. It's nice. Reach them at 910.256.9402, or at www.wrightsvilleharborinn.com.
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This article was written by John Kumiski of John Kumiski Outdoors and Travel. Contact him at his website www.johnkumiski.com or via email at john@spottedtail.com. Copyright 2007 John Kumiski.
John Kumiski 's most recent fishing guidebooks are How and Where to Catch Redfish in the Indian River Lagoon System (Argonaut Publishing Company), and Fishing Florida's Space Coast (Argonaut Publishing Company).
John Kumiski's newest book is Redfish on the Fly- A Comprehensive Guide.
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