I was a little groggy this morning for no particular reason. Then I realized it was August 1. This is when it always hits me. I’ve been up early and fishing hard through the extra-long days for three months straight. They don’t call August the dog days for nothing. I could have easily laid back in my bed and slept another couple hours, but there was no way I was going to. Today Jako Lucas was poling Brian Iannacchione and I on the Texas flats to try and catch a species neither of us have caught, the sheepshead.
The day, the boat ride, were spectacular. There wasn’t a cloud. If there was anything to bicker about it would be that it was too calm. When its calm on the flats fish can hear you coming and they can see you casting. Its hard to finesse a fish in shallow water under such conditions. But we worked it slow and eased our way along the sand against a grassy bank.
The grassy banks are sheepshead country but they also hold plenty of redfish. Reds are super fun and in comparison to other flats species such as bonefish, triggerfish or permit, they’re easy. Reds are very cooperative and it didn’t take long for Brian to go tight on the first of a big school of them.
After we released Brians I took the bow and we found the school of reds again. I squandered a couple casts but they were hungry. On my third good shot I finally hooked up. But it didn’t last, the red came unbuttoned. I didn’t have my game.
I had fair shots so it was Brians turn again. Brian was hot. He stuck another. I blew another. Then he got his third red before I finally landed my first of the day. More coffee please!
I finally kicked it into gear. It was about time. Both Brian and I got some shots at sheepshead. But I’ll tell you right now, they are tough. “Sheepies”, as locals like to call them, are extremely spooky. They eat crabs but are selective. And they’re hard to hook. Their mouths are full of human-like teeth with few areas to perch a hook. We didn’t get that far; we couldn’t get a single sheepie to eat.
We each picked up another flats species while hunting sheep’s. We caught black drum. This is a fish that gets ginormous. I landed a brute in Louisiana during the Yeti Invitational Ambassador tournament in 2018. When they’re big they aren’t that attractive but little guys like this are gorgeous.
We wound things down on the flats around 1 PM. We started at 6 so technically we were getting close to the finish line for the day. But Brian has been booking Jako for a few years and the relationship is excellent. Its all about catching fish and when things are on, Jako isn’t calling it. Just like when there not on, going in early isn’t going to upset Brian. Jako had a hunch that the bull reds were about to start eating in the bay.
We headed for the shipping channel and cut the motor. We ate our lunch and drifted. We watched the fish finder and scanned the horizon. The finder didn’t produce much but about a quarter mile away we spotted terns. Diving terns that were soon joined by frigatebirds. Something was happening.
Sandwich in hand, Jako fired the motor and we headed for the suspicious birds. As we approached we could see huge splashes. Yes, the bull reds were driving bait to the surface and crushing it.
Brian had his black fly on. I grabbed my 10-weight set up rigged for jacks with a popper. Reds aren’t designed to coordinately eat off the top but they like to give it a whirl and its entertaining to watch so I went for it. By the time we were ready to cast you could see the red glow of giant bulls cruising. A sight to behold. All you had to do was drop the fly on them and they attacked!
Its hard to explain our next couple hours. But I doubt I’ll ever see another bull redfish blitz like this. There were a few quiet moments but not many. And even when it was quiet, we could spot them busting again in the horizon and Jako had us back on them within a minute. While I lost most of the ones that devoured my popper, Brian landed most of his. I wasn’t counting but I’ll bet he landed six to my two. This photo of our double says it all.
A funny thing happened during this blitz that capped off the way my day started. I had two massive bulls fighting over my popper and one finally ate it next to the boat. The visual on that eat will never be forgotten. At this point I’d had several on and lost them all but this fish took off like lightening!
Let’s backtrack a second. Last night I turned the cap on my reel spool that says “Bauer” for a picture so you could read it. You do things like this for your sponsors all the time. In doing this, I loosened it but had the intention of tightening it right back up after the photo. Well, I never did. While I was fighting this popper eating red, my spool jumped out of the reel!
The spool was spinning so fast that when it hit the deck of the boat it bounced around a few times then spun itself overboard. Luckily, the backing backlashed and because it was attached to the system it couldn’t sink away. The gold colored spool with bright red backing bobbed up and down a foot under the surface right next to the boat where we could see it.
What happened next is hard to believe but true. A large bull appeared and ate my reel spool. A bull redfish inhaled my entire RX 6 spool like it was an hors d’oeuvres! Lucky for him, because he would have a tough time digesting it, and lucky for me because Bauer doesn’t make the gold spool anymore, the crazy fish spit the whole thing out and I managed to get it back.
Unfortunately during havoc, I lost my redfish. Meanwhile, Brian not only landed the redfish he had on when my fiasco started, but while I was untangling and putting it all back together, the jacks came by for a visit and Brian tagged this beastly boy. What a day for Brian!
It was an amazing and memorable day here in TX. One I’ll be laughing about for a long time for a heap of personal angling mistakes. And one Brian will remember for a heap of amazing fish caught. He really had one of those days that don’t come often in life. Truly a pleasure to watch.
We ended this great day at a local restaurant. Brian has been our chef this week and though it’s been fantastic, it was time for him to have a night off and time for us to try some seafood. Let’s just say, we had some of the best shrimp of our lives. And that’s saying a lot!
We’ll take one more shot at the sheepshead in the morning then its time to fly home. Maybe some last day magic? Stay tuned. . . . . .
Hahaha, I’ve been waiting for this one. Great write-up of a ridiculous day!
It took some time. Absolutely insane!