An epic Thanksgiving catch and release

Thanksgiving week is one of my favorite times to fish. The weather is ideal. Cool mornings and warm afternoons make it a joy just to be outside. Add hungry fish to the mix and things become epic quickly.

 

This was the case when fishing with my nephew, Conrad, who was visiting for the holiday. Our plan was to target trout on the falling tide. As we pulled away from the dock, I told Conrad our goal was to catch and release 50 trout. He laughed and reminded me that we had a family function to attend in three hours. I replied, then we better get to it.

 

After a short ride to a dock with a depth transition from 5 to 10 feet, we picked up our ultralight spinning outfits and cast Z-Man Finesse TRD lures on 1/10th ounce NedLockZ jigs to the dock pilings. Hungry trout inhaled our lures before they could hit the bottom. The bite was on fire.

 

For the next two hours, we caught and released trout at every location we fished. When the bite slowed down at one location, a quick move to a new location with similar characteristics put us back into action. 

 

With the trout being so hungry and abundant, it did not take long to release 50 trout.

 

With a few minutes to spare, Conrad asked if we could catch a redfish before going home. So, we took the skiff to a shallow, oyster-laden creek. 

 

Almost immediately, Conrad spotted a redfish and cast his lure to the fish. It charged the lure and ate it. The redfish was not particularly large but on the ultralight spinning tackle it put up a great fight.

 

We took a quick picture then released the fish. As we watched the redfish swim away, Conrad said, that was epic. I laughed and agreed.

 

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.