Topwater action provides a holiday rush

Typically, Brody (the amazing fish finding and stock trading dog) and I avoid fishing on holiday weekends. With the Labor Day weekend upon us, our plan was to skip fishing and watch football. But, on Friday, I noticed that there was an optimal tide for topwater fishing early Saturday morning. Elliott was out of town. So, Brody and I invited Jonathan Anderegg to join us.  

 

Our plan was to leave the dock at sunrise and return before the holiday weekend crowd hit the water. Trout and redfish were our target species. 

 

Jonathan arrived a few minutes early and we pulled away from the dock well before sunrise. This put us at our fish fishing location a bit early.  

 

The tide was slowly starting to fall and there was not yet sufficient current for the fish to begin feeding. Jonathan and I picked rods rigged with Zara Spook Junior lures and cast to the flooded marsh grass. Trout and ladyfish rolled at our lures but refused to strike.

 

Rather than wait for tide, we decided to move into the Wando River where the tide should be a bit further along. It was a good decision. 

 

Upon our arrival at a small creek draining into the main river, we could see trout busting shrimp and finger mullet on the surface. On his first cast into the small creek, a trout exploded on Jonathan’s lure. 

 

The trout was average size, but the strike was visually stunning. Upon landing the fish, we hastily took a picture and released it. The topwater bite was on, and we wanted to get back to it.

 

I cast my Zara Spook to the small creek and a redfish promptly inhaled it. 

 

While I was fighting my redfish, Jonathan hooked another. As we both fought our fish, we debated taking a picture. We decided against it. The topwater bite was on, and we wanted to get back to it.

 

For the next hour or so, we enjoyed steady action. Trout, redfish, ladyfish and bluefish all found the Zara Spook Junior lure to be irresistible. When the sun rose above the horizon the hot top water bite slowed down. 

 

I asked Jonathan if he wanted to fish a bit longer. 

 

He stopped, bent down and scratched Brody’s head and replied, “Let’s stop on epic.”

 

We both laughed and headed back to the dock.