Redfish Rendezvous at Deadman`s Key

Finally, we got a good day of light winds and clear skies to go fishing. It had been so windy and raining off and on for nearly a month. The water was brown from the spill of fresh water from the Suwannee River just north of us here in Cedar Key. But lately, it`s been getting back its pretty green color.

On May 13, the water was real calm and it had that nice ocean color to it. I could see the grass down 4 or 5 feet between the sandy areas. We stopped on a spot like that and tossed out fresh shrimp angling for trout. The tide was still a little low, but coming in pretty good. No fish our first stop to put in the cooler.

We ran out to the west side of North Key and anchored up over some grass and immediately hung into some large Lady fish. They are great fun to catch, but don`t try to eat them because they`re full of bones. Whitey, my cat, doesn`t even like them. They`re like little tarpon: jumping and flipping and twisting.

While we were there we did manage to catch some fat whiting and three nice big speckled trout that went right into the cooler. We left there and headed back around the key and over to Deadman`s Key.

As we approached we slowed up and watched an angler in another boat fight a large fish. I spied him with my binoculars bringing to the side of his boat a large redfish. It looked too big. Over the 27-inch limit. A few seconds went by and we saw the cooler lid go up and then down. A keeper.

We were jazzed. I anchored up real quick and we all tossed out strips of pinfish I had collected from everything we had caught earlier. Redfish love pinfish. It was pretty quiet for a few minutes before Steve`s reel started singing as his drag was pulled out for a long stretch. It was obvious that a big red had gulped his bait.

It was Steve`s first red and he was excited. After a lot of yelling and hustling over the boat he brought it alongside and I netted it up on to the deck.

Gator fan Steve Tammer with his first red, a nice 20-incher. Photo by Capt. Dan Shannon.

Next, Tom Kolberg`s rod was bent over and he was dancing around too. Unfortunately, his redfish saw the boat and gave a big tug and spit the hook. He looked bigger. That was our last stop and time was up.

We headed back to the dock where I filleted up four plump whiting, three trout, and one big redfish. Excellent table fare. I hope they ate it all up that evening. Folks, the reds and trout are all over out around Cedar Key. The water has its color back and the skies are clear. There is no evidence of oil anywhere.

We`re all concerned, but I have a lot of faith in those Cajuns and their know-how in a situation like we have now. I`ll keep you posted. In the meantime, call me at 352-221-5463 if you`d like to catch your own fresh seafood. Check out the pictures at http://www.inshorefloridafishing.com

Capt. Dan