Thursday, September 17, 2009

What Happens on White Sand

The other day I was trying to find access to a wading flat and couldn’t really figure out a good way in, so on my way back I noticed a little movement on a white sand area that had very little water on it. The area is fed by a creek that came off bigger water about ¾ of a mile away. I hopped out and sure enough this movement was a Red. I have seen this before on some other light colored areas but this was such a small area that I would have never thought to really give it much of a look. It ended up producing 5 fish in a fairly short period of time and did the same two different days later. Though I learned a long time ago that if water gets somewhere then so do the fish, with very few exceptions, I never really focused on such small areas. Many of these spots are no larger than a 16’ flats boat.

Okay, so what, the fish got up on light colored sand, what is the big deal? Well around here most bottoms are fairly dark making it pretty hard to see copper colored fish like reds and so we don’t get a chance to see a dark moving object over light colored sand as often as so many other saltwater fisheries do. Second these areas generally represent the shallowest water in the Low Country if the water ever reaches them in the first place. Since finding that spot I have located many others that produce fish after the water has gotten too high for a normal short grass flat which is the final plus. Many of these fish are in ankle deep water and yet they don’t seem to be limited to a size constraint making them some of the most entertaining fish to cast to and actually watch eat.