http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 173
ALL OVER IT!
A school of finger mullet that had congregated at the
trenasse mouth suddenly erupted as a huge wake creased
the broken, grassy shoreline.
It didn’t require a PhD in fishingology to figure out what
was afoot.
My cork hit the water inside the trenasse. It started drift-
ing out, and I popped it twice.
Suddenly a huge swirl enveloped my cork but it stayed
up!
“He’s smacking your cork!” Pelayo yelled.
And I knew what was coming next — another smack,
another swirl — hah!
The cork disappeared. I reeled in a few cranks of slack,
felt pressure and reared back with my rod high overhead.
The water exploded, I whooped like a lunatic and it was
off to the races.
‘Wow!” was all Artie could manage as the wake headed
past us and toward the middle of the lagoon.
“He’s taking off like a striped ape!” Pelayo laughed. “Like
By HEK used to say!”
I reeled furiously, knowing all too well how reds take
advantage of the slightest slack to throw a hook. But
when I reeled in the slack, I felt that heavy, heavenly pres-
sure again and knew he was on for good.“YEAH!” I howled
again as I raised
the rod overhead
and the reel
started singing.
Since my fish
was in the open
water now, Pelayo
quickly cast at
the trenasse with
a nice chunk of
shrimp on his
beetle. It took him
all of three pops before his cork zoomed off sideways (he
had it set a little too deep — 2 feet).
He set the hook on another red that frothed the surface
before rocketing off, just like mine, into the open water. The
bigger ones always seem to do this.
Two more stops in similar locales
yielded three more perfectly court-
bouillon-sized reds.
Nana Fontaine was waiting for us
back at Doc’s. Shoulda seen her eyes
when we opened da box!” ■Humberto Fontova is
the author of four books
and a frequent commenta-
tor on national media. For
more details visit http://www.
hfontova.com.FACING PAGE: When our parents and grandparents said “cigar trout,” it could mean
either schoolie specks or whites. Both love shrimp-tipped tandem jigs under corks.
RIGHT: Keeper redfish make perfect additions to any courtboullion.