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“Used to, as a fishing guide east of the river, you never solely targeted redfish. If you did, you were seen as being a pussy.”
I laughed, butttttttttttt c’mon dude. Who gives AF what anyone thinks?
I think most of us on here have full freezers year round or catch what we need for dinner that night and release the rest.
Trout are great; they’re technical, finicky, big ones make for a nice trophy, and if you’re keeping, they are super easy to clean with no real blood lines, and you can keep 3 times as many per person. But being honest here, other states laugh at us.
My eyes were opened when I went to Virginia Beach and told them a big trout here was 20+”. These guys regularly catch 25-30″ trout. And why do we hold them in such regard?
Is it a throw to the “way it was”, before the MRGO, the Bonnet Carre massacre, pogey boats, and other ecological bogey mans that destroyed our big trout fishery?
Why is Trout > Redfish for guides here. I have to say it’s scarcity and they have a propensity of throwing the hook before you land them similar to a bass.
At this point it’s saltwater bass fishing. Which BTW, I LOVE BASS FISHING.
If you gave me the option of a trip to catch an 8lb. bass or and 8 lb. trout I really don’t know which I would go for.
Is it the fight? the jumping/head shakes? the feeling knowing you have a giant but it hasn’t come to the surface yet?
Whereas a red, while annoying if you wanna just catch trout due to the time it takes to get to the boat or the anticipation that it was a trophy trout, is actually a harder fighting fish and if you’re in a small boat or pond makes it really technical, especially if you’re trying not to spook other fish.
So to each they’re own.
Sight-fishing 101, Gnar-tooth, and countless reports on the joys of sight-fishing tell me you enjoy this style of fishing, but I’m gonna say your rub with it is those that keep the fish that is already over fished.
I’d say a large number(not-all) of those that sight-fish reds in ponds are C&R anglers, especially the fly fish poling skiff guys. I think it’s becoming more popular to release them, and a great example of this is Marshes and Hills with Ty Hillman (probably the best sight-fishing YT channel to date).
I still see the dock kill shots, which from what I’ve seen is how these guides market themselves, and I don’t think that will go out of style anytime soon.
Just my over-caffeinated 2 cents waiting for this teams meeting to start.
