In short: There was a 35% chance of rain at 7:30 that morning, so I figured I would try to fish through it. Good thing I did. The red breast were on fire. I pulled four out of one little hole, back to back throws off the same banks, and ended the morning with 19 on the stringer plus about 10 I caught before I even started keeping count. And it all came on one lure, a white beetle spin.
I will tell you right now, this white beetle spin is the trick. It does not matter what time of year it is, they will turn on to that white beetle spin. The little spinner blade throwing off flash and that white body is something these red breast cannot leave alone on the South Georgia rivers. I was pitching it tight to the bank, right up under the logs and the trees, and half the time it hit the water and a fish was already on it. He was just waiting on me to throw it in there.
That is the whole reason I keep tying it on. When you find a lure the fish trust, you do not overthink it. You put it where they live and you let it do the work.
The thing folks miss is that red breast stack up. Where you catch one there is almost always more, so when I get a bite I throw right back into the same spot. This morning I pulled two out of one hole, then a third, then a fourth. Four fish out of one little hole before they finally quit. Two throws, two fish on some of those banks. When a spot is loaded like that you do not move on. You stay right there and work it until it goes quiet.
You can smell it sometimes, honest to goodness. I pulled up on one bank and it smelled like fish, and sure enough it was loaded with red breast. Read the cover, read the bank, and when you find them thick, milk that hole for everything it has.
I forgot my stringer, and I found out real quick my bucket had holes in the bottom, so those first ones I turned loose. Nobody was going to believe me anyway. So I pulled over, cut a couple of little twigs off the bank, tied a knot around one to hold it, and made myself a stringer right there. Run it through the gill and out the mouth, drop them over the side of the boat, and they will stay alive the rest of the day until I can get home and clean them. A little backwoods ingenuity beats losing your catch every time. Nineteen on the stringer, sun out, fish biting. You cannot go wrong with that.
Lure choice, reading a bank for stacked fish, and working one hole the right way. It is all in the Fisherman's Playbook.
Read the Fisherman's PlaybookA white beetle spin is hard to beat. It does not matter what time of year it is, they will turn on to it. The little spinner blade and the white body get the red breast fired up spring, summer, or fall.
Red breast stack up on cover. Where you find one laid up under a log or tight to the bank there are usually more, so when you catch one you throw right back into the same spot. I pulled four out of one little hole this trip.
A stringer. I forgot mine and my bucket had holes in it, so I cut a couple of small twigs off the bank, tied a knot around one, ran it through the gill and out the mouth of each fish, and dropped them over the side to keep them alive until I got home.
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