In short: I woke up in the hammock to a quiet morning, cooked a simple breakfast, and started breaking camp with no hurry at all. Then I put a white beetle spin down the banks and the redbreast turned on. It became a back-to-back bite, one hole after another, rain falling and sun shining at the same time. By the time I loaded up to meet Tina I had 19 on a stringer I tied out of two twigs from the bank.
It was about 7 in the morning, laying in the hammock listening to the nature sounds. No rush at all, meeting Tina around noon. I cooked up what I had, packed up out of some tight quarters, and eased out to fish the morning away. The lure was a white beetle spin, and I will tell you what I tell everybody: it does not matter what time of year it is, they will turn on to that white beetle spin. I ran it tight to the bank and up under the overhanging trees, and the redbreast were right where they were supposed to be.
I started with a bucket, but I punched too many holes in the bottom of it and could not keep fish in there. So I pulled over on a sandbar, cut two little twigs off the bank, tied a knot around each end of a line, and made myself a stringer right there. You slip the point through the gill and out the mouth, slide the fish down, and drop it over the side of the boat. They stay alive the rest of the day until you get home to clean them. My knot tying is nothing to brag on, but it held.
Once I got going it did not stop. Two out of the same hole, then another, then another. There were stretches where you could smell the fish, that is how loaded it was. Rain started, the sun stayed out, and the fish kept biting. You cannot go wrong with that. I would throw up under a tree and he would be waiting on it, on it the second it hit the water. I stacked them up hole by hole until I had 19 on the stringer, and I had already thrown back around ten before I ever started keeping them. Then I loaded up and rode home to meet Tina, only about 50 minutes late, which is close enough out here.
Lure choice, reading the banks, and field rigging like a stringer you can make anywhere. It is all in the Fisherman's Playbook.
Read the Fisherman's PlaybookA white beetle spin. It has worked for me no matter the season. Run it tight to the bank and under the trees and the redbreast turn on to it hard.
Cut two small twigs from the bank, tie a knot to hold one on each end of a line, slip the point through the gill and out the mouth, and drop it over the side. The fish stay alive until you clean them.
Tight to the bank, under overhanging trees, and around cover. When a stretch smells like fish it is usually loaded. Get the lure right up under the cover.
Nineteen on the stringer, plus around ten thrown back before I started keeping them. It was back-to-back for most of the morning.
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