Well Worth It...

Columbus Day weekend I fished hard but the warmer weather had the fish forgetting about the fall like performance they had put on the week before. After making several rookie mistakes and only putting a few in the boat with Jon, I decided it was time to pay some dues. The following day I fished with Fivvy, a man that I respect and appreciate and I guess could credit for starting me into fly fishing. Fivvy has had a tough year and has not been able to get out on the water much so I offered him the bow for a full set of tides. The wind made for a tough day on the pole but at low he still stuck 4 before coming tight on a tailer during the flood. Seeing him catching those fish really encouraged me and helped me to deal with my mistakes earlier in the weekend.

After putting in our time during the week to pay the bills, Jon and I launched with the sunrise on Friday and made a short, cold run to a couple new low tide flats in search of a fix. The cooler weather this weekend was all they needed to get back into the swing of things. I tied on my version of one of Mike’s mad creations and Jon allowed me to redeem myself by being up first.

I was onto a fish within a few casts only to have him shake the hook before I got him on the reel. As soon as he came off though, I looked to the left and saw the same school daisy chaining and tailing in less than a foot of water. I picked up the line and made one cast into the middle of the commotion, stripped once and the drag broke the early morning silence.

Jon dusted off his Albie boots…

…and landed a nice fish that was part of another group working the same flat.

We then decided to explore a new area and found a cove full of mud, oysters, and redfish! The action was pretty intense in the shallows and the camera was the last thing on our minds. We ended up landing 8 (4 each) on Friday in short time.

On Sunday I got the Fivver back out and we idled to a point where Jon and I had found them on Friday. I shut the motor down in 2 feet of water and climbed onto the jungle gym. I was only able to give the Stiffy a push or 2 before calling out, “fish at 11”. Fivvy took 2 casts and snagged a beautiful red in less than 2 minutes after arriving on the flat!

I was even able to convince Fivvy to climb on up and give me a go at one more out of that school before we moved on.

We made our way over to the mud and oyster cove that Jon and I had found Friday and the boys were acting a fool. We sat watching as tails and backs broke the slick surface and shrimp swam for their lives. Man I would hate to be a shrimp… EVERYTHING eats a shrimp! We each picked up a fish from the school before they broke up and the water moved into the grass.

This is a great time of the year to sight fish the low and grab a tailer on the high, though they will have to wait for us this week as we head north to chuck these at some guy named Albert???