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North Carolina
Day
of the Dolphin Redfish
on the Flats Florida |
Redfish on the Flats Thursday, August 15, 2003
The day after my nauseating deep-sea excursion, I was anxiously awaiting doing what I came here to do: sight fish for reds on the flats behind the islands of North Carolina. My dad was coming along but was geared for either spin or bait casting I won't go into too much detail other that I was skunked. Our guide (name to follow once I remember it) had forewarned us that the water was nowhere as clear as it should have been due to all the rain they had received over the summer. I had heard this from guides throughout the Carolinas, all the way to Florida. Needless to say, they were right. My father and I met our guide at Scott's Hill Marina, just a 20 minute drive from Surf City on Topsail Island. We gathered ourselves and gear and headed out to a channel where we could pick-up speed. Our first order of business was going to be getting some bait for my father. It was need to watch him cast a net into a cluster of finger mullet. One cast was enough to get what we needed. As we cruised out to our first location, the guide had me begin casting so he could judge my abilities, but, knowing I'd been less than confident when we set this up, he had taken me on willingly knowing that part of his fee might include some casting instruction. Needless to say, I was having a tough go of it. The boat was drifting one way, the outgoing tide another, and the wind another direction still. Now, take that and throw-in moving fish (and I mean MOVING) that were barely visible, and I was having NO fun. After a bit of frustration, he put us on a sandbar where I could wade out and control at least one of the factors. Though managing the line with the current and wind seemed to be my most difficult task, blind casting to unseen reds proved even more frustrating. I had only one shot at a true sightcast. As I was trying to get ahold of my latest line incident, I spotted two 20+ inch reds cruising on the edge of the current in the channel and the sandbar where I stood a bit stupified. They were FAST. Trying to get the tangle in my hands under control, any attempt to hurry up just exacerbated to situation. Our guide had just gotten my dad going with a live finger mullet with hopes of maybe scoring a flounder. We had seen a couple big ones when cruising too near really shallow water. They would take off in a ploom of sand and be gone to deeper water before you could blink. We also saw a couple of small rays, assumably stingrays, but, aside from a couple of rare red sightings, the only proof we saw of their existence was the hell they would put the schools of mullet through. First you see a shimmering spot of "nervous" water where the schoold would be passing, then WHOOMP, reds would bust through the school causing the entire thing to virtually jump out of the water at the same time. It was quite an amazing site. Our time was quickly fading with no other luck than a small flounder my dad caught on a jig. Being near an inlet, our guide suggested we try our luck out in the surf that would potentially be holding bluefish. I've read plenty about them, but have never caught one. I had been surf casting with my 8wt. sporadically throughout the week with hopes of having one hit, but, I had not one strike. In this heavy surf, I opted for a spinning rod with a weighted jig. I know realize that in my previous attempts at fly casting the surf that I should have been throwing it into the heaviest surf. Here, I had a couple of bites that did little than rip the rubber body off of the jig, but, none took it enough to get into the hook. OK, enough of this. Time to head back. I am all for learning lessons, but, this was as difficult as it gets, or so I'm told. Next time, I'll try and plan a little better considering local conditions, recent luck within the fisheries. I can only hope that the conditions in Florida will be better. |
