Today was a good day to start. Tim O'Leary, Fishing Manager of the Orvis Outlet store in Manchester, VT was here in Hilton Head for a visit and wanted to get out and fish one day. We looked at Wednesday which started at a temperture of 24 degrees and desided that the 5 to 10 mph winds out of the west on a warmer Friday would make things much more enjoyable.We left the landing at 9:30 and headed out to go find Tim's first redfish ever. After poling most of the first flat we had a dolphin come crusing down the outside edge and cut infront of us about 50 yards down the flat. I told Tim that most likely the fish were right where that dolphin was heading in and he will turn them down here toward us. Sure enough that dolphin made me look really good! We pulled one out of the school then and found them a second time 100 yards behind us and pulled one more out.
We went to two more spots and pulled out two in the first spot and found limited fish in the second with no hookups there.
Final count was 1 fish around 19inches, 2 just shy of 24inches, and one nice 27inch fish, all caught on John Holbrook's LC Shrimp pattern with an 8wt. Helios.
Things I was reminded of during the trip were that if you are not actively catching a fish then you should always have more than enough line stripped off the reel to be able to cast immediately and that winter reds will often test your patients in your search because they are in such tight schools.
One thing I learned is that if there is a spot you have a gut feeling is holding fish before poling to far with a blind spot from the sun you should zig zag the boat to see into that blind spot.
All and all a great day and it was very nice to see someone get their first redfish(or 4) on the fly.
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