August '11 Routine of Firsts

Just yesterday, I had a client (Mike) ask me, “Do you ever get tired of fishing?” I thought for a minute, not because I was contemplating saying yes, but because that question applies to me a little differently. When my wife asks me if I am fishing tomorrow, she means are you on the schedule, instead of you better not be because you have a list of things to do around here. So the answer to the question “Do you ever get tired of work?” is yes, though that is usually limited to having to get up early or just being worn out from working out in the sun day after day. The answer to his actual question is certainly not.

That answer makes me think about a video I made of my 2 year old niece. My niece watched it more than anyone else; she had never seen a video of herself like this on television. She watched it over and over, picking out every little detail of how it looked to see herself from the outside. This was exciting for her because it was new to a young child. My other thought went to how a friend and client of mine recently told me that each day with his new son is even better than the day before as he watches him become more aware and responsive. Whether child or adult isn’t that really one of the things that many of us are after in life, some new experience? More often though, it is the child that doesn’t put up with the mundane wtih so many experiences being new to them.

That’s it, why I don’t get tired of fishing…I am still a child when it comes to fishing. I refuse to put up with the mundane. If every redfish took a fly the same way I would get bored, if every cobia swam in a straight line and ate the fly on the second strip I would stop fishing for them, and if every time a tail from a redfish stayed put long enough to make a cast to it no matter how far away I was when I saw it the first time I would hang that up also.

Fortunately part of me has been transformed into wanting to see others experience the unpredictable things that happen out on the water. This past month has been filled with firsts both for my clients and me. Amazingly this August is only one month in my seven and a half years of guiding.
Back on August 2 I had a gentleman by the name of Tuck Tucker head out with me at day break to fish the incoming tide, which is a first in itself because I have never had another Tuck on the boat. It was the high tide that yielded two firsts. From inside the grass we were headed out to fish that were busting mullet and I looked over my left shoulder and saw two tails about ten feet apart. Spinning the boat around I said, “Alright we have two behind us tailing, let’s get them first.” The more distant fish stopped tailing but the closer one was coming around the edge of an exposed grass island in crystal clear water. “Lay that fly right next to the island so the fish doesn’t have time to see us when he gets into open water,” I instructed. Mr. Tucker’s cast was headed that way but a little hook at the end left the redfish with an open visual to our boat. The fish stopped tailing and slowly moved away from us. A little dejected, Mr. Tucker and I dropped our heads in unison only to find in the thick green marsh grass under the boat and 4 inches under water was a tail five feet off the bow. The grass surrounded the body of the red so the only visual we had was his tail and he had no idea we were there. Mr. Tucker tipped the butt section of his rod up by his head with the tip pointed downward and the Dupree spoonfly hovering slightly in front of the tail. As the fish tilted upward he lowered the rod tip to let the Dupree flutter down. When the fish sucked in the fly it was like you could see the realization of the looming boat and what he had just done for a split second just before he tore off to the right. It was unbelievable and I doubt I will ever see another red eat that close to boat in such clear water for the rest of my life.

After fishing tails Mr. Tucker and I found a group of big reds in about 5 feet of water outside the grass cruising around looking for some mullet to take advantage of. As the orange water of about 60 reds got close enough Mr. Tucker cast a Dupree spoon fly to the edge of the school and the largest red of his life, 33”, hooked in. The fish took him to his backing 3 times on his 9wt and afterwards you couldn’t wipe the smile below his mustache away with anything.

A few days later on August 6th, I fished with a super nice couple Andrew and Torrey. Andrew is a good fly caster but has never put a Redfish on the fly. Torrey is just getting started; she had her first fly lesson the day before our trip. After getting a few shots here and there we had a nice school head toward us down the edge of a bar, and Andrew led the school with a redfish toad. From my kneeling position on the tower I quietly said, “leave it…leave it, okay strip.” Two strips in and Andrew’s first red nailed it and took off. After that we had plenty of fish around but the wind took it to us. Torrey kept powering through the wind and while she didn’t get a red that day I know she now has the bug to beat one of these reds at the fly casting game.

On the 9th of August I fished with the Frauen brothers, Larry and Bill, in my boat. We had always done well on past trips. Talking to Bill the evening before I verified that we were only going to fly fish because this was the first time we had cast the fly together. I honestly became a little worried when we pulled up to the first flat early that morning and Larry asked, “Did you go and catch your own bait this morning?” My mind went to thinking did I get this wrong or are we still only fly fishing. I replied, “Bill said we were only going to cast the fly rod today.” Larry said firmly, “alright sounds good.” We fished hard for the next 3 hours, and after some work on casting Larry put his first red on the fly. After another hour working hard we were running low on how much more time we were going to spend on the flats. Bill was continuing to strengthen has cast and finally the opportunity arouse. “Bill they are coming right at us.” I exclaimed as I pointed my pushpole past him toward the fish. I followed up with, “Do you see that little wake coming this way? They’re moving slow. Lay it right toward ‘em.” He did, I slowly backed the boat up a little and he started stripping. Unfortunately old habits are hard to break…this was the first time Bill had cast a fly rod in the salt and therefore when this fish ate his hook setting habits went against my instruction. When he pulled straight up on the rod the fish lifted and turned and the fly was left all alone laying motionless after it popped out of the fish’s mouth. A victory to get one to eat and a defeat in that same moment as it came unhooked. We all just stood there for a moment in silence. I am certain that Bill has told that story a few times and I am also certain he is chomping at the bit to get back to casting to one of these reds.

On August 17th I met Ian and his 6 year old son Ben at Chechesse river landing to head out for Ian casting the fly and Ben using a spinning rod. We started off around a bunch of oysters and quickly found reds horded up in the open areas around the shells. There didn’t seem to be anything but muddy water everywhere so Ian cast and cast and finally his first red on the fly lifted up and zoned in on a razmataz pushing a wake as he sucked it in. While this fight took place I put a shrimp out for Ben and handed him the rod. After we got a picture and released the red Ben started reeling and caught his first flounder ever. Ian later put a doormat of a flounder on my
8wt Helios. Soon after the tide was high enough for tails, we were getting good shots but things just weren’t coming together to get a hook up. Ian then asked if I would cast to a tail with a spinning rod to hook a red up for Ben. The fish were a little spooky so I got out of the boat for the first two shots and still have no idea why neither of the fish picked up the Berkley gulp crab I brought across their paths. I changed to a mud minnow right as the tide started to drop and there were a few fish exiting the flat. As the third one tailed out I was in a good position to intersect him with a mud minnow. After making the cast, I let it sit for about 2 minutes then he approached and I reeled slowly to meet his path…he nailed it. I set the hook and with loose drag I turned to get back to the boat. I tightened it just a bit and handed it off to Ben. You could hear the excitement in his voice saying, “It is pulling too hard for me.” He fought it in from a long way out and earned all the credit on his first struggle with a big red. This was a great first for him, his father, and me to get to be there for the experience. After the trip Ian put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Thanks, you have renewed my faith in fishing guides.”

Two days later on the 19th I had a fly caster and a buddy of his that would like to start to fly cast in the salt get in my Maverick. While there isn’t a lot of story here, Marc the fly caster did get his first red, plus a few more in a fairly short period of time. His friend’s cast got better and better as he worked on it throughout the day and while the fish are safe for now he will be back practiced up to take some of them down.

So back to Mike who I fished yesterday, August 24th. He was the one that asked if I ever get tired of fishing. Again he had never caught a red on the fly before and this day was a little questionable as to how the fish would act with incoming hurricane Irene. The fish were staying skinny so I ended up hopping out of the boat and pushing it up toward the bank so we could get skinner. We put a few flies into the fish but were not getting takes. Finally we switched over to a Razmataz and a few casts in Mike was stripping the fly but was looking somewhere else. A huge push lifted in the water and to make sure he wasn’t going to pick it up to make another cast I said, “Keep stripping.” The fish took the fly and the line started moving slightly to the right but mostly toward us. “Strip, strip, he’s got it.” Mike caught up to him and reeled up the slack line while saying, “He isn’t pulling that hard.” In the middle of that comment the drag zinged and the handle smacked at his fingers. “Wow, now he’s pulling.” Mike went on to land this fish and another about the same size; he later lost one that was a little larger.
While I still love to fish and I know that I have tons of firsts to come in my own angling, I really love to watch another’s reaction to their first time experiences. The child in me lives vicariously through every first my clients have. I don’t get tired of what I do because there is nothing mundane about the routine of firsts I get to see all so often.

Not Ruining The Best Of Conditions

At the beginning of last week we had great conditions with super slick water. This was welcome in a time when the wind has been frustrating. We were able to stay on one flat most of the time and were able to watch a few schools and just about every movement they made. These situations make you feel that there isn’t much you can do to ruin the fishing.

Skipping to the end of the trip I talked with two other boats at the landing that were in fish most all day but really had trouble getting them to eat. I also talked with a few other guys since then that had frustrating results on that same day. We ended the day with 9 hookups and 8 fish to the boat, all on the fly.

The difference really came down to three things, boat handling, patience, and fly selection. At first we found this school (about 300 fish) up on a point and though we did get one to eat the two different flies we cast near the school, there weren’t great responses. Many of the fish would follow but wouldn’t fully eat the fly if they struck it at all. So we switched to a darker pattern, the root beer colored Bay Street Bunny, and the first cast we made got a quick reaction bite, so problem solved on fly selection for this day.

I hear so often from people that they were right in the fish and they just couldn’t get them to eat, and yes that does happen where they just won’t get happy about eating for whatever reason. Most of the time I see in my mind that they have literally gotten right in the middle of the fish, well in that case then no, most likely they aren’t going to eat. Fish all around the boat is not usually a good thing. Waiting on the fish to come back to you or at the least letting them reset is key, this is where your patience comes in.

Boat positioning is easy when the fish turn and come back to you; you just cut them off and strip the fly away from the front of the fish. Most importantly is that any movement you make is done without bumping the boat. When you approach fish that have reset things are a little more difficult. Obviously there are a lot of situations that come from fish direction, sun direction, and depth of water and each one is different. But the outline of those in terms of boat handling is first to help the caster be in position to make an easy cast in front of the fish or as in front of them as possible. Second don’t let shadows from the boat or from the casters fly line lay across the fish. Finally when you are closing in on reset fish try not to get in such shallow water that the bottom rubs this will often spook fish.

Wind, First Times, Parasites, and Negative Tides...Great Fishing?

Hard conditions at times didn't take away from how wonderful this past week was. Horrible winds at the beginning of the week kept everyone else off the water but I got the honor to fish with a great young couple, her from Minneapolis and him from South Dakota. The first day only he came out and 30 mile per hour winds continuously forced casts just short of the mark. After getting on quite a few schools of reds, from 25 fish in some to 200 in another, we saw something I must say I have never seen before, a daisy chain of reds. I have seen reds school in a perfect circle 3 or 4 fish deep with an eye in the center like a hurricane, I have seen small school after small school come down a flat for a full half hour, I have even seen a school sitting almost completely still with more than twenty tails frozen in position above the water, a chain of tarpon or jacks, but I have never seen a chain of redfish. The chain was unbroken for about 50 fish, unfortunately the wind gusts were continues as well, but it was one of those moments that gets etched in your brain.

Tuesday they both came and she fished the entire day. This was the first time she had ever really fished but her learning curve for casting was about as long lived as the life of a spider under foot. Thirty two mile an hour gusts were recorded on Tuesday and yet she made a few fish eat. She now really has the bug to come back because she lost these fish, but for her first trip out I think she was amazing with her ability to sight cast accurately enough to make these fish eat. Quite impressive indeed.

Wednesday I had two experienced fly casters and we started with far too much wind like the day prior but fortunately that dissipated about an hour later. While it was still blowing about twenty we were able to grab one nice fish that was loaded down what I have always called sea lice. I started doing a little studying and found that I was incorrect about what these little parasites are.
This is Anilocra physodes. It’s a parasitic isopod. We usually find these crawling on redfish and every so often one will be embedded in a Red's side, the embedded ones are usually much larger.


That first fish on Wednesday had 8 Anilocra physodes fall off of him as soon as we got him in the boat.


After the wind died off we went on to make another 8 eat and caught 4. Most of the fish we made eat were on an orange and brown clouser, though some ate the Puglisi everglades as well. Pictured here with one of his fish is Sporting Artist Peter Corbin.


On Thursday I fished with a couple from Colorado and the weather was on our side because it was slick everywhere we went and though I think we had some fish that had been run out of the first flat by another boat we soon got on a school of about 600 plus and had a great day. We made 9 eat, and got 6 to the boat. Once again the orange and brown Clouser proved effective and so did the Bay Street Bunny in rootbeer until the water got really skinny then we were able to put fish on the Everglades. "Skinny" is the important part of what we were able to do this day, because the tide was a negative low tide the fish were pushed even further off the flat. That let us stay with this huge school for a complete 2 hours.

This week was a really great one and I look forward to being on the water as we get into warmer times.

Casting to Schools

Now is a great time to talk about casting to schools of fish because as we come into the winter we will have fish in tighter schools and clearer water. This is a great time of year to fish, but there are a few things that I have learned over the years that are important on these schools of reds.

The first thing about these schools is that the fish are usually more aware and therefore you need to be able to cast further than you do when they are singles. The only exception to this would be if the school is working bait and moving then they usually will not be as spooky. But this is rarer as it gets colder. The reason they are more aware is because there are more of them which means more fish scales picking up vibrations in the water and more eyes to see you before you can get a cast to them.

So what I usually tell people is that they should cast to the outside of the school, incoming tide side is best. This way it is far less likely to spook the school and the tide can then swing the fly into the school as you strip. The more tide movement you have the farther you can cast to the side of the school. It is also best to cast a fly that will not make too much noise upon arrival. I like the Dupree or a Puglisi pattern for this reason.

The other day I had a fellow guide on the boat, Thomas, from up in Ashville and we fished the afternoon low tide. It was a day where most of the water we found was very muddy and things were really hard to see. So hard to see that we had a fish follow the fly in a foot of water only to see it, 2 feet from the boat following the fly to the surface as he picked his cast up. The fish disappeared in the 'chocolate milk' water only 2 inches under the surface. We finally found a very nice school, about 80 fish strong, sitting on some light colored bottom. Thomas put a 95 foot cast out to the left of the fish, which was to the west side of them and where the tide was coming from. He was at least 6 feet out from the fish and before the fly even landed every fish got up and moved away from it. Spooked, why?

I didn't think about it at the time until I analyzed the situation. The problem, though most days I don't think it would have been an issue, was in the fact that it was later in the day and that his cast was to the west. Thomas was as good or better than any caster that I have ever had on the boat, so where he put his cast was on me. Though I live by putting it to the outside of the school from 90 feet out I have not really seen it matter. I won't ever make that mistake again. The shadow of that low sun out of the west came right over those fish and even though the fly might have been pulled away from those fish tide wise a cast to the east side would have been better. We did later have the school come back around and 6 fish followed the fly with one of them taking it but that fish didn't get stuck.

So cast to the outside of the school, tide incoming side if that side doesn't throw a shadow. One last addition as always is catch up to fly before it even hits the water so you can strip it as early as possible if this is needed or let it swing in with the tide and then strip.

Top 5 things not to do.

1. Don't rock the boat.
Ever see a dolphin get up in skinny water, well he generally makes a wake while do so. These pressure waves are one way that a redfish know something is coming and if they are a little on edge as soon as they feel the slightest pressure wave they become more worried about safety and less about feeding. I have seen tailing fish stop tailing and I seen a school of 500 reds all pick up and run the other way just because of a few pressure waves. When casting on the front of a flats boat you need to make sure that you are not swaying back and forth, this not only causes pressure waves but is often how the foot brake on your cast gets applied because the sway lifts part of your foot enough to get fly line under it.

2. Don't cast a fly and wait to strip. (unless...)
When fishing many situations here in the low country you will encounter oyster shells and oyster shells don't care if you have a weed guard or not. Most of the time when a fly gets stuck on oysters it is actually wedged not hooked. So if you are doing some blind casting or you are around a school of fish not targeting a specific one then cast and start stripping. This is something that can be practiced and should be. While practicing (for a right hand caster) as your fly lays down bring the line from your left hand into your right hand. Done correctly you should be stripping the fly almost before it hits. The 'unless' parts of this are if you are sight casting to a single fish and you have to wait on that fish to catch up, or you need a lighter fly to sink a little. Even if you are in one of these two situations you should still be in the position to strip, rod down, line between finger on right hand and rod handle, and line in left hand ready to pull. Again this is something that can be practiced.

3. No knocks or bumps.
No matter if you are fishing, taking a picture, poling, getting a drink from the cooler, opening a hatch to get out something, if you are on a flat looking for fish don't make knocks or bumps on the boat. Keep your feet as quiet as possible when you are on the front casting, when line is caught up on something back in the boat don't step hard down into the boat to untangle it. When taking a picture make sure that you know where you are standing and what is around you so when you are focused on the camera you won't make the mistake of bumping something or losing balance for a second and having to take a hard step. Close the cooler and hatches quietly. This all sounds a little picky until you see a school of fish a little ways from you pick up and run away as soon as knock occurs or a bump from a rushed caster steps hard back in the boat to get the fly line off something. I fished with a guide some where (remaining unnamed) not to long ago in one of the best bonefish fisheries in the world and we didn't see very many fish any of the days we fished. I would put money on the fact that part of this was due to the fact that instead of pushing the boat in many situations he would get the wind to push him down a flat sideways and use the pole on the side of the boat to somewhat control it. So we had a fairly constant knocking going on letting those fish know we were coming. How nice of us!

2. Don't fish muddy water
This might be best stated as, fish the clearest water you can find because there are times when most everywhere is muddy. When you can't see a gold fly any more than an inch deep in the water then the fish most likely can't either. Fish also become more spooky in water they can't see well in. It is like being afraid of the dark you can't see what is coming so everything is a more heightened in how you sense the things around you. Muds from fish and muddy water are two different things. There are times when the fish will have their backs out in muddy water making it easier to follow them and if this is the case and you can cast pretty far then use a fly that is quiet on entry like the dupree and get it in front of the fish tring to bring it right across it's nose.

1. Don't stop paying attention but don't get over focused
Things happen fast in the salt. When you are trying to find fish on a flat don't stop looking around. Obviously you can't see everything but if you stop paying attention you most likely won't see anything. What I mean about not getting over focused is if you stop using your peripheral vision by overly focusing straight where you are looking then you are severely limiting your range of what you can see and react to. You react to peripheral vision much faster as a defense mechanism so often that is the best way to see things anyway. A flash from a redfish or a tip of a tail can tell you where a 100 of them are sitting while a shrimp jumping can tell you that one is in a little spot you would have never even thought a fish would go.

Catch Up

"They had to of seen that, they must not want to eat...should we change flies?" I don't remember when it happened the first time but I hear it often and more often than that I see the result. I get my caster to see a few pushes coming down the bank he has a few seconds to make the cast before they will see the boat, he leads the school a little with a dupree or a clouser he starts striping as if to move the fly a moment passes I say 'strip, strip' more forcefully he speeds up a little and the fish blow right past it. So what was the issue?

A second but similar story. "These fish aren't really moving around yet with this sun so low, put a cast up on this point just to see if they are sitting there." He did just that, first cast of the day out about 70 feet with a little bit of curl at the end. A fish pushed about two feet to the left of the fly and he lifted the rod as if to set the hook because the fish startled him, after realizing this was not a fish eating but one a little startled he took a moment then started striping to catch up with all the slack he had just created. The other fish in the area passed the fly by and moved up the bank following their buddy. Then came pretty much the same comment in the boat as the other story about being confused on why they wouldn't eat.

Both stories had two key words, 'a moment' which were the likely reason we didn't catch any of the fish on the point or from the school coming to us.

If you are in a situation where you cast and there is a little slack or put it right in front of a fast moving school you better being doing all you can to catch up to the fly. I often have casters cast out to fish and start to strip the correct strip for moving the fly before they have caught up to it. The steady strip of a dupree spoonfly or the bumping strip of a clouser are not so effective as when used as the catching up strip to get the slack in. In other words before you start moving the fly with your strip you need to catch up to the fly and often you need to do so fast. There is no drift here in the Low Country.

Yesterday I had a young teenager on the boat, excited to fish, good with a fly rod, and focused on what he was doing. Youth and excitement helped him catch fish, his excitement didn't want his hands to waste time stripping slow unless he had caught up to his fly. It seemed he was automatically caught up with his fly whenever we were on fish, even if he didn't lay out a perfectly taunt cast. So the 'a moment' phrase didn't play much of a role in his fishing and most importantly this ended up yielding hookups.

Just one more little thing that can make such a huge difference.

Preperation Is Key

Recently I have helped prepare quite a few people who are getting ready for trips in the coming months as well as myself for a trip to Belize. So I thought it would be a great time to talk about being prepared for a trip. With all that I see in the outfitter, hear on the telephone, and experience on the water I feel pretty confident that I will supply some good insight toward your travel.

Fly fishing trips, especially those out of the country, are unlike a trip to the in-laws or out of town for a few days with the wife. To have a successful fishing trip there is a great deal of thought and preparation for so many reasons. I think the first of those reasons is because when you are there you want to take full advantage of the situations you are in. Another reason is that these trips are expensive. They are expensive enough that many will pay for trip insurance and yet wait until the last few days to prepare. Often this results in people leaving out enough of something or forgetting it all together. Running out of the flies that have been working, not having a spool of 8lbs test fluorocarbon when fish are extremely spooky, or not having a higher weight rod for windy days are all things that could make or break many of the shots you will have at fish. In other words don't ruin an expensive trip because you don't have the right tools once you get there.

For my upcoming trip I will have one carry on bag that fits six, four piece, rods in their rod socks. Inside this bag I am carrying four rods, 7wt - 10wt, the 7 for Bones on calm days, 8 on not so calm days the 9 mostly as a backup and the 10 as a permit and tarpon rod. I have the corresponding reels for each rod as well, while fishing the 7 or 8 I plan to have the 9 and/or 10 rigged for the right species so they are ready to fire. I also have a change of underwear, t-shirt, hat, leaders and a box of flies incase my checked luggage does not make it I will have the essentials. Finally on an outside pocket I have the TSA webpage on fishing and hunting printed so if I get questioned about flies then I can present their own words in defense. Click for that page.

Preparation that is just as important is to practice before you come. I am not saying you need to be able to put a fly out 80 feet into a coffee cup with a stiff wind on only one back cast but I am saying that no matter how good or poor a fly caster you are practice will always serve you well. I feel it is important to practice in a few different ways according to the time you have before the trip. A few weeks or more out is the time to work on the parts of your cast, your acceleration and stop, the angle of your arm, where your elbow is, not opening or breaking your wrist, tight loops, and so on. As you get closer to time stop practicing the parts and practice fishing. Focus on targets and cast to them from the ready position as if you were on a boat, also walk around and pick targets as if you were wading. Finally continue to practice fishing but do so with minimal false casts. In most resects practicing fishing and practicing fly casting are two different things. Those that do something well in the heat of the moment use the muscle memory they have because if they stop and think about the details they are more likely to falter.

There are going to be quite a few different things that you can't prepare for but all the more reason that if you are going on a trip in the first place you should plan for every feasible thing you can.