She, Mother Nature, keeps reminding me how hard this game is to play

[GoDoe]

Mother Nature, that is, keeps reminding me that if I want to take her bounty with a fly rod and only sight casting that I better be prepared to do battle and usually take a beating. I fished every day from Sunday 6/11 thru Friday 6/16. The conditions went from not so good to really bad and then a little improvement for Friday. I am spending 6-8 hours a day on the water poling and wading and sight fishing exclusively.

The water has been running from 5" to 11" higher than the predicted tides and mostly it is off color. It is making sight casting nearly impossible. So what do I do, of course just work harder at it. The weather has been great with winds that are manageable and mostly sunny days. The passing clouds seem to always show up when I am on a stalk and about to make a cast.

Friday, yesterday, it seemed that the Gods and relented and allowed me some prime fishing conditions. On the water at 9 and to the target area at 10. I bumped 4 reds in the first 200 yds of poling. This is a good thing and a bad thing. I poled on and saw two small reds meandering toward me. I bent over and grabbed the rod and was able to make the cast from the platform of the Solo. Splat, the shrimp fly lands right on top of them and they take off like a jail break.

That is enough bumping fish so I get out to wade. About 75 yds into the wade I see a lower slot red laying still in the 1' deep clean clear water. He looks like a traffic cone glowing in the water. I make the cast allowing enough lead as to not spook him and strip the fly by. He seems uninterested at first but as the fly moves away he moves to chase. I recast the fly into better position and he darts the 10' to get it. First fish on and to hand. Looking good.

I continue this circular wade keeping the wind and the sun in my favor when I see a red tail and dorsal fin surface. He is not tailing but accidentally popped above the surface. It draws me closer for a better look and I see him nosing the bottom. I lay the shrimp fly, #4 tan spun deer collar and tan craft fur tail, close to him as he is distracted doing his thing. When he notices the fly he is aggressive and attacks it. Second fish on and to hand in 30 minutes. Great.

Now the rest of the story, you know the Mother Nature part. I sent my buddy ahead about 1/4 mile to the next stop and as I poled the shoreline to catch up to him I see a 26" red laying on the white muddy bottom almost in the mangroves and behind the chord grass. I am 60' from this fish and have plenty of time to step out of the Solo, lay the anchor over the side and get my rod. I kept and eye on the fish the whole time and he is still in my cross hairs. I wade closer to cast as he drifts thru the chord grass and into the open water. My fly is there waiting on him and my heart is pumping. I am already preparing the story in my mind as the fish, without moving a muscle, continues to drift and goes right by my fly. I retrieve and recast to the same result. I curse aloud has he finally bust on my third attempt in vain. That just isn't right.

Anyway, back up and poling to catch up. I go another 100 yds and again spot a monster, this fish is 28", laying on the mud behind the grass and almost in the mangroves. Again I am 60' away and go thru the ritual of exiting, anchoring and wading closer. I know this fish will be mine and am already scheming on how to handle him running thru the grass and toward the open with my fly in his mouth. I make the cast as he trolls the water slightly deeper than his own body. The fly is there as he moves from my right to left. It is also there two other times as he moved toward me until I gave up. He lumbered right past me at 10' and out onto the flat. I cursed aloud again. Why are these big ole predators up in the skinniest of water if not to eat!

This is no fighting it. If they won't eat they won't eat so I move on. I catch up to my buddy and we wade parallel farther in the open water near some small islands. The water is darker here and the wind is kicking by now. I see a single fish cruising and he is a good one, in the 27" range. I have changed to a unweighted crab fly, like that matters. I led this fish about 5' and it turns out he likes crab. I set the hook and the fish goes screaming right at my buddy 50" away. He gets to 5' from him as I yell to him "why don't you net that fish for me". He doesn't have a net of course and the fish spooks from him and now runs straight at me so fast I can't keep up on the reel. I think he has come off but as he passes me I get tension back on him.

He makes another sideways run which picks up a lot of grass along the way and as he turns to come back at me the fly lets go. This was a nice fish as I and my buddy got to see but I did not get to pet him on the head and take his picture. The next hour or so I waded with my buddy at my side trying to point out fish to him in hopes that he would get to hook one. It wasn't to be. By the time he could see them and get ready they would see us and do what they do. Flee.

When everything aligns it seems like it is too easy. I guess it is a good thing that everything almost never aligns or it would get boring. It is hard. It is hard. It is hard. By the end of most days I want to quit and go home but the next morning I am in a hurry to get loaded up and get on the water. 6 days on and 1 day off is my fishing schedule so far this month. Today is that much needed day off. See you on Sunday red fish.

John

[Cuervo Jones]

Mama nature sure messed with me today. THe wind and chocolate milk water was great for the fish. Not great for me. Lowest tide I've seen in a while too. Here's hoping for better conditions next time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[flydoc]

Nice read John-- only wish I was the other guy throwin ugly flys and chasin tail. Cheers..

[karstopo]

Thoroughly enjoyed the write up. Easy ain't good, except sometimes.

[eightweight]

A beautiful day.

Fly fishing . . . faith, humility, and patience.

[Drifting Yak]

Thanks for taking the time to write the details. Enjoyed the read. And you are right....sometimes...."It is hard"!