Early in the Marsh

[YakRunabout]

It was dark in the marsh, lit mainly by the 7% crescent moon low on the horizon. Familiar island clumps of marsh grass were barely visible. They were visible as silhouettes if looking east toward the lights of the homes – but I was headed west. The light from the 700 lumen flashlight with fresh batteries helped me to identify these landmarks, once my eyes adjusted to the glare!
The marsh at night is interesting – faraway sounds seem closer, familiar sounds become eerie. You advance more slowly. Casting to familiar points and banks produces nothing, but then you are not sure just where the cast lands in the dark.
Soon the horizon lightens with the approaching sun. Clouds in the sky make for an interesting image. With a bit more light a large rain storm approaching from the south becomes apparent! I expected rain to show up later in the day – did not bring along an umbrella – no problem, it’s just rain. A bolt running across the sky from a storm to the west indicates that it is not just rain. I lay my carbon sticks on the deck of the boat to reduce any sort of attractant. Turns out the storm to the south went east of me and the storm to the west headed north. All I got was a few sprinkles and a full rainbow along with the rising sun.
I was headed into the northern areas of Pierce marsh along with the rising tide. I was off to explore some areas that lack of water had kept me away from previously. So explore I did – I was able to access much new territory. So, this wasn’t just an exploration, but also a fishing trip. The exploration aspect was a success but the fish did not want to play. I ended the day with a small trout and a lady fish. Saw lots of mullet and spooked other fish, had a few bumps but nothing much on the line. I saw and heard very little feeding activity.
Even without cooperation from the fish it was a good day. The rain cooled off the morning. I was off the water before the heat.
It was also my first marsh outing with a recently acquired Viking Reload. The Reload just laughs at the shallow water, gliding effortlessly along. The mud that I carried on my paddle indicates just how shallow it is.
Enjoy your next outing!

[YakRunabout]

More pics

[Drifting Yak]

Beautiful pics Ken and glad the new Reload is working out for ya!

[karstopo]

Beautiful. Thanks for taking us along.

[YakRunabout]

Thanks, guys - glad you enjoyed it!

As an aside - I submitted the pre-dawn picture to the click2houston app and it was selected to show before the weather segment during their 5PM broadcast on Thursday.
So I am watching the show to see it presented - but no, it is not shown! Seems there were two big storm systems coming together, one from the west one from the southeast, over Tomball and about to sit and dump in that area - they chose to lead with that instead of my pic!!

Darn - I could have been somebody, I could have been a contendah!
Ha ha -

[Chubs]

Ah shoot. It's a nice picture!

In fact they are all nice