WildBill
06-14-2008, 07:15 AM
As I was reflecting back on the time I have spent fishing the east coast of Florida, I was suddenly startled out of my day dream by the sound of my tires running over the reflectors indicating my lane of travel. “Today was going to be different”, I told myself! “I didn’t get 3 hours of sleep for nothing!” Work and good fishing conditions really need to get on MY schedule, not their own!
The dirt road leading to the sandy washed away boat ramp was dark and quiet. I heard nothing and saw nothing, except visions of big redfish dancing through my head. I was greeted at the ramp by the pungent smell of sulfur from the receding water due to lack of rain and decaying fish carcasses due to who knows what. A gentle old soul named Zane was staring out at the slightly wind chopped flats as I started unloading my polypropylene paddling machine! “Where da trout?”, my cusped challenged friend asked. I told him out in the water I presumed! He chuckled. “I cot me sum a dem catfeeshes last time and sum a dem lil trouts but nuttin big enough to get two sandwiches outa!” he exclaimed. I told him I was chasing big redfish and he told me he hooked into something that almost pulled him in last time. I said, “That’s what I’m looking for!”
As I paddled off into the dark moist morning I could see the silhouette of the jetty of land that today would be my hunting grounds! I was joined along the way by a multitude of happy mullet jumping and splashing and saying hi with there thumps against my boat. I had met my first goal of being on the water by 5:30 A.M. knowing the sun would rise again at 6:17 A.M. on this day, now I just needed to get to “the spot’ before the big reds did!
I arrived at my destination and quickly noticed one boat had beaten me to the punch. “No worries there will be plenty of fish for all today”, I thought. I decided to make a few parallel paddles up and down the shore line looking for the beautiful rust color flags waving a few inches out of the water as the sun was breaking the horizon.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508001.jpg
You see when you are searching for fish one third the size of your kayak their tales look like flags protruding out of the water as there noses are buried in the ground rooting for crabs and shrimp. The only commotion I saw for the first hour after the gorgeous sunrise was the splashes and wakes of large schools of mullet covering the flats in front of me. Two other boats had joined our fishing excursion by now and they were all working top water baits hoping to catch a trout or hungry redfish. Luck was on my side today and all the boats had made there way about 100 yards from me when I spotted my first flag!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508003.jpg
My heart started beating out of my chest as I cast my first chunk of cut mullet 20 feet in front of the spot I had seen the first sign of redfish inhabitants on this flat. I was putting another piece of bait on my second rod when my first one started screaming then went quiet! I picked up the now silent rod and reeled in a bare hook! Feeling of despair filled my heart as I knew I had missed a big fish! I cast my second pole out and baited my first pole again then sent that bait flying in the opposite direction in case there were any stragglers lagging behind. About 30 minutes went by then I saw another tail break the surface of the thick salty water and it was headed towards my bait now resting peacefully on the bottom in the four foot deep trough between the flat and the shoreline.
Flit, flit, flit, flit, flit, flit, flit was the sound my line made as it was being pulled off my reel sitting in the rod holder with an open bail. “This is it!” I thought to myself. I gently picked up the rod as if were picking up my new born niece out of her crib to caress her against my warm body. I carefully closed the bail and set back and held my fishing pole firmly with the butt nestled in my belly. The line grew tight and my kayak started to move forward as if I were slowly paddling. I felt a little head shake from the big beast but then just a steady pull as if the big girl didn’t even know anything was out of the ordinary. I applied a little more pressure and started to gain line on her. Then quicker and quicker more line! She was headed right for me! Surely this was a big redfish and not some little dink trout I thought! Well, as soon as I could see the beginning of my four foot flouro-carbon leader she must’ve seen me and took off like a rocket directly under my yak and out the other side behind me. It was all I could do to get the rod tip down into the water and under the boat to save the line from being cut on my rudder or the pole being snapped in half! I was all bent over and had almost the entire rod in the water when the whole kayak and myself started turning and ended up facing the fleeing fish again! There was no doubt in my mind she knew she was hooked then!
The fight continued for another 10-15 minutes with majestic runs pulling line and testing the limits of my drag. She finally gave in about 20 feet away and I slowly reeled the exhausted fish closer to my boat to get a good look at her! That first look sent chills through my spine! She was huge! The biggest I’ve caught in a kayak let alone in my life! She was beautiful, rust and red color with a belly so white it was if it had never seen sunlight. I immediately picked up my paddle with my right hand, held the rod and fish still in the water in my left hand and made my way to shallower water to revive and photograph this wonder creation. This short trip would benefit the redfish but test my physical ability of paddling a 65 pound kayak and a 20 pound fish with one hand.
The fish was almost fully revived by the time I got to two feet of water. I made sure to keep her head under water so the water could flow through her mouth and over her gills out through her gill plates. I hopped off my kayak, secured my rod and paddle and grabbed my lip gripper and measuring tape. 40" snout to tail!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508004.jpg
About this time one of the guys in the boat had made it over to me and offered to take a few pictures for me, I happily accepted! After the pictures where taken, the redfish was released fully revived and free to fight another day. The circle hook I used worked flawlessly by hooking through the nerveless corner of her mouth and would not affect her feedings later on that day.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508005.jpg
I sat back, reminisced for a few minutes then started the whole process over again. The redfish were still there but they were done feeding for now…..
Bill
The dirt road leading to the sandy washed away boat ramp was dark and quiet. I heard nothing and saw nothing, except visions of big redfish dancing through my head. I was greeted at the ramp by the pungent smell of sulfur from the receding water due to lack of rain and decaying fish carcasses due to who knows what. A gentle old soul named Zane was staring out at the slightly wind chopped flats as I started unloading my polypropylene paddling machine! “Where da trout?”, my cusped challenged friend asked. I told him out in the water I presumed! He chuckled. “I cot me sum a dem catfeeshes last time and sum a dem lil trouts but nuttin big enough to get two sandwiches outa!” he exclaimed. I told him I was chasing big redfish and he told me he hooked into something that almost pulled him in last time. I said, “That’s what I’m looking for!”
As I paddled off into the dark moist morning I could see the silhouette of the jetty of land that today would be my hunting grounds! I was joined along the way by a multitude of happy mullet jumping and splashing and saying hi with there thumps against my boat. I had met my first goal of being on the water by 5:30 A.M. knowing the sun would rise again at 6:17 A.M. on this day, now I just needed to get to “the spot’ before the big reds did!
I arrived at my destination and quickly noticed one boat had beaten me to the punch. “No worries there will be plenty of fish for all today”, I thought. I decided to make a few parallel paddles up and down the shore line looking for the beautiful rust color flags waving a few inches out of the water as the sun was breaking the horizon.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508001.jpg
You see when you are searching for fish one third the size of your kayak their tales look like flags protruding out of the water as there noses are buried in the ground rooting for crabs and shrimp. The only commotion I saw for the first hour after the gorgeous sunrise was the splashes and wakes of large schools of mullet covering the flats in front of me. Two other boats had joined our fishing excursion by now and they were all working top water baits hoping to catch a trout or hungry redfish. Luck was on my side today and all the boats had made there way about 100 yards from me when I spotted my first flag!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508003.jpg
My heart started beating out of my chest as I cast my first chunk of cut mullet 20 feet in front of the spot I had seen the first sign of redfish inhabitants on this flat. I was putting another piece of bait on my second rod when my first one started screaming then went quiet! I picked up the now silent rod and reeled in a bare hook! Feeling of despair filled my heart as I knew I had missed a big fish! I cast my second pole out and baited my first pole again then sent that bait flying in the opposite direction in case there were any stragglers lagging behind. About 30 minutes went by then I saw another tail break the surface of the thick salty water and it was headed towards my bait now resting peacefully on the bottom in the four foot deep trough between the flat and the shoreline.
Flit, flit, flit, flit, flit, flit, flit was the sound my line made as it was being pulled off my reel sitting in the rod holder with an open bail. “This is it!” I thought to myself. I gently picked up the rod as if were picking up my new born niece out of her crib to caress her against my warm body. I carefully closed the bail and set back and held my fishing pole firmly with the butt nestled in my belly. The line grew tight and my kayak started to move forward as if I were slowly paddling. I felt a little head shake from the big beast but then just a steady pull as if the big girl didn’t even know anything was out of the ordinary. I applied a little more pressure and started to gain line on her. Then quicker and quicker more line! She was headed right for me! Surely this was a big redfish and not some little dink trout I thought! Well, as soon as I could see the beginning of my four foot flouro-carbon leader she must’ve seen me and took off like a rocket directly under my yak and out the other side behind me. It was all I could do to get the rod tip down into the water and under the boat to save the line from being cut on my rudder or the pole being snapped in half! I was all bent over and had almost the entire rod in the water when the whole kayak and myself started turning and ended up facing the fleeing fish again! There was no doubt in my mind she knew she was hooked then!
The fight continued for another 10-15 minutes with majestic runs pulling line and testing the limits of my drag. She finally gave in about 20 feet away and I slowly reeled the exhausted fish closer to my boat to get a good look at her! That first look sent chills through my spine! She was huge! The biggest I’ve caught in a kayak let alone in my life! She was beautiful, rust and red color with a belly so white it was if it had never seen sunlight. I immediately picked up my paddle with my right hand, held the rod and fish still in the water in my left hand and made my way to shallower water to revive and photograph this wonder creation. This short trip would benefit the redfish but test my physical ability of paddling a 65 pound kayak and a 20 pound fish with one hand.
The fish was almost fully revived by the time I got to two feet of water. I made sure to keep her head under water so the water could flow through her mouth and over her gills out through her gill plates. I hopped off my kayak, secured my rod and paddle and grabbed my lip gripper and measuring tape. 40" snout to tail!
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508004.jpg
About this time one of the guys in the boat had made it over to me and offered to take a few pictures for me, I happily accepted! After the pictures where taken, the redfish was released fully revived and free to fight another day. The circle hook I used worked flawlessly by hooking through the nerveless corner of her mouth and would not affect her feedings later on that day.
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn241/WildBill0215/IRL060508005.jpg
I sat back, reminisced for a few minutes then started the whole process over again. The redfish were still there but they were done feeding for now…..
Bill