The gift of fishing
Several years ago, I retired from guiding - because I wanted to spend more time fishing with my family and friends. Now, I fish over 200 days per year (more than when I was guiding). Each day is a gift to myself. A gift of laughter, smiles and time well spent with the people that I love.
Each year, the grand champion of the Daniel Island Kids Fishing Tournament wins a fishing trip with me. This year, Jackson Mackey was the tournament winner. So last week, I took Jackson and his father, Dave, fishing. We met at the boat landing at noon. Unfortunately, it was very windy and rain was forecast to arrive later in the day. Dave and I talked about rescheduling, but we decided to give it a try. The tide was high and falling when we arrived at our first spot, a wind sheltered creek that was draining into the main river. Jackson and Dave cast Z-Man StreakZ Curly Tails (Bad Shad) on quarter ounce jigs into the creek mouth and imparted a sharp jerk and long pause retrieve. After a few casts, Jackson hooked up with a Trout. Then another and another. After a while, I asked Jackson if he wanted to continue catching Trout or attempt to catch a big Redfish. Without pause, he opted for big Redfish. Given the weather conditions, I wanted to properly set Jackson’s expectations. On the ride to the Redfish spot (a shallow wind sheltered flat), we talked about this being a Hero or Zero move. He smiled and said he was having fun. I looked at Dave and saw the very same smile.
Upon our arrival at the flat, the water clarity was not very good. So we replaced our lures with frisky mud minnows. Even with live bait, there were no Redfish to be found. It was windy, cold and a light rain was falling but Jackson and Dave kept on smiling. The sun was low on the horizon, when we pulled up to our last spot of the day (a long oyster bar in about a foot of water). We cast mud minnows to the base of the bar and Jackson quickly hooked a Redfish. Jackson and Dave fought the fish together and soon a hero size Redfish came to the skiff. Jackson was amazed at the size of the fish. A great catch on light tackle and a personal best for Jackson.
I want to thank Jackson and Dave for another day of laugher, smiles and time well spent.