Fly fishing in the wind leads to total chaos

My picture this week is of me in the water with a redfish. You may be asking yourself, why would Greg get into the water in the middle of February? Is this the fishing version of a polar bear plunge? These are good questions that I will endeavor to answer.

 

Last Friday, Elliott (my son), Brody (the amazing fish-finding and stock-trading dog) and I met for dinner. As we ate our food, our discussion turned to fishing on Saturday. 

 

The weather forecast called for overcast conditions and a moderate northeasterly breeze. Tough conditions to target redfish in the shallows with a fly rod.  

 

I voted to fish for trout with soft plastic lures. However, Elliott and Brody wanted to target redfish on the fly. After reminding them that conditions were not optimal, I reluctantly agreed to go fly fishing.

 

We met in the morning at 7:30. It was cloudy, cold, and windy as we walked down the dock to the skiff. I reminded Elliott and Brody that it was not a good day for fly fishing.  

 

The clouds would make seeing the redfish problematic. The wind would make poling the skiff and casting the fly rod a chore. The cold would make the whole experience no fun.  

 

Yet, Elliott and Brody insisted. So, we launched the skiff into the last of the falling tide.

 

For the next two hours, pretty much everything went wrong. We spooked numerous schools of redfish because they saw us before we saw them. When we did see them, the wind made casting the fly extremely difficult. I blew several good opportunities by making a poor cast. It was a frustrating morning.

 

I was ready to quit. Then for a brief moment, the wind dropped, and the sun came out.  

 

From the poling platform, Elliott spotted a large redfish slowly swimming towards us. He held the skiff in position, and I prepared to cast. When the fish was 40 feet away, I dropped the brown Clouser Minnow fly right in front of the redfish. We held our breath as the fish swam forward and ate the fly.  

 

Jubilation! Brody got so excited that he fell out of the skiff. This caused the skiff to tilt unexpectedly, and I fell into the water as well. Total chaos. Brody was barking and chasing the redfish around in the shallow water. I kept fighting the fish. Elliott laughed.

 

By some miracle, we landed the fish and took a picture.

 

Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.