10/19/05

We went out early yesterday morning and parked the boat on the outside of a fairly thin flat that spreads on either end to being pretty expansive. We hung out for about 45 minutes until the water got up in the grass enough. As soon as that water was high enough the first Redfish tail came flopping out. Though that one quickly disappeared about 5 more crawlers showed up right behind him pushing through the spartina grass and moving fairly quickly.
We tried to put some flies in front of them but the grass was a little too thick to get a fly down into the water so we moved ahead to a few open spots where the fish had to cross to continue on their trek across the flat. They were staying relatively straight on their line of travel so we were able to anticipate where they would enter these open areas so we could hook up. That proved to be the correct decision and we got them to hit a root beer colored shrimp pattern with a small dumbbell eye. It wasn’t long after a sighting a few more fish that we decided that there was just too much water on the flat so we moved on. These types of mornings in the Lowcountry are experiences you never forget and why should you with the beauty of this place. I never cease to be amazed at what the Lowcountry has to offer.
At the end of the trip we had a learning experience I would like to pass on. We had switched to conventional tackle and I had hooked into a very nice red and just wasn't able to keep it out of a small grass point. It wrapped itself up in the grass and I wasn't able to get him undone. I started to break him off but I really didn't really think that was the best idea so I put the rod in the rod holder and we continued to fish the area for about 10 more minutes and caught one more fish. I pulled my push pole out of the mud that was acting as my anchor and moved over to where that fish was tied up in the grass. This red was still there so I cut the line close to the grass but he was still stuck so I had to cut line on the other side between the grass and the hook. If I had broken him off he was far too tied up to have gotten off there before the tide dropped. So by not braking him off this 26 inch red was resuscitated and able to swim away just fine. Keep your lines tight out there, Capt. Tuck