Fished some new water with CED on Saturday. First reds we found were fairly spooky, much like the fish we've been finding lately around Lanark and Dog Island. Got so bored that I took a shot at a bonnet head shark. I've never gotten one of those guys to eat, but this time the fly was right in front of his nose. As he opened his mouth to swallow it, I had second thoughts about losing my fly, and as I went to pull it away, somehow I managed to foul hook him in the pectoral fin. Knuckle busting fight ensued, but surprisingly only for about 10 or 15 minutes. Got him to the boat and managed to get the hook out and send him on his way. After a little searching, we finally found what we had been looking for - happy redfish. We caught a few small fish, and then found an old abandoned dock. There were fish all over this thing, and they didn't care one bit that we were there. Of course, this is when I commenced to get the biggest knot in my fly line that I think I've ever had. There's nothing more frustrating than watching upper slot redfish just wander around in 3 foot deep crystal clear water, 2 feet off the end of the bow, while you stand there and frantically try to work out a knot, and your buddy is on the platform behind you laughing his posterior off. After I got the knot out, we decided to hop out on the dock and survey the situation. There were fish running all up and down this thing. Then a school of about 5 - 10 fish comes cruising down, and these things are big. 30 - 33" range. I send the fly out to the biggest of the bunch, and he clobbers it. Once he realizes he's hooked he starts running to China. I fought him back to the dock, and that was my big mistake. Once he saw the structure, he naturally headed straight for it. My rod doubles over, and he commences to hang my line up on barnacle encrusted pilings. As I'm trying to get the line undone, I see the tip section of my flyrod go sliding down the line to the water. How it came off, I have no idea. Right after that, the big fish pops my leader, and I watch my rod tip begin to float off in the current. I yell to CED to hop in the boat and get it while I keep my eye on it. He manages to get it right before I lose sight of it. Of course after all that calamity, the fish finally took off. It was the most ridiculous string of errors ever, but fun nonetheless. Next time we'll come back with a different plan of attack, that will not include leaving the boat for the dock. Here's a couple of the small guys.
