I'd lost everything I had on the books due to the two week freeze and other things, but finally got on the water on Saturday with Tom Collins, an old friend I hadn't seen in about five years. Tom's brother Gary was down from the cold country, and they wanted a day on the water together, and weren't too concerned about the fishing forecast. We knew it was going to be tough out there, but treated the situation like a POR (Press On Regardless) rally I used to drive back in my PCA days. They were always fun, no matter what. And speaking of Porsche days, Tom is one of the most interesting and fascinating people you could ever have in your boat. He has his hands in several kinds of racing and fishes all over the world, and that's just scratching the surface. I doubt Tom has ever had to tell the same story twice!
We had a tide for all of Saturday morning that would have been cause for panic were it displayed on your heart monitor. It was a flat-liner! That in itself is a zero bite situation that would just be further exacerbated by the cold water. Give that, I decided to take the boys up the river to an area near Shell Island that is always covered with big ladyfish. We could at least have some fun catching those aerial acrobatics and keep something pulling on the lines while we waited on the tide. NOT! It turned out to be one of the few times in my life that the ladyfish wouldn't bite there. I'm not even sure they were there. There were still plenty of rotting fish corpses floating on the tide, though.
We aimed the bow back down the river, and by this time the fog and low lying clouds were burning away and bring in the promise of a beautiful day. I decided on trout fishing in Long Cut, which is one of those places where the trout will still bite even when the cold has them shut down everywhere else. I was about to think we were going to get skunked on the trout, and maybe on the day, as they weren't biting, either. But, we kept at it, and immersed in Tom's adventures, the time just flew by. Finally, after a few bumps and follows, we killed the skunk with a small trout. We caught a handful, and I thought we'd finally found a school of trout that were willing to eat, but it was short-lived.
The tide was just beginning to move and we were hungry. We decided to spend the early part of the tide having lunch at the Waterfront, and then come back out and see if just maybe we could get lucky and find a redfish. Lunch took about an hour and a half, and by the time we were back on the water the tide was beginning to cover things nicely.
Once at our chosen area, I tied on a small ¼ oz. silver spoon, a ½ oz. gold spoon with rattle chambers, and a silver spoon with rattles. I put the trolling motor on crawl and we cast our way into the flat. I was encouraged at least by the fact that I saw no dead reds laying on the bottom or floating in the area. About half way into the flat we struck our first redfish. Gary brought it to the boat skillfully, and into the well she went. It was a perfect fish for the table at about 24 inches.
One thing any redfish angler learns is that there's no such thing as one redfish on a flat. The are pack animals, so to speak, and move about and feed in schools. And, although they won't necessarily stay in a tight school to feed, they will usually stay close. So, after catching that first fish I knew we at least had a shot at catching more, if we could just figure them out. We'd already had a couple of fish follow our lures almost to the boat without eating. And, as we continued to work the area we had a number of hits that bent the weed guard down, but the fish just weren't aggressive enough to get them hooked. Finally, Gary caught another nice red just like the first. Soon afterward, we had to head for home, as the guys had a late afternoon commitment.
Although the day wasn't filled with constant action, and actually very little action, it was one of the most enjoyable trips I've had in a long time. I've been blessed to grow old with many of my friends and customers in my age group. And, I've noticed that guys in the second half of life, to a man seem to realize that fishing isn't about the catching, but about enjoying the outdoors, the water, with all the splendor it has to offer, with friends and loved ones. Tom, Gary and I had this conversation as well. And, catching really is just the icing on an already delicious cake!