I’m sure that each and everyone of you reading this post is involved in some sort of social media whether it be Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We all got one. Now what is so great about this kind of social media? It can connect you to people that share the same kinds of passions and hobbies you do. Instagram did just that for me. I was doing my daily lurk sesh on instagram when I came a cross a fellow named Webb Jackson. He looked like a great guy and he had an awesome boat to boot. So we got to talking and come to find out he went to school only 20 minutes away from my home town. So it was only necessary that we try to get out and fish. Well ,we finally found a date that worked. We made the plan to fish the Goodland area of the 10k islands, he said he had never fished it and would like to try it. We were in luck due to the fact that I knew the area relatively well. So the day finally came I met Webb at the publix right out side of Marco Island with my uncle (who takes some kick a** pictures by the way. You will be seeing a lot in this post.) It was off to the races, we launched the Hells Bay and made the short trek to some waters that have been holding some nice snook and reds.
The big snook didn’t come to play but we got some little guys to take the top water early in the morning.
So we switched up the game plan looking for laid up reds lurking on the shallow mud flats. I guess it was my lucky morning; I caught a dark shadow hanging kind of low in the water column. I made a cast that I thought would of spooked it if it was a fish, but boy was I wrong the fish flared up skidding across the space between him and the fly absolutely hammering the fly and pretty much leaving me in the dust to fend for myself. After a descent back and forth I finally boated the beautiful red.
After that amazing eat the day went kind of south with a lot of missed fish and pulled hooks but that’s the name of the game.
Webb and I kept in touch over the weeks that passed since we last went out and we figured it was time to do it all again.
We went to the same area that we caught the red at last trip and boy did it not disappoint. Within the first 5 minutes Webb spotted two reds cruising a mud bank he laid the fly across the fishes nose. I think he went crossed eyed because he tried to eat the fly three times and failed miserably. So we moved another 30 yards down the bank and two more showed themselves. Webb made the same cast but this time it stuck and it was game on! After and nice battle the fish finally tired out and Webb had him in hand.
After that we tried super hard to get my uncle his first sight fished red, but the fish just did not want to fully eat the fly. After a good hour and a half I think Mother Nature turned on her blow dryer because at times I felt like I was going to be blown off the platform. So we called it a day.
Without the help of social media I would of never gotten the pleasure of meeting and fishing with Webb. I’m sure we will have plenty more stories to come from his boat in the future.
All the Best
Patrick Rhea