Finally, after weeks of excessive winds, the weather man said we’d have great conditions. It was calling for two to five knots, but I knew it would be too good to be true. I figured I’d settle for 10 to 15 knots, since all we seem to have had the past month and a half is 15 to 30 knot winds.
The morning began with a bunch of shots at fish, but every single one refused. That seemed to be the theme for the day. Refusal after refusal, but we kept at it. We figured the full moon the night before had the fish full from feeding all night long.
Hours and hours of poling, the sun began to set. We poled our way to the channel to jump on plane and head home with our tail between our legs, but I spotted a redfish tailing aggressively. We poled across the channel to the flat on the other side and made our way to the fish. I made the cast on him and It blew up on the fly, but I couldn’t stick him. Two fish later, finally got one in the skiff. The bite was on, and the tailers going ape shit all around us.
Fish were everywhere, so we decided to stick around a bit longer. It was a cool sight casting at tails in the moon light. Warren hooked up a few times, but had a tough time getting a good strip set, since he couldn’t see the eat.
After a few lost fish, Dan managed to get the hook to finally stick into one long enough to get him to the boat.
It was a fun and different experience fishing for tailing reds in the moon light. I wouldn’t recommend going out specifically at night to do this, but it was an opportunity we were given, and we made the most of it.
Until next time,
-Eric Estrada