At least we got one day in…

Our fishing on Monday was pretty difficult, as The Wind had moved in and we didn’t have much visibility due to a pretty consistent cloud cover.
Conditions notwithstanding, we fished hard all morning and early afternoon for the six.
Our first spot didn’t produce, and we simply moved from area to area in hopes of finding a few laid up giants. When the tide turned, we left for the same area we fished on Saturday in hopes that some fish would still be bouncing around. We found a few, and even got some shots off as the wind pulled the stake twice (!) in an hour.
At around 1 PM we had a single fish sliding down a sandy patch towards us. I threw the fly on its left side, hoping that the current would swing it in to its line. While that didn’t quite happen as I’d planned, I continued to strip; we were using a large, brightly colored fly and I figured the fish might see it. As I stripped the fly at tarpon pace, another creature showed up and appeared interested. I thought it was a barracuda at first, but as it turned to come at the fly I saw it was a permit. I was pretty shocked when the permit ate the giant (color pattern redacted), and most likely due to my surprise didn’t set the hook. It was enough to blow us away, however, though our excitement was tempered by the attendant “wouldn’t it have been cool if he stayed connected”.
Later, we left for the ocean and I hooked three fish–none of them stayed buttoned up, and I had another couple fish eat from two separate schools that I didn’t get the steel in–they were coming right at me, I didn’t strip fast enough, etc.
With that, we called it a day. Early Tuesday morning I received a text from Aaron. It said simply: “stay home”. The Wind had returned, bringing with it enough rain to keep everyone I know off the water. I went to a movie with Bruce Chard and Steve Jacobs.

More to come after Friday, when I fish with John O’Hearn.

ncl