Fishing yesterday with Chris McCreedy

Yesterday I fished with Captain Chris McCreedy. We were celebrating his birthday, and the snack cakes were delicious. We were joined by Kathryn Vallilee, who was eager to catch her first daytime tarpon on the fly pole.
We began near Key West, fishing for some smaller fish that Chris had found recently. It didn’t take long for Kathryn to make a god cast and come tight to a tarpon, which she promptly hooked and reeled in. I was up next at the same spot, but couldn’t get the deed done.
We stopped in one more area and had some frustrating fishing before moving on to our next and most productive spot.
I had shots at shallow passing fish every 10 minutes, and each time they would bend around the fly. Finally, we had a shot at a deeper single fish that followed the fly on a long play before committing. I was unable to get the hook into the jaw, however, and we never dried this one off. Another bite came from a fish out of a shallow string that had a plug in its mouth, and while I didn’t get the jump on this one either I was happy to have this obviously willing creature back unharmed in the gene pool to breed many mistake-making baby tarpon for years to come.
As Chris began to push down a grassy edge, I had a shot at a single that gave up the bite–this time, I was able to dry the animal off before the hook pulled. I had another bite from one more fish on the same edge not a few minutes after this, but again was unable to make the hook bury.
We left for one last stop before Chris had to go home to his wife and remaining birthday celebration, and only had a single fish that slid by us before we left for home.

I’d like to thank Chris for taking me fishing on his birthday, and Kathryn for showing us what happens when one actually sets the hook.

I’m with Aaron tomorrow, Wednesday I’m leaving for a week to deal with family happenings (my brother Caleb has decided to tie the knot).

More to come,

ncl