A report from Eric for mikescatchreport.com
I had a day off so I made the best of it after dropping my son off at school. I got to the beach around 7:45am. The tide was rising so I did not have much time to fish before it got too deep. I walked down to the beach then started out to fly fish the middle of the flats.
I made some cast but no one wanted to eat the fly. I saw my favorite spot in the distance but I thought that with the rising tide, I might be swimming back in when I was done fishing. But I decided to take a chance and walked out there.
I made some cast with the What-You-Call-That-Shrimp pattern but had no luck. So I switched to a variation of the Steve Lee Fly and made several cast left then right but had no bites. It was difficult to see if the fish moving through the pocket because of the wind and clouds, so I decide to fish for 15 minutes then quit the spot or I would be swimming in. I threw one cast to the left of a small coral head, made three small strips and felt a tug. I made another strip and it felt like I hooked a Trumpet fish. But when I set the hook, the line went screaming out of my Lamson Litespeed reel.
Here we go again. Same problem as last time. What should I do--fight it from The Rock or jump in and chase the fish? The tide was over one foot by now so I fought the fish for a while on The Rock but then I decided to chase the fish. I made my way towards the breakers. I could feel the fish but I knew the line was rubbing on the coral. This fish went around three coral heads before it broke my 30 pound tippet.
I headed back in to change the leader then walked to shallower water. I found a spot where the water was clear then picked a spot where I could see the fish when they pass. I fished for awhile then saw a shadow coming from the left, so I made a cast and waited. After two strips the fish was on. This one gave me a good fight and it weight in at 4 1/2 pounds. It was another good day of fishing the flats.
