Got out on the water this morning, and figured I’d push way back into the flood grass and see what was shaking. Initially it was a tad windy, not bad, but bad enough I figured I stick with my 8wt. Plus the Water was deep, even in the far back reaches 2-3’. My 8wt had a freshly tied 1/2n1/2, more on this later, so it got the nod.
I Found some fish and had some good shots and a few follows, along with one slurp. He sucked it in, I gave short strip and out comes the fly and off he goes. After the this, the wind goes dead calm and tide had started flowing out, so I figured it was now the perfect time for the new 6wt to come out and play. I forgot to mark my line so I don’t know exactly what it was doing, but holy smokes, that lil rod is a rocket. I’m confident in saying it was hitting 70’ with ease. It’s a lil slow to get moving, but once you get 15-20’ of line out, she’s pretty badass. I’ll go and update the build post with my full impressions.
At any rate, after practicing with it, and casting at the mullet, I had enough confidence in it and myself, to go hunt some reds. As luck has it, I drop the push pole in the water to spin around, and here comes (2) 25/26” fish right off my stern, of course they hit the nitrous button and shot outta there like nobody’s business. So I continue on my way, and finally spot this little dude (19”) swimming with a school of mullet. I take my shot and he turns, not spooked, just changed direction, so I ease up into a patch of grass, and wait. About 5min later he circles back. I take my shot again, he’s about 40-45’ out, sees the fly and smokes it!!
I don’t generally put reds on the reel, but this guy was headed south in a hurry and found the reel in short order. He continues to burn through the drag which was pretty loose, so I snug up on it a bit and that lil $hit does a 180 and heads back towards me. I’m able to take up the slack and keep some pressure on em, as he runs for the grass. Once he got in there, he just stayed put. I finally got myself off the polling platform and to the bow, and into the boat he came.
Now onto the fly. The last 3 trips, these Reds have been being bitc$$. I’ve had follows, slurps, snubs but no hookups. I’ve tried different patterns, different colors but just couldn’t get a commitment. So I thought well heck, I’ll try a black and purple 1/2n1/2. So I tied one up for the 8wt. As I’m tying that up, my daughter asks what am I tying for the 6wt. So I tell her, I’m thinking about a small shrimp pattern on either a 2 or 4 hook, and she says, “you outta tie up a Black and Gold shrimp”. (The rod is black and gold for those of you may that may have missed that thread) So I figure, why not. (The 1/2n1/2 had a solid slurp and spit) The black n gold shrimp however, did the trick. Moral of the story.. Think I’ll just stick to throwing whatever she recommends..
.. To this day, her little Elsa Fly has put more fish in the net than anything else I’ve tied..
