Hi Everybody, My wife and I had a great day on Biscayne Bay yesterday. The main objective was kayaking but I managed to "sneak" my fly rod on board my yak. She was very tolerant. She paddled around and looked at birds; I paddled around and looked for fish. I don't have my yak rigged for fishing so I went low tech. I put the butt of the rod under my right knee and ran it across my body to the left. I was able to troll while paddling and my line was on the water to cast. I got a lot of practice casting and I think I did alright. Didn't catch any fish casting though. As I was paddling back to the put-in I felt my rod move. My first thought was "oh great, more seaweed". I pulled on the "seaweed" and to my surprise, it pulled back. In short order I reeled in a nice, little cuda. It was about a foot long. Being my first cuda, I was somewhat hesitant about handling it due to the teeth. While the fish was small, the teeth weren't. It also had an active set of jaws as well. Fortunately it grabbed the fly (chart/white clouser) and not the tippet. It was a clean hook in the side of the mouth and I was able to release it by holding the leader and using my forceps. After that I decided to test my luck.
Without changing tippet I throw the fly back in and resume paddling. As I pass over a sandy spot I see signs of a recent bonefish feed. Then, I feel my rod jerk! Nope, no bones, but another small cuda. This one was a bit bigger, maybe a foot and a half. It was also more active; running, jumping and snapping. Now's a good time to mention how low a sit-on-top sits on the water: very low. Here's this little cuda zipping around and acting like he wants to join me in the cockpit of my kayak. Now, I realize that the object of fishing is to reel in the fish. This little guy prompted me to do the opposite: I stripped line out when he got to close! I let him get tired then pulled him in. Teeth were a little bigger on this one. Hoping to get lucky a second time I tried to unhook him with leader and forceps. No luck, solid hook in the roof of the mouth. No choice but to grab him. I did and surprisingly, he seemed to calm down. I was able to work the hook out and then I held him in the water until he revived. He scooted away and didn't even try to bite me! ;-> . So, a very exciting day for me, two cudas w/in 5 minutes, one fly, one tippet. I'm gaining faith in the chart/white clouser. I still need to work on my presentation but at least I landed some fish. Tomorrow I'm off to try wading some of the keys flats. Keep those fingers crossed! Also, I'll be sending out the final list & instructions for the dollar swap tomorrow. Have a great day, Ken (FL)
