Finally got out on the water again today. It's been 5 weeks...
My fishing buddy Ron, didn't want to get up real early this morning, so he said
to meet him at his house at 10 am, which I did. We loaded our gear (I
thought) and got going down to Hackberry to launch in Calcasieu Lake. We get
down to Hackberry, and start loading the boat, and i realize I've left my
little cooler with my lunch, and insulin, sitting on the the front seat of my
van at Ron's house. (we aren't going back to get it. We go about a mile to
THE local grocery store in Hackberry, and purchase a few supplies (sandwiches,
a few more drinks). We get launched about 20 minutes later than we would have.
We start down the lake to where we planned to fish but realize that the wind
is coming from the southeast so strongly that the ride would be very
uncomfortable and at least twice as long as normal due to the chop (lots of
wind it gets very choppy, this lake is very shallow, maximum depth outside the
ship channel and a few holes is probably 8 ft. Most places 5 or
less). So we turn back around and start fishing a spot called Hog Island
Gully, a little bit out of the wind. Ron starts casting his new 7 wt TFO rod
that he bought at last weekend's Gulf Coast conclave & Expo. He then decides
to use his 8 wt TFO, because it has a fly on it that he thinks will be more
effective, and asks me to try out his new 7 wt TFO. So I'm trying to get the
feel of the rod, and about the tenth cast I get a hit and a hook up...after a
bout a five minute fight (with me being very careful with Ron's new rod) a 20"
redfish ends up in the net. I reach down into the net to unhook the fish, and
realize that fish isn't really hooked, but the bend of the hook of the fly is
around the gill slot underneath the jaw...good thing I didn't give the fish any
slack at all during the fight. After that the wind just kept increasing, and
increasing, we finally up 4 pm with the wind screaming 25-30 mph and no more
bites, and on bait, only hardheads (some spots were so
windy you couldn't fly cast at all).
We get back to the dock, and Ron's worst fears are realized...I finally fell
out of the boat...fortunately right onto the dock. Stepped on my prosthetic
left foot with the big clunky boot I have to wear on my right foot. Ended up
basically crawling onto the dock from the boat. Not graceful!! ron's always
worried, since the boot on the right foot is about 2K and the prosthetic left
leg is about ten times that. I keep telling him, I'll dive for that leg until
I find the dang thing if I end up in the water.
Normally we try to be fishing at about dawn to avoid the wind, but both Ron and
I were worn out from the past couple of weeks. We'll return to that pattern
soon.
Fly redfish was taken on (tied by Ron Foreman, pattern in Fly Fisher, FFF
magazine):
Pink Wonder: basically a clouser
Hook: Saltwater hook of choice
Eyes: dumbell eyes
Thread: Fluorescent pink
Wing: White bucktail, topped with a little pink crystal flash, topped with
pink buctail or pink synthetic fiber.
Mark Delaney
---------------------------------
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.
