Had the day off from work since I’m working both days of the weekend now. Called up a good friend to see if he was available and decided to give it a shot. Forecast was just right - temperature was supposed to warm nicely as the day progressed and very little wind. My friend knew of a good flat to wade on low tide, so we decided to go with that one, long rods and flies in hand.
Got a call from him this morning to tell me he was going to be a little late - no big deal. Then he pulled into the boat landing with no boat - oops, we both assumed the other person was bringing the boat, so we jumped in my ride and headed to my house to grab the jon boat. Back to the landing and on the water an hour and half after our intended departure.
Finally arrived at the flat, donned the waders, and piled out. After a good bit of wading, I finally spied a few tails up ahead, and sure enough, it turned out to be a HUGE school of big reds. My friend couldn’t get a good cast to them, and as they worked my way, I dropped my fly on the outside of the school. No takes, so recast and nada - by this point they had worked out of casting range.
As I was about to regroup to cut them off and sneak in another cast, my friend hooked up with a solid fish and told me that another school was headed my way. Decided to go ahead and cast towards their direction so the fly would be in place when they got there. Of course, my leader had to get tangled, so I quickly scrambled to get ready to cast. Finally got it untangled, and when I looked up, 20 fish were descending upon me and were within a rod’s length away. They saw me about the same time I saw them, and that’s the end of that story.
My friend finally landed his fish, snapped a picture, and tried to relocate the schools. By this time, the tide had stopped falling out, and the fishes were gone. Waded for probably another 30 minutes to no avail.
All in all, good times and can’t wait to try the spot again. Hopefully next time we’ll get there without being so late.
H