Tailers.

Saltwater Fly-Fishing
1

I walked a favorite flat tonight with no luck. Lots of bait fish and fiddlers, but no reds. Has anyone seen any yet?
Hopefully they will be in next week on the new moon.
The water was pretty warm to walk in, so I would think they are getting close.
Chris.

2

Caught one on the flat behind my house on Monday, and saw four or five others. Unfortunately this was on a jerk shad, but plan on leaving the spinning rod home and just carrying the flyrod from here on out. This flat is on a creek off the Wando. See this link for a video.

http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc230/plankaujr/?action=view&current=VID00018-20090420-1800.flv

“Curiousity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect." Steven Wright

3

yea i walked around the lockwood flat yesterday and didn’t see anything except mullet

4

Saw three on the flat tonight. Got one to eat but pulled the hook when he made a run into the spartina.

5

I saw 3 at Plum Island this evening. Two were outside my casting distance and the other didn’t like my backcast.

Needed to keep casting to keep the gnats off! Were are the bats when you need them?

Happy stalking

Chris

6

Nothing in the Stono/Kiawah. Went thursday and friday, saw lots of fids and bait but no tails.

7

I went again on Saturday and the tide was about a foot lower than predicted. Not enough water to cover the flat. Still waiting to see my first tails of the year. Maybe next weekend.

8

Saw one doing the tailing thing last weekend but it was really only halfhearted tail. The others I saw at high tide were still just cruising the grassline in pairs or threesomes. They’ll probably start with the next flood tide. The egrets and fiddlers aren’t really in full force yet…

9

they were in full force the last set of tides. Tailing like august. Wish I could get out in time for friday eve.

10

got my first grass bass of the year tonight… finally, saw probably 50 in the past two days… had some good shots, had some bad ones, but got one to hand either way… I got 25 or so last year… so lets see if I can top that in 09’

Mad Mike
The Charleston Angler
www.thecharlestonangler.com

11

Good on you, Mike. I went tonight and saw 0 tails. Didn’t even hear any splashing that made me think some where in the area.

Oh well, back after 'em again on Friday.

12

I have fished the last two days with a good friend of mine that got out of the marines on Tuesday. He caught a nice big red on live bait yesterday. It was about 35-40" and weighed about 15lbs. I will post the pictures as soon as I can.

We went to my favorite flat tonight and wow.

We must have seen 30 fish on the flat over a 90 minute period.

I threw a rattle fly at the first several fish and had no luck.
I switched over to a red fish toad and I was broken off by a brute on the first cast.
He made the flat nervous for a little while and just before the sun went down, I saw about 5 fish tailing at the end of the flat.
I casted to the first fish with no luck, he spooked and the second fish never flinched.
3 casts later and he was on a dupree spoon. He fought for about 10 minutes with several nice runs. He was about 7lbs.
Even as we were walking back to the boat, we could see fish tailing in the setting sun.
The most amazing day I have ever had on tailing reds.
Chris.

13

stalked the little murrels pitville last night and saw half a dozen for about 15 mins. it was howling when i went in so i just went spinning with a gulp(no interest at all}. they werent spooky at all came right up to me but wouldnt take it. one was nice. wind died right after the rain stopped so i wish i had my long rod(and a better head net). had to hustle to get back through the woods before black dark and didnt see any on the other side of the ridge. do any of you guys stay out and walk by the moon? these asymmetric tides make it hard to get water in the daylight. was gonna try the moon tonight but its thick cloudy and the water is around 10pm.

we dont need no reservations we dont need no cruise control

14

Hutch, BUGS WERE HORRIBLE LAST NIGHT, have tried fishing 'em at night, very frustrating trying to get fly in front of fish, a live mullet and a cork would probably work well… been very slow in n.i. for tailers, wind has prevented h20 from filling flats b4 darkoclock, trout have been biting while waiting for water to come in.

Newman
www.gtownkingfisher.com

15

yeah it was gnat city with yrllow black and green flies working hard. only a few mosquitos but that may have been an air traffic control problem. not enough airspace. i am heading back out tonight. got a mobetta net with window screen on a straw “hat”. i will also have a light for coming across the ditches. we saw a grown cottonmouth this week. i have seen them and the canes right by the road. ive tied up some bunny jigs MMmm style on 1/4 standups. ill call em bigeye streamline clousers if confronted. if there arent clouds i have to think you could see the tails if they are as close as Thursday.

we dont need no reservations we dont need no cruise control

16

IMG]http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss310/nbk65bo/pic035.jpg[/IMG]

This is the red my buddy caught the day after he got of the marines.

Chris.

17

try to figure out how to post photos. The last one was caught on live bait in a lagoon. We were trying to catch some tarpon, but they may have died over the winter.
When i get a chance, i will post more pictures.
chris.

18

i think i realized the answer to moon walking as i stood around waiting for it to rise last night. the full moon, or any other phase for that matter, is always going to rise at high tide on the SC coast(lunitidal interval = ~5 hr). So by the time it is up high enough to see by, the reds will be coming off the flats. the moon will also be setting around high tide so it would probably be helpful for getting an early start on the morning, but that doesnt solve the current problem of good tides only in the evening.
i am also wondering if the flats feeding is visual for the reds. there were a few there right up to sunset but they split right at dark, even though the water still wasnt maxed out. i did see some nice ones and got a short pickup on a doa shrimp. they were in a “second tier” flat that had water early and is a few inches lower. once again the wind made it a little tough to fly. i may try the back flat again though i didnt see one thursday. it has about another hour lag on the tide so the moon may be useful before the water peaks.
or i may just have to wait til we get a decent morning tide, though my quick look at the chart seemed to show slim pickins this summer.
oh well,if you could figure them out they would be extinct.

we dont need no reservations we dont need no cruise control

19

think they use noses most of the time (especilly when h20 is low with lots of grass in their faces and they are totally focused on buried fiddlers), when water is way up with lots of current they seem to use eyes to hunt mullet and shrimp… just my 2cents

Newman
www.gtownkingfisher.com