for the (relatively) young'uns, on the water fashion is as important as catching fish. sean and "lost brian" were out and about this week doing their thang in style.
well
it seems not much has changed since last week.
reports of bone catching are still strong island wide. those of you who tend to salt the gear away
when things get tough may want to start thinking about taking the winter dust
off again. as i told e.t. the other week
i think we’ve turned the corner. we did have another better than average winter season even though it did get pretty spotty at times.
as
always is the case with me and my screwy internal time clock. just as the bonefish fishing appears to be
getting good and the “tough” days appear to be diminishing, i don’t really feel
like fishing for them. i don’t exactly
know when this started happening but i have been on this cycle for a number of
years now and i can’t figure out exactly what it is.
it
doesn’t help that doug, who i normally fish with nowadays, is always very
willing not to go fish. so this week went by with a number of phone
calls that ended with “okay, let’s not go today... maybe tomorrow. call me up.”
before we knew it, it was
friday. we have to go.
“what time?”
“let’s
just fish the rise so no need go until twelve thirty.”
“good. i’ll see you there.”
usually
the later in the day we plan to meet up, the later we actually show up. you know, you think you have lots of time and
you start doing other things then you look at the clock and “oh crap! i gotta go!”
that’s
pretty much how it goes with us and this weeks short friday afternoon session
was no exception. not surprisingly, after my little fishing hiatus, i decided to
fish my beloved “imperial
guard” (sage
691-4 method and abel
classic reel). i wore a pair of simms wading boots out on the flat. i usually start wearing wading boots a month or so before
going fishing in the northwest just to get my feet used to wearing them again. they are quite a
bit more substantial to walk around in than the slippers, crocs, or tabis that
my feet normally live in. i also decided
to “try” to fish close to doug. doug
fishes at a fast pace and walks a lot, an aggressive, seek and destroy, pillage and plunder kind of
fish hunter. i fish at a more chill out,
relax, take your time and let them come to you kind of pace. great for having fun but not so good for
"wading boot" training.
so doug
and i fished together for a while and there were a good number of fish to take shots at. we horsed around and both hooked fish. after an hour or so, as usual, we settled back into
our genetically predisposed fishing paces.
he told me he was going to walk up the flat. the fishing had slowed down quite a bit by this time but i jokingly told him anyway, “what, you’re going to
leave fish to find fish?”
“i
do it all the time,” he replied laughing.
doug walks a lot when hunting bones. he covers water sight fishing like i cover water bombing.
compared to doug i sight fish like a sloth and i don't usually cover nearly as much of the flat. i'm more of a pick an area and play the hand you're dealt kind of guy. in the end both the tortoise and the hare end up crossing the finish line.
doug
picked up his pace and soon was over a hundred yards away from me. as the sun descended, it was getting a little
tough to see. i still was able spot and
hook a few more fish. two of which were
a bit too much for the imperial guard to handle. but that’s the game when you fish sixes out here. hook fish at your own risk. i hooked one more fish that i landed and
called it done. it was all in all another
fun day in the life and further evidence that the better days of bonefish are upon
us. hopefully it will continue and i’ll
see you on the water.
bones appear to be more active these days. good time for those who "like to catch".
"in spring time
the only pretty ring time
birds sing
eh, ding a-ding a-ding
sweet lovers love
the spring."
-w.w.
good times.
clay.
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