Tails in the grass

I stepped out of my Jeep in the pre-dawn light and took a deep breath.  I love fall in the Low Country.  The cool morning air, the smell of salt water and pluff mud.  Hearing pelicans and seagulls calling out, and a marsh hens bark.  Headlights shone from behind me and I knew my fishin buddy had arrived.  We set about assembling our fly rods and picking the flies for the day.  I had a new weapon in my arsenal.  I call it the "Copper Clobber " and it looks nasty.  It has the same body as Mad Mikes Copperhead Crab and a Rabbit strip tail like a buddies go-to fly.  I took the best of both flies and created this one.  I just hope the Redfish like it as much as I do.  We had some time before high tide and we set out just as the sun came over the horizon. 

We walked the flat from end to end and I mentally cataloged each fishy looking cut or dip with a land mark to allow me to check it out when the water came in.  I got here so early because it is a brand new flat to me.  I wanted to see it dry before the water came in and try to "read" this flat.  As the water came in and started to flood the grass we set up on high ground.  We watched a pretty good looking flat as it filled up.  I left Drew watching the spot while I scouted out a few other close places.  I worked out and around, the grass was beautiful, flooded and about knee deep.  I made my way around my mental checklist and stopped at each landmark I had set.  I moved out to the last one of the area we were in and I stopped for a minute.  movement in front of me caught my attention and I saw three very nice Redfish tails waving at me.  Instantly the tunnel vision set in.  I started stripping line from my reel and gauging the distance.  I was in full on sneak mode as I picked my way closer to the fish.  Each step those tails kept waving.  A thousand thoughts raced through my head.  Did I tie the fly on good enough?  Will the Reds even want this fly? Is my leader too long or short?  Will this leader be strong enough? Did I turn off the coffee maker before I left?  My ADD kicked in and it brought me back to the task at hand.  I got about 30 feet from the first tail and sized him up.  Not huge but since the water was over my knee it had to be a good fish.  The next fish was HUGE.  One of the biggest tails I have seen.  Flip, flop, splash... gone.  The big one never tailed again and ghosted.  The closest one was still tailing away and the furthest one was too, but the closer one looked bigger so I set my crosshairs on him.  My first cast was a little short.  No biggie.  I stripped more line out.  Cast number two.  Perfect but behind him.  Have I mentioned this is only the second time I have seen a Redfish tail this year?  Yeah... I am a little rusty and it doesn't help when your heart is beating 500 times a minute and your hands are shaking.   Cast number three.  Perfect but he misses it.  I pull it up, haul it and drop it in front of him again.  Three feet, two feet, he is on top of my fly.  I see his tail swirl and I feel my fly line start to move under my finger, two inches, three inches, BAM!!! I stuck him hard and I have a fish on!!!  The water erupted as he flipped over and headed for deeper water.  I threw the fly line out to my left in a perfect loop and the line quickly dissapated as it came tight on the reel.  As the fish ran my reel screamed that song we all dream about.  Line payed out and I slowly put more pressure on him and started reeling him in.  He ran back and forth and took a little more line and I fought him back and forth.  I started walking towards him and felt the fight turn in my favor. He was running out of steam and I was gaining line back pretty steady.  As he got closer and saw me he made one more short run and I dragged him back and scooped him up. 

FINALLY!!!  I have caught AND landed a Redfish OTF in the grass while wading!  Another check mark on the list.  I have hooked and fought too many redfish to count OTF in the grass but I usually have the leader break, the fly pull or some other reason I never landed them.  Well of course there is also the bad casts, dropping flies on fishes heads, falling down and spooking fish, and another 200 excuses for not executing, but I finally landed one.  He is not a giant by any stretch, a little over 20", and although he didn't fight super hard he did straighten the hook on the fly a little.  After I took the fly out of his mouth and placed him back in the water he was breathing fine but he wouldn't leave us alone.  He kept swimming around our feet for a good five minutes as we laughed and joked about him being too big to be a puppy drum.  Finally he swam off and headed right back to where he was feeding.  We walked the flat for a few more hours and saw a lot more tails.  Drew is new to salt water fly fishing and I tried to get him on his first Redfish but it wasn't in the cards today.  We threw flies at probably 3 more tails and kept scouting the flat. More often than not we would see a tail flop over and disappear.   As the water receded and started getting thin we worked our way back to the landing.  It was a banner day.  I finally landed my Grass Bass and Drew saw his first tails and I have a new fly to tie more of and chase redfish with.  I have one more photo of my fish, this is a tribute to Mad Mike as his help over the years with casting and fly patterns has helped me get better and to also pass that on and teach more people, like Drew, how to do what we love.   Cue dramtic Mad Mike Pose....

Tight lines and screamin drags to you--