Fly and Light Tackle Adventures: Topsail, Bald Head, Carolina Beach, and Southport

    Yesterday I had Matthew Waddell and his father on board for a mixed species "slam" trip. Matthew manages  one of the finest tackle shops in Eastern NC (EZ Bait and Tackle of Goldsboro), is an accomplished Bluewater angler( he's mated and Captained for some of NC's most noted billfish boats, put anglers on Marlin in multiple countries and made more than a few trips to the scales at the famed Blue Rock ) and is a rabid supporter of CCANC. With light and variable winds that had the Cape Fear looking like a farm pond rather than it's usual state of powerful contrasting currents and confused chop, we hit the backwaters with  hopes high as mountains. It soon became quite apparent that hope has no place on a mountain top and is indeed more at home  as it soars earthward, reaching terminal velocity seconds before crashing into the valley below! I'll set the scene; first cast of the morning - citation class Speckled Trout expertly brought to the boat by client - said Trout then quite non-expertly dinged by guide, thus sending aforementioned fish back to the depths to haunt both guide and client for remainder of trip, and quite possibly an indeterminate portion of the near future. Okay, no biggee, we'll just go over to this spot and heal that wound by quickly putting some nice Flounder in the boat. Flounders come to boat, but all are apparently the minor children of the parents that I had found the day previous. No problem, we'll just go over to this one spot over by this other spot that has been covered up with Redfish and all will be forgiven. Second or third cast and victory is close at hand, as a 26" Redfish takes Matthew well into the grass and is behaving rudely and refusing to come out where he can be properly angled. After a quick photo we return to what is certainly going to be a Redfish massacre (preface: only 1 fish was actually wounded in the massacre) and we spend the next hour searching for a second bite. Alright it's been a little tough, but there is still the falling tide and a beautiful little Trout hole that's just waiting to rain Trout like Manna from the sky. 10 - 15 blow ups on topwater as well as a few short strikes later. it appears the Trout hole is not the promised land as we make our exodus back to the boat ramp.

                                                                                                   Later that night while agonizing over lost or missed fish, and what should of been, I was reminded of what first sparked my passion for chasing fish during a conversation with New River Smallmouth guide Matt Miles about the details of his fly fishing trip with me the next day. Matt was bursting with raw energy as he related in vivid detail the sequence of events during his latest feat, when he hooked up with his first Tailing Redfish deep in the grass from his kayak the day before. My earlier despair over a day that didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, quickly morphed into the excitement of sharing a new day in the backwaters wrought with potential. Bottom line, I relaxed and found myself back in the mindset that so often makes for productive memorable days. I hit the water at daybreak with Matt and his father Glen today and had a ball back in the grass with a few very happy tailing Reds. Matt made spot on weakside and frontside casts repeatedly laying the fly down right under their noses. However, we couldn't get so much as a look from these fish, so we retreated to a big open water flat that I was certain would be holding fish on the hard falling tide. Within minutes of hopping up on the poling platform, Glen hooked up with a single from the thick grassbank on spinning gear. I poled upcurrent about 20 yards after releasing Glen's redfish to find the school I was hoping was still hanging around in 2 feet of crystal clear water over a huge sandflat. Within seconds of spotting the school of 100 plus redfish, Matt was zeroed in on the outside edge and made yet another superb cast resulting in an immediate take from a healthy 25" fish that doubled the Sage 8 weight rod obscenely. With 10 other fish following Matt' s fish, Glenn cast with the small jerk bait and came tight to a strong fish cruising within inches of the red Matt was fighting. A double! Two generations, both spinning tackle and fly simultaneously hooked up and doing the duck and dance as rods were passed seemlessly over one another as fish wildly made several runs around the boat in opposite directions and I was back in my happy place! Minutes later, we were back on the school and both anglers found themselves again fighting fish side by side. This was repeated two more times before the final fish of the day, a  20" inch Flounder hooked by Glenn while his son was releasing another Redfish, was brought boatside. As the tide slacked, I turned the boat West and  left the school to rest . Headed back to the dock, I was blessed with a renewed spirit and the gift of having witnessed father, son, and nature at their very best.

       Some of you might remember the age old nursery rhyme a little differently, but that's what this boy is made of. With light and variable winds and a perfect tide for Tailing Reds, we spent the evening poling and wading the flooded Spartina in search of tail. After a quick bite to eat on a serene stretch of uninhabited beach while waiting for the tide, we poled and waded to roughly 30 very spooky tailing fish in the early part of the evening. Several perfect shots to backing fish on a couple extremely shallow marsh pans resulted in total chaos as we realized that we were lining atleast 5-10 inactive and invisible fish with every cast we made to visible tailing Reds. As the sun began to set and the flood tide slacked, we decided to finish the night at a different patch of water. As we shut the motor down and glided across the rare slick calm waters of the Cape Fear, we were greeted by two 100 plus pound Tarpon gently rolling within a rod's reach of us. As talk quickly turned to attempting to take one of the Silver Kings on our 8 weight fly outfits, which we knew would only lead to the loss of 100's of dollars worth of fly line and backing I saw half a dozen tails break the surface nearby on the flat we were approaching. With a tall sand rim, tons of floating debris, and extremely thick pickle weed seperating us from the small section of flooded Spartina, and the only other option being to take the long way around to deeper water, I decided a foot approach was the only way. After my client advised "no way am I walking blindly through that mess, would you?" All attempts to calm his fears of rogue gators or misguided Anacondas fell on deaf ears, so off I went to show him it was indeed safe and it wasn't the suicide mission he thought it to be. 5 - 10 feet from the boat, I realized he wasn't budging, and to make matters worse, the Reds were tempting me to do something I never do on a guide trip...fish! To my astonishment, he handed me the rod, and said "go ahead, I'll watch" Well, being a guide that tries to always please his clients, I headed off stalking the closest tail fin just off to my Right side in about 5 inches of crystal clear, and I should add...totally gator and Anaconda free water. I haven't been on the operating end of the rod in atleast a month and a half, and as is always the case, I beaned Mr. redfish directly on the noggin sending him scooting. I was stripping line back in frustration when 15 feet in front of me, a upper slot fish pops tail and begins wagging it right under my rod tip. A quick roll cast was all I could manage on short notice and close quarters, an ugly one too. As my little orange and brown deer hair slider landed, he turned and tracked perfectly to the offering. After coming tight to the Red as he blazed on 3 strong runs through the thick grass, he came to hand, and as I turned toward the boat, to my astonishment my client was taking pictures of me and my fish! After a short lived moment of guilt, broad smile appeared on my face, and I decided to just enjoy the moment. As the sun cast purple and orange hues over the marsh, we headed back to the dock both in awe of this awesome fishery.

 Long time customers Mike and Nichi Mitchell from Raleigh hit the marshes for a 2 day tailing Redfish hunt this week. Having fished multiple open flats trips with me each year for the last 4 years, they were both chomping at the bit to experience this seldom seen side of Redfishing. As the big Spring tides of (Full and New Moon periods)March through October flood vast areas of the Spartina marsh, hordes of hungry Reds follow deep into the heart of the marsh in pursuit of their favorite forage. Enormous colonies of Fiddler crabs reside deep within the normally inpenetrable Sea of Spartina stalks, and although only accessible to a Redfish several days out of each month during these big flood tides, the crabs represent the most important feeding opportunity in a fish's life... infinite amounts of easily obtained protein!

                                                                                            I met Mike and Nichi Friday afternoon in Southport a couple hours ahead of the tide and talk soon turned to how we were going to approach the next 2 days. As I had already assured them, we would see tons of tailing fish over the next 2 days, but even if blessed with perfect setups, we would get just a few really good shots at perfect fish(lone fish attentively feeding with no pressure from other fish crowding them). I continued that the tailing flats are about the hunt and the visual aspect of watching fish for what sometimes seems like an eternity before carefully planning an approach and studying a Red's behavior to determine a pattern that might prove helpful in determing cast placement (it's a one shot deal most of the time) can wear on even the most experienced angler's nerves, causing an appreciable impairment of your mental and physical faculties, basically, they can turn you into a blithering idiot! Undeterred from my little pep talk, the couple was nothing but smiles as we made our way through a winding maze of tight creeks and hidden guts leading to the most productive tailing flats.

                                                                                          Friday night was a swing and a miss, we saw atleast 50 tailing fish and experienced perfect wind and light conditions, but the technical part of getting a Redfish to first see and then consume a bait that needs to be presented right under his nose without blowing him out proved difficult to Mike and Nichi. I assured them that the following evening we would get our shot, as they better understood the in and outs of this cat and mouse game, and the tide would come an hour later, giving us better sun angle to keep our shadows from crashing the party.

                                                                                            My promise of it happening held firm on Saturday, as 30 minutes into our trip, Mike made a spot on cast to a 25" Red less than 20 feet from the bow, and brought him boatside without missing a beat. With the tranquility of the shallow marsh pan broken by a wildly thrashing Redfish and the tension of making it happen now a memory to both anglers and guide, we were finally free to relax and truly enjoy the accompishment. Obligatory high fives were doled out and pictures taken before we made a move to another marsh pan to get Nichi her shot. With daylight quickly waning, we found ourselves utterly surrounded by tailing fish and Nichi was awash with excitement. Thats when it happened... as the big tide began to ebb, the switch turned off and tails dissapeared almost in unison. Fish we had been keeping tabs on and mentally cataloging, actually giving names like "happy" and"grumpy", no there wasn't a doc or a dopy, quit being a wise ass and let me finish the story! Anyway, it was over like it so often happens, and there was nothing we could do but recount the successes and head back across the river in awe of what we had experienced of the 2 days of upos, downs, and moments of fascination.