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

       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.