Easter weekend/ This weekend

Jess and I got out Easter weekend a couple of times on the river. The water is still really cold! The water is just creeping over the banks in the backwaters, however the water is really clear. We had a couple of knocks, and I had one on for about 5 seconds but it got off. I saw the fish and am thinking that it was somewhere around 3-4 lbs. I did see some carp moving around back there, which means the bass are going to get started soon.

Jess and I also went out again on Friday. Mostly it was to enjoy the day and get a tan. No bites, no fish, but plenty of laughs. I was having some issues with my lure and the trees. Anyway expect more blogging in a couple of weeks, I am probably going turkey hunting 4th season so maybe I will have a couple of pictures and a good story to go along with it. Hope everyone enjoys the warm weather.

Tight lines,
Pat

Daytona Beach

I know this blog is about fishing around Iowa and the Midwest, but this vacation was too good to pass up. I recently went down to Florida to visit my cousin Justin and his fiancée Stephanie (both formally from Minneapolis) in Daytona Beach. Before I got down there we had planned to have a couple of days of guided fishing, with one of those days going after the famed redfish. While sitting at a bar in Detroit enjoying my beverage of choice on a layover, I learned from a voicemail message that our redfish guide cancelled on us due to a scheduling conflict with another client. I was crushed! This was a fishing adventure of a lifetime with a highly accomplished guide. I had been looking forward to the trip for awhile and it was gone just like that! This would have gotten the regular sportsmen down and out, but my cousin rose to the occasion.

When I got down there Justin had it in his mind that we were not only going to fish for them ourselves, but we were going to be able catch some fish. So we set out to the bait shop and grabbed some stuff, the gaff hook we decided to put back, and headed out to the shore for a little beach fishing. As you can tell by my attire, I had my doubts of what we were about to do. I was expecting to be back in my beach chair soaking in some great Florida sun when we realized it was too tough. After a couple of hours of joking around and throwing shells at each other I felt something, tap…tap...tap, I set the hook out of pure instinct and I realized I was in for the fight of my year.

Before I had time to tell Justin there was something going on, I was half out of line with no sign of this fish letting up. The fish was ripping out line like it was late for the prom, and there was nothing I could do but hold on. At this point you can only imagine the colorful words that were coming out of my mouth describing the moment. As I watched hopelessly as the fish was about to spool me it stopped. I immediately started to reel and rip, trying to turn the tables in my favor. Then I felt the line go slack and all of a sudden the fish fly’s out of the water like a kid who holds their breath too long. At this point I now know this is a nice fish! I am using all my years of experience to try not to put too much pressure on the line and try my best to get it in. It is beginning to become easier to reel in and I know that the fight is turning, but this fish is going to make another run and I realize I still have a long ways to go. Back and forth the fight goes on and there are times where landing this fish is in doubt. I am using a Ugly Stick pole connected to a Shakespeare reel with 8lb. test and there is still a great possibility that this fish is going to snap me off. As the reeling becomes easier, I catch my first look at it and it’s what we came for, a redfish. As I drag it on to the beach I look at my cousin in amazement, we did it! People chase after these things all the time, often coming up empty, and the two guys from the Midwest come down here and land one in their first couple of hours. It was an amazing fish! It was pound for pound of the best fishing fight I have had in a long time.

The rest of the day was filled with black drum, sheep head, yellowtail snapper (I think), and the dreaded catfish. The most interesting thing about being down there is that eating fish is backwards down there. Where drum and sheep head are considered “rough fish”, they are considered excellent eating fish down there. The opposite can be said about our friend the catfish. They are considered a junk fish and they are never eaten out of the ocean.

We did some other fun things while we were down there. We went to the top of a lighthouse and visited the fort at St. Augustine which was really cool. Overall I would give this trip an A+ and recommend that you go down there and get a taste of some great inland fishing!