# West Bay Monday report



## shallowist (May 28, 2009)

Finally got the chance to fish with Joe, Stifskif. We had been talking about this trip for nearly 4 months now and Monday ended up being the day that we were both free and dealt nearly decent weather. Drove down to the island to meet at Joe's house at 9 am and the wind wasn't bad, but the cloud cover was still lingering. We gathered up all the gear and suited up for battle. Slight chill in the air with a passing front, and the possibility of wading, put us in wade gear. As we headed out to look for redfish, conditions weren't all that bad, wind was already north, but not blowing too hard.

We started out in an area where I had found some reds Friday, and with the cloud cover we didn't see much. They just aren't tailing much yet. After poling a few hundred yards, and seeing a couple of maybe fish, we moved to another spot that had some large reds a few days earlier. The conditions were starting to change, clouds giving way to sun and light winds becoming strong. Not sure which is worse, but at least with the sun, we could see what we had been missing. It didn't take too long to find a few fish, and they were shallow! We got a decent shot at one that was up tight to the shoreline, but she spit the fly back at us. Then we found one cruising and Joe nailed the cast and it was on. We knew that she was good, but at the landing, she measured out at 28.5 inches. Great fish on fly, or any gear for that matter. She was in water less than a foot deep and put up a great fight.

My turns on the front of the boat never really went my way, I think that I had fish swim around my fly 3 or 4 times and put the fly in at least that many fishes mouths, they all spit it before I could get the line tight. I was better as guide than angler today.









We only landed two reds, but saw plenty. Most of them were big fish like Joe's first of the day. We saw one of the pet trout layed up in a depression on one of the flats, and as predictable as they are, we came around and she was laying about 15 feet from where she was 45 minutes earlier. No good shots at her, but got close enough to say that she was big, in the upper 20 inch range.

We had a great day, though we didn't land as many as I would have hoped. It was great to see some big reds shallow and great company on the boat. Joe's second fish of the day was smaller, but came from about 15 feet in front of us. Not an easy fish to pick off without spooking, especially in 20 mph winds on fly.

It's killing me not to be there this morning, but had a few things to wrap up before heading to the fishing show. Probably be hanging around the FTO booth this evening and maybe a little time with Chuck from Charlies' Custom Rods. ​


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## flatscat1 (Jun 2, 2005)

Were you on the north shoreline? I might have seen you guys - not many of us have poling skiffs.....


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## 808Ryan (Feb 28, 2011)

Looks like a good trip, I can't wait to get some reds on the fly


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## Flycaster (Nov 7, 2010)

Nice fish, and thanks for the report.
FC


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