# 2/14/15 Wade



## Zoo (Mar 25, 2014)

Forecast for V-Day was looking sunny sunny with a light south wind so my buddy Pete and I spent Friday the 13th making plans over whiskeys for a date with some tall, skinny specks. 

It was to be Pete's first fishing trip since he went trout fishing in Lake Michigan back in 2012 so I made sure to have some equipment available to get him going. I donned the waders and let him take the yak with my 6' med action pink ugly stik with my 4000 class Penn spinfisher. I gave him a little advice on what lures to take in his tackle box but he opted to take just a single silver/blue shallow diving plug.

We got out to the S shore of W bay around 9:45am. After walking all the way out I realized I forgot the fish grips so I had to walk all the way back to the truck to get em (don't leave shore without 'em). By the time I got back to the truck I was at full sweat and decided to strip down to just my tee shirt (bring on the sun!). 

As usual, I started by throwing a topwater. The silver she dog chlop chlopped real nice under the bright sun and it felt good to feel that wrist to work again. After about 5 minutes I found myself tripping over flounder and decided to change tactics. Replacing the topwater with a 1/8 oz jig with a little brown/chartreuse curly tail gave me a new confidence that I was gonna take home a flatty. It was only after about 5 minutes of bumping the bottom before I felt a familiar tug. It wasn't a flounder tug though, it was distinctly more rowdy. The slot red put up a great battle and stripped a decent amount of line off (the salty old oiled felt drag still performs like a pro). He mustve been a NASCAR fan because he probably swam three circles around me. Of course he was mad when I got him in close so I was sure glad I grabbed my grips. Once I pulled my mint condition plastic out of his jaw I went to string him up and found out the pokey end of my stringer is so corroded I couldn't pull it out of the float. I called my partner over and he we got the angry beast into the kayak fish bag but only after he slithered his way out once or twice into Pete's lap. First keeper of the year!

We stuck around a couple more hours and I tripped over a couple more flatties but no more hookups for the rest of the day. The breeze was gentle, the sun was bright, the mullet lazy, and the pelicans awesome - was a good day.

Redfish was seasoned with tony's and black pepper then baked at 420F in a saute pan with pinot grigio and oranges on top. Served with wild rice. Pete the cat and I thought it was perfect.


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