mission accomplished

I am starting to see a pattern here, my lack of posts means I am busy fishing and that is a good thing. I owe it all to you guys, I have by far the best clients in the world. I am going to start with a quick fishing report, then check out the other posts for some very exciting news.

As I said earlier I have been slammed with trips lately, and most of them have been in the river due to wind, you know the routine fun fishing with snook, jacks, and ladyfish but, Sunday offered my a short window to do what I love best, fish the beach. I was able to pack in two trips, first I had a spin fishing charter with Shirley Howard and her son Corkie. They were both amazed at the schools of daisy chaining jacks, with their tails high in the air. I believe Corky hook about 5 and landed 2. As soon as I saw the amount of schools out there I had to call my client Jay Jones from Pennsylvania. He and his girlfriend Lisa had fished with me the day before and we were restricted to the river.

This is Jay's third year fishing with me and he is a motivated fly fisherman that has goals and one of his goals was to land a giant jack on fly. The first year we were hit by a cold front and went redfishing and last year we jacked fished but quite honestly Jay was a bit over matched by the 12 wt. rod. Last year Jay landed a jack on a plug but like I said he is motivated fly fisherman and he told me that this year he would be back to accomplish his goal. When I could not get out on the beach Saturday I was bummed because like most of my clients I really like Jay and I wanted him to achieve his goal. so when Sunday rolled around and it was calm and the schools of jacks were everywhere I had to call Jay. There was not a moment of hesitation Jay was fired up to go at it again on Sunday afternoon. I told you I have the best clients in the world. I dropped Corky and Shirley back at the dock by noon, completely worn out from fighting fish and by twelve thirty I was back out there with Jay and Lisa. I knew exactly where the schools were seeing I had just left them, and sure enough I was right. I guess I got lucky, we found the first school in about 20 minutes. Jay, being the totally cool guy that he is, wanted Lisa to catch one first then it was on to the quest of landing one on fly. Lisa made super short order of her fish hooking one on the first cast and landing ti in about 15 minutes. For some of you out there reading this she kick that fishes ass, sorry for the profanity but I have seen some people fight these fish for hours.

It was now Jay's turn with the fly rod, I could tell he was anxious, nervous, excited and any other emotion you could think of all rolled into one. I know I keep harping on how cool these jacks are but until you have experienced it you have no idea. After a few failed attempts, Jay gets connected to his first giant jack on fly and in the mist of all the excitement I see the fly line wrapped around Jay's forearm and with in seconds the fish is broke off. This followed by many four letter expletives. Onward with the odyssey, Jay was going to have plenty of other chances, the schools were everywhere. We approached another school and Jay hooks up again this time he clears the line and everything is copacetic, but within a few minutes the hook pulls? Now the tension is building, will this three year odyssey finally end? It is now four o'clock in the afternoon and the sun is getting low and visibility is quickly fading. i explained to Jay that we had about an eight mile ride back to the inlet and that my eye lids would be peeled back. About 2 miles into the return trip I see a school about 300 yards away and I put a thumbs up, at this point Jay knew exactly what that meant. I pulled the boat off plane, and put the Minn Kota (sponsor plug) in the water and trolled to the school. Jay knew this was his last shot, it was now or next year. On Jay's first and what turned out to be last cast, the mission was accomplished. I know he will still be back next year, these jacks are very addicting. Congratulations Jay!

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com/
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing