At the conclusion of the last post, I was feeling pretty good about how things were going. I had caught a few fish and had built some extremely important confidence. I think, a lot of the time, whether you think you will or you won't, you are probably right. I was riding a wave of confidence and felt like I could keep catching fish if I continued with my technique. While that is true, and as with most stories, there are always a few bumps in the road. Life is never that simple.
After my morning of fly fishing in the surf at Gulf Shores, Alabama, I decided to keep fishing the mornings and see if the evenings could be productive as well. I also started to dig a little deeper into understanding how tides influenced fish behavior and thus, fishing productivity. What I learned was that fishing was best two hours before a tide and two hours after a tide. As luck would have it, the mornings and evenings that corresponded with the tide charts aligned with the days that we were going to in Gulf Shores. In other words, each morning was going to have a high tide and each evening was going to have a low tide. That meant that I had a window to fish each morning and each evening!
As I fished each morning and a few evenings, I learned that I had a 30 minute window to catch fish with the technique that I was utilizing. Outside of that window, the bites were nonexistent. However, within that window, the fishing was fantastic. While I missed a few fish on each outing, I landed at least three fish each time. This was WAY beyond my wildest hopes and I felt fortunate as well as blessed.
Aside from the joy that came with the takes and hero pictures, I marveled at the fight that these fish had. I caught one Pompano and the rest were ladyfish. Even the small fish put up incredible fights. One ladyfish even got into my backing and I wasn't sure if I would ever land the fish. Thankfully I did land it as well as a newfound appreciation for the strength and stamina that saltwater fish have. I had always heard about how strong saltwater fish were, but being from the Show Me State, I had to see it firsthand to appreciate the fact.
Aside from the fishing, I was also fortunate enough to witness a lot of other amazing sights. I saw some sea turtle nests during the day and my sons hunted ghost crabs at night. Wendy and I both saw dolphins at various points which was something we both wanted to see. On a lesser note, everyone on the trip got stung by jellyfish multiple times. It sounds worse than it was though. It was somewhere between a bee sting and a mosquito bite and my sons described them best as "annoying". I also saw Gulf Shores' version of Trout Park Opening Day at Gulf State Park. Those folks were packed together like sardines! Finally, I saw my first shark in the wild. I appreciated the fact that it was about 200 yards away...which was good for both of us!
I want to emphatically state that this will NOT be the last time that I fly fish in saltwater. Between the scenery, the unpredictability, and variety of species to catch, I am smitten. Even when some locals told me that they felt bad for me since I only caught ladyfish, I couldn't have cared less. Even the "bluegill of the gulf" were a thrill to catch and I cannot imagine chasing bigger fish in more scenic areas. I love aggressive fish that are willing to take down a streamer. Since everything in the ocean seems to be trying to murder everything else in the ocean, I might have found a new passion!
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