Executive Summary
Temps 50-65, winds 5-15 (again - this is getting annoying), water temps low to mid 60's (estimate), 8 reds
Details
With the weather starting to warm up it was debatable as to whether or not a jacket and waders were necessary. I found myself at 4:30 outside looking the paper and thinking - man's it's cold for 55.
At dark-thirty I figured I would try and beat the barely negative tide but found myself neglecting to account for all the Easterly winds. Fortunately I Java'ed up for the longer than expected walk...(not sure if your monitor will show the mud, but trust me it was there).
50-100 yards later I found myself in ankle deep water. Things were uber-skinny and I was really hoping that the fish had concentrated themselves. 3 casts later this fellow gave me the security that fish had in fact concentrated in the holes. Sunrise had potential for a good shot so I took a couple.
I had heard of epic days where people just crank in red after red in those situations and finding myself out there alone had me wondering was this one of those days. Unfortunately if the fish were concentrated they weren't biting what I was offering.
Couple hours later I found myself on a small red caught on a Bone Skitterwalk. Too bad he didn't show up a couple weeks ago when we were throwing jigs. On the other side there was about 6 more spots.
I pushed farther down to an area where I had hooked into some nice snook before, but with the cooler than expected weather I was confident that they were not on the flats. Regardless I kept pitching a gold Aquadream spoon and pulled in and released a couple slots reds. I kept up the good mojo by watching the Osprey do their thing and they seemed to be having a good day fishing too.
As I pushed into a slightly deeper area (call it 24"), I suddenly found myself on the end of a much larger fish. The sleigh ride was on and realizing this fish was bigger than normal I really drove the hook home hard. Not pleased with that situation the fish really started peeling off drag. Several strong runs into it I opted to drop anchor and just wait this one out. There was no horsing this fish in and we did the dance - you go this way I pull that way. Things were shaping up pretty nicely, but the fish had not presented itself so I was all but convinced this was a bull red. About 10 yards from the boat I saw a big swirl and then... slack line. I was pretty disappointed as I'm sure that was a big red. I checked the leader and it wasn't frayed. The hook had not broken, but just above the barb was a small piece of flesh that lead me to believe I hadn't pushed the hook all the way in. Which I was really surprised about, because I pumped about as hard as I felt I could without snapping the line. Best I can figure I hit the crushers...[sigh]
I worked the general area for a bit more, but I suspect I spooked out everything so I moved on. Things started to calm down and without any flying birds I switched to eco-mode and took some pics. Nothing to great, but I was surprised to see how close I was able to get to the birds.
This one came out ok...it was a couple of blind shots as the T2i doesn't have the articulated lcd.
Around 11 or 12 things finally warmed up and I head in. I hit a couple areas where I managed to spook out a bunch of reds - probably 8-10, but they looked like they were warming themselves up versus out for some lunch. Most had good size to them - mid 20's.
I managed to put the lures wraps to work, but frankly it's just one more thing to do before and after you load up. I'll probably put in one of those rod racks in the truck. Dunno...
With the wife and kids out and about I stopped in at Fishhawk Pizze and had a great Philly cheese and a couple cold adult beverages. Orange and Blue game was on and the day had the feel to a crisp fall day. Overall not a bad way to cap off the day.