The first hour or so it was slow going. Although the weather conditions were perfect the tide was not moving and there was very little fish activity to be found. About 8:30 that all changed. I found a school of mullet and reds that were coming in from the bay to the flats. On the first cast of my spook jr. I got a big follow. The red was coming right out of the water and gulping at my lure. How it missed it I will never know. On the next cast I got a big hit and this time I was hooked up. I started put some pressure on the fish and pop went my braid. Rather than just grab another rod I decided to put a leader back on the broken line. Just as I was finishing up the new leader I notice something white floating on the surface of the glassy water about 25 yards in front of me. I paddled over and there was my spook jr., leader and about 20 feet of line. I have the barbs mashed down on the hooks on the spook and the fish must have shaken it lose. I cut off the old line and put it on my new leader. A couple casts later it was game on again. It felt like a good fish. Made some nice runs stripping off line as it went. Then, nothing! The lure came back covered in grass. The fish must have gone down in the grass and scrubbed off the lure.
Now I wasn't so sure the gods were smiling on my new boat, but I was really sure the gods were not happy with my spook jr. so I put it away and got out a MirroLure Little John on an 1/8 oz. jig. After 5 or 10 minutes with the new lure my efforts were rewarded with this nice 25 in red. I christened the new boat with fish slime by laying the fish in the bottom of the boat for the picture.
After that I was not able to find the reds again. I managed to catch a small jack and that was it. I went home calling my first trip with the new kayak a winner.
