bachiboy
05-04-2013, 04:03 PM
So, I ended up on-call Friday for work and decided that, after dropping my son off to school, I’d hit a beach thatI thought might hold some fish based on the tide conditions. I knew I couldn’t get there till around 9:30-10am so I wasn’t expecting very much. I also haven’t had much success when there were bluebird skies overhead but figured, if nothing else, it’s going to be a great day for the beach.
When I get to the A.O., I notice a flyfisherman working the skinny. I start my way down the beach and strike up a conversation. He said that he had landed a bean and a SNGF but overall it was slow. I told him that I had noticed quite a few leos in the area a couple weeks before and that would be a blast on that whippin stick. He was using a fairly small perch fly so he wasn’t expecting much. Well, wouldn’t you know it, I get no more than 20 feet away from him and he screams to me “FISH ON!” I turn around and he’s full bendo.:Surprised: I rack my rod in my backpack so that I can help him land the mystery fish and after a 20 min. or so battle, he pulls up a 53” leo...on 6lb. tippet!:EyePop: The leo actually ate the perch fly so he had good control of the head. I didn’t get any pictures cuz I figured I wasn’t going to be writing a report about someone else catching fish and had low expectations for myself, so my camera was stashed away in my backpack. Anyways, I don’t know if you’ll see this, but CONGRATULATIONS Steve! Not sure he frequents FNN.
So we part ways and I start making my way down the beach. I only had a couple of hours and I had kinda used up a half hour helping land the leo. The salad was as big a pain in the rear as I’ve seen it here in a while. I’d say every 20 casts or MORE, I’d end up without “unagi” grass making my LC look like Bob Marley. I was getting pretty frustrated and thought about putting on a Carolina Keeper to help with the salad problem but was too lazy to cut down and re-tie.:whistle::Rolls Eyes: As I’m working back toward my starting point I start casting over some minor trenches I see out in front of me. I guess I got one lucky, grass-free cast in cuz BAM! Fish on. I start working him in and figured it was a flattie but didn’t have my hopes too high cuz Mr. Wiggles had fooled me too many times in the past. Sure enough after a short drag run I get him to the skinny and see that it’s a flattie...REAL close to legal. I beach him and start digging for my measuring tape and camera (which are normally on the ready in an accessible pocket) when I notice the sand under him is still wet. Knowing that, if a decent surge comes in, I could lose this fish sort of like Terry did last week, without photo proof. So, I slide him up to some drier sand and, sure enough, one flop and the hook falls out (wish they had come out of my fingers that easily last week).:mad:
I start doing measurements and it comes up just at 22...maybe 22 1/4, but gets this old guy his first LC flattie of the year, first legal flattie of the year and, more importantly, first blood in the SWAT “Old Fogy Stogies vs. Young Whippersnappers” tourney we’re having.:Twisted:
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/full_zps99ade22b.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/full_zps99ade22b.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/head_zps099c6e28.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/head_zps099c6e28.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/tail-2_zps87c9ae81.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/tail-2_zps87c9ae81.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/wingnut_pose_zps99185124.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/wingnut_pose_zps99185124.jpg.html)
Game on kids...you’re move!:Wink::LOL:
Went out the this morning and met SP Dan to see if we could coax some of his friends but only managed a pancake for Dan and a SNGF for me...unless Dan made some magic happen after I left?:Wink: Here’s Dan’s pancake...
Dan's standing over it as if to say "That all you got? You've gotta grow at least 6 more inches!"
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/DansButt1_zps0f185de5.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/DansButt1_zps0f185de5.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/DansButt2_zpsac86ae63.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/DansButt2_zpsac86ae63.jpg.html)
Hope you enjoyed the read and good luck out there everyone!
Don
When I get to the A.O., I notice a flyfisherman working the skinny. I start my way down the beach and strike up a conversation. He said that he had landed a bean and a SNGF but overall it was slow. I told him that I had noticed quite a few leos in the area a couple weeks before and that would be a blast on that whippin stick. He was using a fairly small perch fly so he wasn’t expecting much. Well, wouldn’t you know it, I get no more than 20 feet away from him and he screams to me “FISH ON!” I turn around and he’s full bendo.:Surprised: I rack my rod in my backpack so that I can help him land the mystery fish and after a 20 min. or so battle, he pulls up a 53” leo...on 6lb. tippet!:EyePop: The leo actually ate the perch fly so he had good control of the head. I didn’t get any pictures cuz I figured I wasn’t going to be writing a report about someone else catching fish and had low expectations for myself, so my camera was stashed away in my backpack. Anyways, I don’t know if you’ll see this, but CONGRATULATIONS Steve! Not sure he frequents FNN.
So we part ways and I start making my way down the beach. I only had a couple of hours and I had kinda used up a half hour helping land the leo. The salad was as big a pain in the rear as I’ve seen it here in a while. I’d say every 20 casts or MORE, I’d end up without “unagi” grass making my LC look like Bob Marley. I was getting pretty frustrated and thought about putting on a Carolina Keeper to help with the salad problem but was too lazy to cut down and re-tie.:whistle::Rolls Eyes: As I’m working back toward my starting point I start casting over some minor trenches I see out in front of me. I guess I got one lucky, grass-free cast in cuz BAM! Fish on. I start working him in and figured it was a flattie but didn’t have my hopes too high cuz Mr. Wiggles had fooled me too many times in the past. Sure enough after a short drag run I get him to the skinny and see that it’s a flattie...REAL close to legal. I beach him and start digging for my measuring tape and camera (which are normally on the ready in an accessible pocket) when I notice the sand under him is still wet. Knowing that, if a decent surge comes in, I could lose this fish sort of like Terry did last week, without photo proof. So, I slide him up to some drier sand and, sure enough, one flop and the hook falls out (wish they had come out of my fingers that easily last week).:mad:
I start doing measurements and it comes up just at 22...maybe 22 1/4, but gets this old guy his first LC flattie of the year, first legal flattie of the year and, more importantly, first blood in the SWAT “Old Fogy Stogies vs. Young Whippersnappers” tourney we’re having.:Twisted:
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/full_zps99ade22b.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/full_zps99ade22b.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/head_zps099c6e28.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/head_zps099c6e28.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/tail-2_zps87c9ae81.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/tail-2_zps87c9ae81.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/wingnut_pose_zps99185124.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/wingnut_pose_zps99185124.jpg.html)
Game on kids...you’re move!:Wink::LOL:
Went out the this morning and met SP Dan to see if we could coax some of his friends but only managed a pancake for Dan and a SNGF for me...unless Dan made some magic happen after I left?:Wink: Here’s Dan’s pancake...
Dan's standing over it as if to say "That all you got? You've gotta grow at least 6 more inches!"
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/DansButt1_zps0f185de5.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/DansButt1_zps0f185de5.jpg.html)
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r627/bachidym/DansButt2_zpsac86ae63.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/bachidym/media/DansButt2_zpsac86ae63.jpg.html)
Hope you enjoyed the read and good luck out there everyone!
Don