Good Endings Start With Bad Beginnings

I woke up one morning to a strange sound coming from the roof. It was something I haven't heard in some time, rain. Looking on my phone, I could see that the radar was showing scattered showers throughout the day. Unprepared for the situation, I managed to find an old rain jacket in the RV. Walking out of Speedy Stop, I tucked my taco deep into my jacket to keep the pouring rain out of my breakfast. It was still dark outside as we made our way to Charlie's Bait Camp and boat launch. It wasn't raining when I slipped the boat off of the trailer and into the Intracoastal Waterway, but as my Uncle Mitchell pointed out, Looks like more is on its way. Just as Mitchell predicted, a light drizzle began to fall on the water.

While Mitchell and his nine-year-old daughter, Skylar, sat on the shoreline waiting for the rain to pass, Dylan and I made the first wade of the day. We were hard set on catching some trout before the day grew on. Unfortunately, all that was caught was one undersized red. After the next wade, being just about as productive as the first, we needed a change of pace. The showers were letting up, so we decided to make a run to a reef out in the deeper water for some easy trout fishing. Unable to pinpoint the fish on the reef, we began to fish a group of birds that had just started to congregate. Everyone caught multiple undersized trout and ladyfish, or skip jack as some say. Also, I managed to get my line wrapped around the wing of a seagull while making a cast. Then, right when the lure hit the water, a giant ladyfish hit. Next thing you know, I'm fighting a seagull and the ladyfish at the same time. It was quite a sight. Whenever the ladyfish would try to make a run for it, the seagull was like a live popping cork. After a few moments of a heated battle, they both escaped unharmed.

As we unwillingly pulled away from the fast action, another rain shower approached which made the boat ride to the back lakes a little rough, even for a Flats Cat. When Mitchell finally got where he thought we should be the sun was back out. With not a lot of confidence in the chosen spot, I stayed in the boat with Skylar, and watched a group of hungry dolphins put on an acrobatic feeding frenzy. My sixth sense was right because neither Dylan nor Mitchell caught anything. However, I did manage to catch a decent red at the next spot, and put him in the box to eat for dinner upon returning home. Without a whole lot of success on the south end of the bay, we ran to the north side to finish out the day.

We stopped on a grassy flat that had some mullet rafting across it. About my third cast after getting out of the boat, Mitchell and I simultaneously hooked up. Maybe our luck is starting to turn around, so I thought. Then the next cast, Mitchell's reel had a major malfunction in the casting process and ruined a whole spool of line, so he went back to the boat to grab his other rod. When he got there, he decided to just drift with Skylar and Dylan instead of wading. I'm glad he did because on that drift, Skylar successfully caught and landed her first keeper redfish! This really made the whole trip. However, it did make Dylan frustrated because he didn't catch much all day. I think he was just off his game because he hasn't been fishing with us the past few months. After Skylar's big catch, we were unable to get them to bite a piece of plastic and decided to end the day on the water. The outing started with rain showers, but ended with clear skies and a bright orange sun setting on the horizon.