by: Doug Sinclair
Hmm! Should I to go straight, or just pull along the curb? I mean who besides me would be coming in at this hour. Undecided, I just pulled up to Getta’s Red & White Deli & Market.
I looked inside. The lights were all out except for some neon trim above the coke machine and a light inside the freezer. I thought that maybe Getta was inside but hadn’t turned on the lights. Nope, she wasn’t there. I was feeling hungry just looking at all the food on those shelves. I should have eaten breakfast, but was too excited about today’s trip that I skipped it. The weather forecast was favorable with light winds in the morning and bright sunny day. The door was locked, as was the lock on the ice machine. I was real early. I usually get there a little after six, which gives me plenty of time to get to Kelly’s and launch at River Breeze.
Park Avenue and Riverside Drive were dark and quiet. A few cars and trucks passed by. Some guy towing a trailer with a flat tire made a loud flapping noise on the pavement. He seemed to be in a trance. There was a huge white cabin boat on a trailer across the street. The shadows from a streetlight bounced off its torn flag and flashed small reflections on the store windows. Otherwise everything seemed silent and sleepy.
Then an old man crossed the street and came over to where I stood. He walked passed me to put a quarter in the machine and took out the morning’s paper. We exchanged nodes and he left without saying a word. I thought that I should have said something like, “good morning.” But didn’t.
I was standing outside next to my boat, patiently waiting for Getta to arrive. She makes the best subs in town. She’s been making these for more than 15 years. Two years ago she had to raise her prices and apologized to everyone for it. Where can you get a 12” sub for $2.50? My friend has a sandwich named after him. He has probably bought more than a thousand from her. So we just ask for a “Kent Special”. The thought of that sandwich was making me hungry again.
Getta arrived about five after six. She was surprised to see me. “Going to be a good day for fishing”, she remarked. “Yes, it does”. She let me in, turned on the lights, and then asked me to unlock the icebox and bring her back the key and lock together. I could see her turn on the meat-cutting machine, then reach into the deli counter and get a package of meat, lettuce and tomato. I could already taste that sandwich. Mean while, I got the icebox opened and returned the key and lock. When I returned, Getta had the sandwiches ready. So I paid her and left, taking a bag of ice and the sandwiches to put in the cooler on the boat. It was time to get moving.
Two motor-cross racing guys were meeting me for some fishing fun. I enjoy meeting the racing people around Daytona and Smyrna. They have unique stories about growing up around a tracks and racing for their living. A number lot of them love to fly fish. Naturally we exchange stories about fishing adventures. Jay Springer is ranked 9th on the Motor-Cross circuit. He and his buddy Kirk are avid fisherman and fish on their days off. They are both from Michigan and told me about huge Brown Trout and Salmon that they catch up north.
When touring they always hire a guide to take them to remote fishing places. Today was no different for them. They had seen TNN’s Suzuki Great Outdoors and American Expedition, and read about our big inshore game fish. Mosquito Lagoon had them very excited. They were eager to catch some redfish, trout, or any other fish, but mostly this was a way for them to relax and enjoy the scenery and boating experience.
The boat loaded, everyone on board, we pushed off from the ramp at seven. I headed south. The sun was just starting to rise and from our vantage point the lagoon was just coming into view. The sun was just lifting slowly above the Canaveral Seashore and was making a spectacular entry above the trees. You could see the islands on the east towards Bisset Bay and the sea wall on the west near Ed Tindell’s house. This is a large white house that had its roof blown off during Hurricane Irene last year. The house is really exposed because it sits right out by the ICW. But it makes a good landmark when visibility is poor in the north lagoon.
We passed Markers 17, 19 and 21. Brian Clancy waved from his poling platform as we motored by. He was fishing a fly angler inside the Clinkers. He is a staunch believer in catch and release practices and a terrific guide as well. Moving farther south you could just make out the tower at Kennedy Space Center. Jay and Kirk thought this was really great and took pictures even though the center was just a box outline on the horizon, some 20 miles away.
I started my turn at Marker 24 and headed east to the north end of Tiger Shoals. This is a huge flat about 3 miles across. The best fishing is near an old plane wreck. The wheels still point skyward at low tide. There is also a trench that runs parallel to a bar running southeast by northwest. When the wind is light this is a good place to find a school of reds.
I shut down just northeast of the shoals. I got everyone rigged and ready for casting. The important thing to remember when fishing in the flats is to look and try and sight the fish. False casts are great for getting the muscles primed, but you need to be ready to cast when a fish is spotted. So often when guys are just blind casting you don’t have enough time to retrieve and recast, spoiling an opportunity to cast to a fish. I was surprised by the way that these two men handled the fly rods. One had a 9wt Redfly and the other used a 10wt DFR. Both large arbor reels were dressed with almost 250 yards of backing and monocore sly line. This is great fly line for stealth fishing and it casts well in the wind.
I poled down to the plane wreck and then south a few hundred yards. Kirk felt a bump and a push on a white/tan half & half. Funny thing was I didn’t see the fish. It could have been a red or more likely a trout. He had cast the fly just past a white hole and then pulled it to the edge to sink. I bet a trout was lying off the grass and made his move on the fly. Sometimes fly anglers are really anxious and strip to early and pull the fly out. This could have happened since the line went slack as soon as he picked up the rod tip.
But this was a real good start to get everyone’s adrenalin going and now sharpening the senses as well. The important thing is that we were all in the “zone”. Now the interesting part would start. I poled us up next to the shoal flat and waited a few minutes. I wanted to look around at the surface. I studied the ripples and how the wind was pushing the water. I looked for any irregularities that would signal a school working beneath the water. Over there at 2 O’clock. It looked like a large v-shaped dark water spot – a school of reds. Sometimes you just have this feeling – like a sixth sense or something. The school was moving too fast to catch. They would probably be back. So I worked around the south side of the shoal.
Three other boats were already getting too close in an area to just be chummy. I was sure they were on to another school. So I wanted to ease over there without getting anyone’s hair up. I told my guys to watch the boats every once in awhile. Meantime I picked up a small pod as we worked southeast along the back of this flat. We would eventually find ourselves down in the vicinity of the other boats, but do it in a non-invasive way.
We rounded the east point close to Van’s Island then worked our way back to the southwest. It was a really great day. Picture perfect sky – sky blue with a few high clouds and a light breeze. The water was really clear and Jay and Kirk were really amazed at how shallow the water was. About 300 yards from the crab traps I spotted some copper forms in the water. I stopped poling. I whispered to Jay and Kirk, “get ready – relax”. I could feel their excitement. Jay had a big smile showing off his front teeth. I motioned to Kirk with two-fingers raised and pointed. He cast and as the fly hit the water I said, “let it sink”. Then to Jay almost opposite I motioned that he should cast to 10 O’clock and he did. They both waited and then Kirk yelled, “FISH ON”. “Keep the rod tip up – give him some line. Let him take line.” I said. As Jay started to reel-in, his line went tight. Double hook-up. Wow!
Man this was going to be really interesting. Quickly I thought which fish is pulling harder – which spool has the stronger backing. Jay had the 10-wt so we could wait on his fish a while. The only thing was the fish took off in different directions. There wasn’t time for messing around. I quickly tied the pole to the platform and jumped down to the deck and bow. I engaged the trolling motor and started following Kirk’s fish. I motored as fast as we could. I don’t like to push these fish into exhaustion. Catch them, get the photo and release them quickly. The fight was on.
After thirty minutes of covering a big circle we came up to Kirk’s BIG red. As I closed in on it, I could see that it was lying on the bottom in about 3 feet of water. I had Kirk lean over the gunnel to look at his fish. He was the deepest copper color and about 36 plus inches – I figured about twenty pounds. I wanted to grab the line and plane him to the surface. That puts less pressure on a fish. When Kirk felt the slack in the tip, he instinctively pulled it straight up slicing my hand and breaking the tippet. His fish was gone. I had an awful feeling.
Now I turned my attention to Jay’s fish and we started moving towards it. The line was really tight and the rod was bent over right down to the butt. This was a bigger fish than Kirk’s. I could tell that his arms were tiring. He had been holding this fish for more than 45 minutes. As we approached this red, it made a big push off the port bow and shook the hook. Jay was a little disappointed but this only lasted a minute. He and Kirk were doing high-fives in the boat and shaking my hand. All smiles they wanted to try another area. This was one awesome experience for them.
I ran them over to George’s Bank and we worked the oyster bar to the east. Kirk hooked up a small rat red and he was thrilled when it was brought to the boat. We all marveled at this beautiful fish and then released in the water. Jay caught a trout and then a 6-pound ray. They both had a great time and especially enjoyed our lagoon area and are looking forward to doing this again next year.
