August Already

 

**Disclosure: I actually wrote this post last week and apparently never put it up. Oh well, here it is anyway**

I can’t believe it is already August. It feels like only last week I was just getting the season rolling, catching those ambitious schoolies leading the pack up the coast. Maybe it’s because July was a bit a of slow month. I was working so hard to catch such few, and small fish. It led to trying some new things though, like the jigging for sea bass and fluke. I’ve also been trying to get on the canal bite that has been pure fire the last few weeks. So far I have not been successful, unless your vision of success is losing a lot of gear, nearly breaking your rod, banging up your nearly new reel, and dislocating a finger. Up until that last part, it was still pretty fun. Finally, on top of it all, despite fishing quite a bit I have been woefully negligent in regards to documenting my trips via photograph.

Today was a good day. I got down to the beach at 4:15am to get a few hours of fishing in before work. Thinking my coworker would be joining me, I had brought my bike and surf rod to fish the canal more. After arriving, waiting, and finally shooting off a few text messages without response I realized I would be alone. I decided to hit the beach and get some more practice in with my new rod, an 8wt TFO Deer Creek switch. A friend has graciously loaned me a skagit head to try out and I have been using the rod every chance I get. All I will say for now is that A) I love the rod and B) I suck at proper two-handed casting techniques. Once I get my own line and complete the outfit I will do a full write up.

The action was slow, but that can be expected on a beach. Often you are waiting for schools to swim through, on the hunt for any baitfish that may be around. You just have to have your fly in the water when they swim by. I almost immediately picked up a small fish. I then spent the next 30 minutes getting harassed by and occasionally catching some shad.

After that, the sun came up and the bite died. I went about an hour without so much as a tug. I made my way down the beach, casting as I walked. A few fishermen that I know showed up and immediately started catching. I watched them jealously for a few minutes and saw that they suffered the same fate I had. Their bite turned off and now they too were walking the beach, searching. By now the sun was in the sky and the morning was warming.

I had been running into a fellow named Roland  every morning that week. We were on the same schedule it seemed, and this morning was no exception. He and his friend made their way down the beach and fished next to me for a while. He must have brought some good luck with him because suddenly the three of us hooked up at once. My fish took me right to my reel, and it gave my new rod its first workout. I had the fish in within a few minutes, and it turned out to be the nicest fish I’d picked up in a few weeks. I didn’t get a chance to measure, but it looked to be about 22″. I fumbled to get my camera out and snap a picture. I was trying to do something a little different. Rather than holding the fish up with one hand and the camera with the other, which always results in an awkward, scale-less photo with no context; I wanted to lay the fish across my stripping basket with my rod. It would give an idea of the scale of the fish and hopefully provide a more stimulating photograph. The fish though, he didn’t like the idea and I wasn’t able to contain him long enough to get the picture.  So instead of a crappy photo, I got nothing instead.

Regardless of my photo mishap, I was feeling good after that fish. I figured it was a good time to start making my way back to the car. Unfortunately that was my last fish of the day but I left on a high note as I begrudgingly went to work.