Sweet Redemption, Namely Fish

By Jill Toler

After getting skunked this past Sunday, I just had to try it again. I went right back to the same spot that I fished on Sunday morning to try and determine if it was me, or them. I’m still not totally sure but, I didn’t get skunked today.

I was on the water by 6:30 am and casting away by 6:40 am but, it took a little while to figure it all out. I started out fishing the same bank as I did on Sunday and didn’t even get a bump. I used intermediate line and a lightly weighted fly because I figured that the fish may be holding in deeper water since it had been so hot lately. I guess not. It made no sense that no fish were there but, I gave it my best for about an hour and a half.

I paddled over to another bank and worked my way down a canal that had a marina with docked boats on one side and some beautiful structure on the other. I tossed my fly within a foot of the shore and worked it all the way back to the kayak. The wind pushed me on a quick drift headed out of the canal and parallel with the shore so, I would paddle back up into the canal so I could fish the area thoroughly. On about the fifth cast I finally hooked up with a white perch. Boy was I happy to finally have caught something; I was starting to question my fly fishing ability. I knew that I hooked that fish close to the bottom so, I made a few more casts and then tied on a small white clouser minnow fly hoping to entice another white perch or maybe even a striper. Or a flounder, or a drum, or a trout, or even a bass; really anything would be fine at this point. No such luck.

I moved to another area on the same shoreline and tossed a little popper to see if I could catch a sunny. Sometimes their mouth is so small that they don’t get the hook in their jaw and just bite the legs or the tail of the popper. It took a bit of finesse but I finally hooked one of those little fellas. I was very, very happy. I’m telling ‘ya, I was about to seek counseling for my no catching condition.

I caught a few more and felt a lot better about myself. I know I shouldn’t take getting skunked so hard but, I do. I fished until about 10:00 am and headed back to the ramp because I had to be at work by 12:00 noon. I was cutting it mighty close.

I saw some extraordinary stuff during my expedition and the funniest was a big ‘ole Osprey getting chased by a little squawking bird. I thought, really dude, you are only about 10 times the size of that bird. I guess somebody was a bit too close for comfort. I also saw a big Osprey nest and an Osprey bringing stuff back to it. I took a picture of it. The most beautiful thing I saw was a dragonfly that looked like it had been dipped in shiny copper. I have never seen a dragonfly that color. I held out my paddle hoping that it would land so I could take it’s picture but, it had somewhere to be I guess. I really need to get a video camera so I can capture all of this wonderful stuff.

All in all it was a great day and I am so blessed to be able go kayaking and fishing and experience the beauty of nature where I live.