Quality and Quantity

My buddy Troy asked me to fish with him last weekend. There's some people who just have a special knack for catching fish. Some call it mojo, sixth sense, a gift or the Troy Factor. Doesn't matter what you call it Troy has it. Fishing with him is a privilege and I try to jump on every opportunity I get. Storms were threatening in the forecast but we still hit the marshes early. 

The marshes off North Carolina's coast have a beauty all of their own. It can really only be appreciated up close and personal by paddling slowly. At first glance the marsh looks like a prairie with several creeks flowing through it. It doesn't take long for you to realize the still view you see above the water is the opposite of what's happening underneath. You'll constantly see bait and shrimp busting the surface fleeing from a predator. Wakes from creatures moving under the surface disturb eddies and grass lines. Every now an then you hear a splash or see an eruption of bait fish as a red drum attacks. There's so much prey in these marshes it's amazing that a fish ever hits a fly. What's great about this place is everything looks fishy. Around every bend is another pool, oyster bed or small cove that has bustling movement. 

Stealth is the name of the game and long casts are usually needed. Especially if the water is calm. In the summer the water is murky and it's hard to see even a foot into the water. The water isn't dirty it's visibility is clouded by plankton. We saw several fish moving through the shallows but none seemed eager to chase a fly. While blind casting near a bank I had my first real hit. The fish didn't seem very large at first. Then as it got closer to the boat it bolted. My reel screamed and I had to slow the rotations with my palm.

One thing you can count on with reds is a battle. They never just surrender and come in. The runs are fast and furious and you need to be on your toes. This fish circled the boat a few times before we could finally land it.

If I had a list of top 10 fish to catch with flies red drum might just top the list. I don't think anyone who catches a red drum ever forgets it.

The next day we hit the Neuse River in search of striped bass.

Rumor had it that the fish were hitting top water lures and we were all armed with stealth bombers. There was one hit with in the first 10min then no other action. We moved to the bridges to see if the fish were holding near structure.

Cruising towards the bridge the views were spectacular. Once we got there we looked for birds working and signs of fish activity. It didn't take long until we saw birds hovering over fish busting bait. I've seen birds bust bait before but never this close.

The birds and bait seemed to move all around the area. Sometimes the bait was pushed right against the boat and shad almost jumped up on the deck. The birds would get in a feeding frenzy and seemed to disregard our presence. There were so many that it started to interfere with casting.

We weren't sure what to do when a buddy hooked one of the birds,

Luckily the bird just had the leader wrapped around its wing. When it came close the leader loosened enough for the bird to free itself and it flew away unharmed. The fish chasing the shad turned out to be small stripers also called schoolies. Most were barely 12 inches. I'm guessing these fish were barely 2yrs old. Even with their size they were very fun to catch. We could almost predict our hook ups with what showed on the fish finder. The screen would literally turn black. The schoolies were fun but we wanted to explore up another river. 

A family of osprey greeted us at the mouth of the river. It was neat how the scenery changed from a wide river with intercoastal type features to something almost swampy. 

As we moved upstream more gnarled trees showed themselves and many had spanish moss hanging from the branches. 

After people watching and checking out the scenery we headed back and had our fill of some more schoolies. It was a great day and I hope to some day return and explore this area more.