Flats...

[OneMoreCast]

Here's how the story goes...
3 years ago I was fishing the susky flats with some friends. I had dinner plans with the wife that night and told her I would be home by 4pm. She got the first call at 4:30... "Honey, we are on fish and I'll be home when the tide quits." Four phone calls and six hours later I walked in my front door.....
So... she put a "flats curse" on me. When I walked in, she was po'ed... really po'ed. She looks at me and says " I hope you never catch another fish on the flats"
For the next three years... dozens of trips.. literally thousands of casts... I couldn't catch a big stripah. (20lbs) Plenty of schoolies but nothing of substance. I saw plenty caught.. most of them right next to me.. and frankly it started to get in my head. Was this curse real? Does my wife wield some cosmic power and when is she going to use it against me again?

Sunday morning my friend Ed and I are driving up to the flats. My cell phone rang about half way there. It was my darling bride.. We joked around for a bit...and in passing I said, "Could you please take back your curse? Haven't I suffered enough?" Luckily, she was in a forgiving mood that morning... she says "Go catch a big one for me...love you have a good day."
The clouds parted.... a new day dawned.. a good day... a day of bent rods and torqued reels.. a fishing day!!!!
First cast...swear to god.. I hook a large. This one escapes me... but for the rest of the day.. I crushed stripahs over 25lbs... Odd thing is, even the bait guys weren't catching. In fact, I yanked the last fish 50 feet away from a boatload of yahoos slingin LIVE HERRING...
What's the moral of the story...well there are several..
1) Don't get a Sicilian woman angry....ever
2) Sometimes the price you pay for staying late ain't worth it...
3) Good vibes go a long way....
Using rio striper 350
22lb leader
10" Hollow yak flies

PS....Jake if you read this.. check out shallow water angler pg70 this month... your reel is famous...

[fishsalmon]

VERY NICE!!!

And Byrd wonders why I try so hard to avoid the "dog house". The power of SWMBO is great.

[brad regan 01]

awesome job. what wt. was the rod that you were you using

[Dave Sikorski]

Pretty work buddy. You earned those suckers.

It's always good to have the little lady on your side.

-D

[OneMoreCast]

Brad, that's a Sage XP 8wt... landed all the fish in under 5 minutes. It's all in how you fight them... I could have thrown a 10wt but why? I was fine with the 8wt...
On the flats, you have to be able to cast a minimum of 80 feet with sinking line. Plus, you make a ton of casts... a ten wt is no fun after 5 or 6 hours. I can throw the 8wt all day long.... it's shallow water too so the fish fight differently. The run out instead of down. So, there isn't a lot of lifting power needed. You just get their head pointed toward the boat and put the screws to them.
The only other reason to step up to a 10wt would be for throwing big flies.. My fly was a hollow yak at 10 to 12 inches.. big profile but no weight.
The most important thing to consider when fishing the flats is absolute concentration. One bite can make or break the day.. you miss that bite.. you just missed a potential fish of a lifetime. Focus is the key...as is covering a lot of water. I'm most comfortable with my 8wt... I keep the 10 loaded with a big popper and floating line just in case.

[Paul Sikorski]

Great Fish OMC! Your definitely right about knowing when NOT to stay late...

Is that fly tied just like the hollow flies you showed us at WCO with bucktail? I've got a bunch of yak hair that I ordered by mistake and had no clue what to do with it.

[flies only]

nice job tony !i thought i was the only one with a flats curse...good to see it is lifted for ya...

[OneMoreCast]

Originally Posted by Paul Sikorski

Great Fish OMC! Your definitely right about knowing when NOT to stay late...

Is that fly tied just like the hollow flies you showed us at WCO with bucktail? I've got a bunch of yak hair that I ordered by mistake and had no clue what to do with it.

Yeah Paul, exactly like that fly.. don't be afraid to use a little head cement to secure the yak after pulling it back on itself.. it's stiffer and has a larger diameter than bucktail.. You have to really work to control it.
Light flash too...

[BYRD]

Nice fish dude!!! Haven't been on the fly page for awhile. Great report, Glad you got into them.

As far as the wife thing. . . . hmmmm. . . . Mine usually wants me to go fishing so she doesn't have to hear me bitch about why she hasn't folded the laundry or done the dishes.


Of course fshsalmon has been on the boat when the phone rings every 15 minutes with the "where you at now? you at the ramp yet? HOw much longer you going to be?