Wrightsville Beach, NC Capt. Seth's Fly Report

[CaptSeth]

Good evening fellow long rodders,

It's been awhile since I posted here and I am going to try to be more consistent this season, Capt. Lee has promised to keep me honest so I won't be posting any BS here, just good old fashioned fish **** and info.

Here is the latest fly report as of Tuesday March the 25th for all of you salty fly chuckers!

It seems like we are getting a lot of wind this March. We had a lot of friends and anglers in town over the Easter holiday and man did the wind blow! I ran two charters on Saturday, before Easter, and the wind was relentless. We saw good numbers of fish and even some stingrays making there way into the shallows, spring is here for sure.

The real excitement happened on Tuesday when the winds subsided. I was guiding fly anglers John Elmo and Tom Merrick of Durham, NC. We had a good morning of fishing and stayed on fish for close to three and a half hours, man does the time fly when you are hunting the big schools and getting close encounters every few minutes. Tom was second up at bat and the first to get a shot at fish. We had made a silent approach to a rather large school of roving redfish in about 6 inches of water. The school was made up of 50 or more 5lb or better sized redfish and when we first spotted them I watched a large solo fish eat a mullet off of the surface! I knew we where going to have fun then...

After several close encounters and missed opportunities we backed off of the school to let them settle down. I repositioned the bow for Tom and waited patiently for the school to turn and work back up wind towards the boat. Tom sighted the school about 5o feet out and made a quick and decisive cast four feet in front of the lead fish. On the first strip we watched the lead fish accelerate to the fly and refuse it mere inches from the fly! Almost as quickly a fish behind the lead red seized the opportunity to take what his brother did not and this red smashed the fly and made a blistering run. Tom and I both were unglued at watching the fish eat and Tom was tight to the first red of the day.

We took several photos and released the fish to fight another day and Tom relinquished the bow to his angling companion, John. John and I got repositioned, the wind now blowing harder, and had four close encounters but we failed to deliver as a team. The wind at the angle we had was wreaking havoc on John's forward cast and the fly actually hit him in the back on two shots to the school. But I had a plan...

So we boogied to the next redfish hole, now in the lee of the wind, and worked our way through a small grass flat with John again on the bow. After a few short minutes of poling down the bank I spotted the school of reds in an unlikely place and in the glare to John and had to get him to cast over me to the 7 o'clock position of the boat! The fish spooked several times as we tried to line up a shot and we never really got the right visual angler for John to be able to capitalize.


None the less John and Tom were super anglers, casters and sportsman on the boat. I look forward to many more adventures together with these two gentlemen on the water. Let's get together after your Mexico adventure and have a beer or go chase some tailing reds in the grass! Until then keep throwing those pretty loops and practicing for the next adventure.


Tight Loops and Lines,
Captain Seth Vernon~
910-233-4520

[gottaflylee]

Now thats what I'm talking about!!!!
About time you post a report...love it! great having breakfast with ya the other morning...
Keep it up now...we want MORE!

[Dave Sikorski]

Great report Seth.

Keep them coming!!

-D