I think the words “club outing” and “high winds” must be inherently linked. Our fishing club launched a modest two skiffs into the Mosquito Lagoon this Saturday. Our plans were to pursue Mr. Redfish and once located; persuade to eat some tasty flies. I brought my trusty Temple Fork TiCrX 7wt and a few Clouser minnow patterns of different colors and jacket. The wind direction was from the North at 10 plus MPH at 7 AM.
We had to fish behind the spoil islands on the eastern side of the Lagoon. We would be fishing shallow water and found some spooky Reds right away. We found out that our casts must be presented quickly and precise. Visibility was poor with low wispy frontal clouds blocked the sun at all the wrong times. We had a few fish spook with the cast and a few actually nose the fly…but no takers.
When it was my turn on the bow we were on a windward shore with clear water and a mottled bottom that I had to blind cast due to cloud cover. I tied on a pink Clouser minnow on a #2 3407 hook with a mono weed guard. I paid attention to pinch down the bard of the hook with all the wind and two partners that I shared the boat. I tried to cover the water as best as the 15 plus MPH winds would allow the skiff to be poled. It was not long and I hooked and landed a smallish Red. A few photos were snapped and off it went back into the water after an easy release as a result of a barbless hook.
Each of us had 2 turns on the bow this day. We covered a lot of water. Boat handling, casting and seeing fish was challenging. We saw a good number of Redfish, most of them after we approached too closely. It probably would have been a good wading day. Most of the fish we saw were “laid up” and actually seemed to prefer the windward shoreline. The day was enjoyable; spent with two friends and a lot of promising water.
