How the Redfish Told the Story

– Guest Blog by David Caprera

“So I was cruising the bank of South Cedar Island looking for some breakfast after a late night at the Oyster Bar.  Maybe some shrimp cocktail or a mullet on toast.

“Along comes one of those crazy kayaking fisherman.  And a fly fisherman, they’re the worst.  All pompous and snooty with their Sage Rods and Abel Reels; ‘Hey look at me guys, I’ve got $1000 in fancy gear.’ Well, of course I hear him coming from a quarter of a mile away, banging his paddle on the side of the kayak and all.  Now normally I would just swim away but this morning I wanted to teach him a lesson.

“I continued feeding as he paddled to within about 60 feet.  For fun, I ducked down to the bottom and sat in the mud for a minute, just to piss him off, but then popped back up. He proceeded to cast, too many backcasts, but after an eternity he threw a fly into my part of the ocean.  It landed with the usual alarm bell plop to make sure that it was a fake.  One of those black rabbit worms that look like nothing I would ever want to eat.

“I tailed on his fly and he strip struck me.  At least he wasn’t as stupid as some of those northern trout fishing types, lifting their rod tip.  And this is where it gets good.

“I grabbed the rabbit tail between my lips, carefully avoiding the hook and proceeded to swim around like I had been fooled. After a minute or so, I had had enough exercise for the morning so I swam toward the kayak to within about 15-20 feet. The fisherman was holding his rod tip high creating a large bend in the rod. With utmost precision I brought my head to the surface, took aim, executed a perfect bow and arrow cast, and hit the fisherman with his own fly square in the forehead.

“Yeah, I really did.”

David Caprera was an attorney in a former life. He amuses redfish and sometimes humans in his spare time now. This is his second guest blog for the spotted tail.

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2013. All rights are reserved.