gremlins loosed again; stuffed redfish on the fire

The Report from Spotted Tail 11/28/10

in this issue
Shuttle gremlins again
Thanksgiving wrap-up
fishing report
Monthly Contest

Shuttle Gremlins
The gremlins have been loosed again. NASA announced this week that the Shuttle launch so eagerly awaited by so many has been again postponed, this time until December 17. Darn those Klingons! There is another launch of a different vehicle scheduled for December 7. For those who would like to see a launch from the water, I have both those dates open.

Thanksgiving Wrap-up
We lit the fire Wednesday night. The party went into the wee hours. Lots of wieners got roasted, lots of marshmallows got toasted.

Scott Radloff got here about 530 AM on Thursday to start cooking. Yeah, I thought it was nuts.

Scott barbecued the pig and we put a gutted stuffed redfish on the fire too. We had a turkey in the oven and all the guests brought food. Finally, at about 3 PM, all 30 of us sat down to grace and dinner- fabulous.

We then stoked up the fire again. I had a trip the next day so I bailed out about 10 PM. I think the last of the guests bailed around midnight.

I made a pot of turkey stew last night and need to make a pot of redfish chowder with the leftover fish. Lots of guests left with bags of ribs or ham.

I’m most thankful for being born American. God bless the USA.

Fishing Report
Monday cousins James and Robert Tedesco joined me on Spotted Tail for some fly fishing. It wasn’t terribly windy but there was heavy overcast and it rained lightly for a good part of the day. It was next to impossible to spot the few fish that were on the flats.

We had a few poor shots at redfish but did not catch any. We got some trout by blind fishing over a shoal, using a rattle fly.

We did a lot of riding and hunting but only saw a handful of reds. Not a very productive day, catching-wise. Jim is a long-time friend and it was very good to see him.

Wednesday Scott Radloff and I went on a meat redfishing expedition, launching at River Breeze. I do this only one or two days a year. Every year I feel more guilty about it, so I imagine that tradition isn’t long for this world. Anyway…

The sun was out, the wind was light, and we found the fish at the first stop. We hooked four, unbuttoned one, one wrapped around a root and broke off, and the other two were boated, twin 24 inch fish. Mullet heads were the bait of choice. The boat was on the trailer at 11 AM, allowing us to get our other pre-Thanksgiving chores done.

Friday Chuck Callahan and his son Nick joined me on the Mosquito Lagoon. First stop was Tiger Shoal, where we did not see a fish. We headed up to where Scott and I had caught the fish two days earlier. Chuck got a rat red by blind casting a Johnson Minnow but we only saw a single fish up there. Then the search mission was on.

Wind was hard out of the southwest so we stayed on the west side of the lagoon. It was a slow bite. Chuck kept using the spoon while Nick used a jig. They ended up with several small reds, one red in the slot, a couple ladyfish, a small flounder, and a several trout of various sizes. Trout season is closed until January 1 so they were all released. The Callahans kept the one slot red. When I filleted it its stomach and guts were empty, so it hadn’t eaten in a while.

Catching wasn’t that good but it was a nice enough day and the Callahans were very nice people. It was good to spend the day on the water.

Monthly Contest
Two, count ’em TWO, brave souls sent flies in for consideration this week. Steve Silverio, a master tyer from Pennsylvania, sent me the photo of the beautiful crab fly shown below but not tying instructions. His comments:

“Here is a Lady crab tube fly for submission. Do you have any of those down there?
“I don’t want to enter the contest, only want to fish with you and try out some patterns. I haven’t seen you post a crab so I thought……… Hey, why not?”

Texan Gary Griffin sent in Tod’s Simple Shrimp #2. It is simple, and looks quite effective.

Tod's Simple Shrimp #2, by Gary Griffin

Tod's Simple Shrimp #2 produced this snook near Sebastian Inlet.

Instructions for tying can be found at this link: http://www.spottedtail.com/FlyOfTheWeek.htm

Thanks to both Steve and Gary for their submissions, and all the rest of you tyers out there, get out of the closet and share your wares! Send a photo and instructions to john@spottedtail.com, and get in the contest! Prize is a beautifully autographed copy of a fly fishing book by John Kumiski.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is short- GO FISHING!

Life is great and I love my work!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com