Escaping the noise

There is no greater escape for me then wading away from shore; watching the people, the cars and my problems of the day fade into shadow and become a unified horizon.  Low tide is part of the requirement needed to wander a great distance from shore.  Catching the out-going tide is a huge plus as well.  I recently chose an area near Clearwater to wade fish.  I'm not going to give away the place, because the sheer volume of fish I caught while there was staggering.  The pressure on this area must not be that great because the bite was amazing.

The fly fishing was not that great, I tried a variety of just about everything and the only thing I caught was Puffer fish.  There is not a thing wrong with catching 50 Puffer fish on a 6wt. fly rod.  A two to three pound saltwater fish on a fly rod is exciting, but catching something that size on nearly every cast is epic and tiring!  I can honest;y say I got tired and decided to take a break from the fly rod.  I wanted to catch my breath and catch a different variety of fish if there were any to be had.  To my immediate surprise, not only were there a different variety of fish present, but they were hungry and keyed in on silver.

I switch from my fly rod over to my inshore spinning rod.  I grabbed a couple of spoons, spinners and poppers, threw them in my breast pocket and headed out to deep water again.  This time I had Redfish on my mind.  The clouds were right, the wind was right, the tide was right.  Everything seemed to be lining up for me to have a great out-going tide session.  On my first cast with the newly tied on Johnson Silver Minnow, I had a solid hit, followed by a ton of bricks with a tail.  The Redfish hammered that spoon and took off in the opposite direction so fast I was completely caught of balance and mid-step in my walk to deeper waters.

I cast into the outside edge of the pot-hole to my left at 11 o'clock, as soon as I cranked my reel the second time is when he nailed it.  He hit the initial flutter of the spoon and crushed the retrieve.  He felt like the 6 pound Smallie I had hooked over the summer in Pennsylvania, still my all-time record for Small Mouth Bass. Anything over 5 is a monster and he was every bit of Frankenstein's monster.  This Redfish hit the spoon with the same voracity and intent that the smallie did.  I honestly couldn't contain my happiness, his hit validated that my spot was indeed hot and it was teeming with life.  It had been a long time since I had enjoyed a Redfish, it was long overdue and I figured I had earned the right to indulge in my spoils.

I did something that was uncharacteristic of myself.  I kept a fish this time.  I believe the last time I kept a fish was somewhere in the mid-90's?  I know it has been at least 15 years since I kept a fish, but for some reason I wanted to eat Redfish Friday night, so that is exactly what I did.  

Redfish are a spooky fish, like trout.  I approach them just like I do any other easily spooked fish.  I waded against the current, fished against the current; keeping my body, shadow, and movements hidden from a foraging school of Red's.  I was reminded of a two passage in Ernest G Schwiebert's book, Matching the Hatch.

"Under water, the trout can see quite well up to distances of about 30 feet.  The position of the eyes makes it possible for him to see objects around him in a three-hundred-degree arc.  He has a sixty-degree blind spot to his rear.  Both eyes can be brought into play only on objects directly in front of the fish.  For this reason the greatest areas of vision are seen with only one eye at a time.  Through a study of his physical limitations, one can readily see that the trout is best approached form the rear.  The extent of his view of things outside the stream is directly proportional to his depth in the water."(14)

"Sunshine and shadow greatly effect the vision of the trout.  They can be more easily taken when they are lying in bright sunlight then when they are lying in shade.  The reasons are rather obvious.  Anything lying between the eye and the sun becomes blurred because of the glare.  Conversely, the trout can see more clearly when there is less glare to confuse his eyesight."(14)

Friday and Saturday were supposed to be slightly cloudy with a possible cold front pushing through the area.   This meant that there would be some cloud cover and some bright sun.  If I could time the area right, I could have the best of all three worlds; a moving tide, moving clouds, and moving bait-fish.  Turned out I was right in my approach.  I caught 1/2 dozen Red's, 1/2 dozen Trout, 2 Flounder, 30 Puffer-fish, 2 Bonnet-head sharks, 1 large Ray, and something toothy that I had never seen before.  That was just what I caught on Friday.  Saturday was an exact repeat except no Ray and no Flounder.  All in all I caught and safely returned over 80 fish in two days, except for the one Redfish below.  It was an epic weekend for fishing inshore around the Bay area.

To prepare the Redfish, I keep things simple.  I simply prefer to stuff it and wrap it.  I like the flavor of the fish to shine through and would rather celebrate the fish than mask any of its flavor.  Start by cutting 4 lemons into slices and pulling apart one bunch of dill.  For spices I use only Salt, Pepper and a little blackening seasoning for a subtle punch.   

  

Stuff the cavity of the fish with some of the spices, lemon and dill.  Add 2 pats of butter between the lemon to keep the fish moist.

Lay down a bed of lemon, some sprigs of dill, 3 or 4 pats of butter, some salt, pepper and blackening for flavor.  Gently place fish atop the herbs and lemon.  Cover the fish in the same manner.  Sprinkle spices over the fish, lay the dill on it, place lemons on top of dill, followed by the 4 pats of butter, place lemon slices along the edges of the fish.

Start to roll the foil around the fish, keep all the lemons and herbs pressed tightly against the flesh of the fish.  This is where the flavor will come from.  The flavors will steam into the fish.

Keep rolling until you have a big shiny tube of goodness.  It will be huge and heavy so be careful when moving it.

Grab a beer or six and head to the grill for about 45 minutes to an hour depending upon the size of your fish and the temperature of your grill.  This one was about 5 pounds.  At an average of about 10 minutes per pound, at around 400 degrees, this fish took exactly 4 beers to cook.  If it would have been earlier in the day, it could have taken a solid six pack to cook.

When you are done cooking the fish.  Remove form the heat and let everything rest for about 5 minutes before opening the foil.  It will prevent you first from getting steam burn, but it also allows all the wonderful flavors floating around inside the foil to homogenize into a fantastic menagerie of awesomeness, that is truly the celebration of the catch.

The sunset was the final hurrah,  it really was the perfect weekend.  Here's to happy Red-fishing!  Good luck and tight lines!