Summer's End and a few thoughts of Gratitude

Summer's end is around the bend just flying.
The swimming suits are on the line just drying...
-John Prine

Summer, like all good things, has to end sometime.  The good news is what's coming next.  Fall is a really special time of year on the Crystal Coast with some of my favorite species arriving and some of the best fishing yet to come.  But before we start daydreaming about that, let's take a quick look back at the last few months.

Like always, Redfish took up the majority of our focus this Summer.  Tailing, crawling, blowing up top-waters...we'll take it however it comes.  They are the fish that started it all for my guide service and I'll always love them.  A little more about our Summer Redfish fishery further down in this post.

We got to do something special the first part of this summer.  Central North Carolina experienced an epic 13-year Cicada hatch.  Brood XIX emerged in early May and by late May and early June, the carp had their feedbags on.  

In past years, I've seen a huge feeding response to periodical Cicadas by Common Carp.  That species didn't seem to have as much interest this go around, but the giant Grass Carp more than made up for it.

It took us a little bit of experimenting and hopping around lakes in the Triangle Area, but once we got it dialed in, it was on.

Sight fishing four-foot-long fish on dry flies, how can you beat that?!?

The Cicada Madness was short lived, but so worth it.  I'll definitely be back in 13 years, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for any other major Cicada hatches in neighboring states between now and then.  It's just too much fun!  Thanks to everyone who came and fished it with me.

We also launched our Canoe trips as another offering from Tailing Tide Guide Service.  Thanks to those of you who joined us for a paddle on one of our black water rivers in pursuit of panfish and bass on ultralight fly rods and poppers.  I had a blast, paddling folks around the Cypress knees and downed logs watching hungry sunfish slurp up topwater flies.  I can't wait to do some more of these next Spring!

Although most of our salt time was spent inshore in the marsh this summer, we did slip off the beach a few times chasing everything from Spanish Mackerel to Sharks to Reef Donkeys.  I wish we could have done more of that stuff, but there's always so much demand for Redfish in the summer.  I feel confident that we'll end up back on those wrecks a few times this fall bending 12wt fly rods and XH spin rods on big fish.

Back to the marsh we go. 

I have to be honest with you.  This summer was really tough for me as a sight fishing focused guide.  I've become known for poling anglers to Redfish, and having them sight cast to those fish, primarily on fly, and sometimes on light tackle.  I love sight fishing Redfish, but it's pretty difficult when the water looks like coffee.  And that was the struggle this summer.  It seemed to blow 15mph out of the East for all of the month of June, and things got pretty stirred up in the areas I usually sight fish.  In July, it seemed like it rained every other day, and the water got really stained.  Then in August we got a tropical storm.  Quite honestly, I really struggled to provide what I felt like my clients deserved.  Almost all of my trips were fly fishing trips, and those trips really require some visibility to have sight fishing success.  I found plenty of fish on most trips, but you couldn't see them until they were under your rod tip.  A lot of our shots lasted for 2 seconds from the time we saw the fish until they spooked out from underneath us.  I love my anglers, and the struggle really wore on me, because I wanted so badly for them to have a great sight fishing experience.  As far as I could tell, my anglers were having a great time on the bow of the boat, but it was really playing mind games with me as a guide.

Fortunately for me, I have an amazing list of clients.  They have a great attitude, work hard, make it happen, and they appreciate the overall experience, not just the catching part.  As you can see, we caught fish, but we really had to be on our A-Game this summer in the marsh.

When the water was too dirty to sight fish them on fly, we got noisy with it, throwing Disco Shrimp, Gurglers and Poppers along the grass edges.  With enough blind casting, those surface flies would eventually land in the right spot and get inhaled by a Redfish.  I love topwater eats, especially up close and personal on a fly.

I didn't have as many spin trips as fly trips this summer, but when we did, we usually did pretty well.  Especially on the high tides, water clarity made no difference when you were working a Skitter Walk or a Zara Spook...click, click, boom!

During the second half of the summer season, I came to a realization.  I had spent time down in the dumps about the amount of rain, wind and dirty water we had experienced.  I had felt bad about trips that didn't give us as many solid shots as I am used to.  I even started to feel jealous of the guides that only run conventional and bait charters, and the number of fish they were able to catch in dirty water.  Then at some point, I started noticing how many trips a lot of the other guides around me were running.  I began to realize that their trip numbers were down.  Closed seasons and reductions in keeper limits, caused them to lose some customers who wanted to take home fish, like flounder.  Increasing prices of food, gas, and summer vacations had kept some of their summer clients from booking with them.  All this time, I had been thinking the grass was greener on the other side, and then I realized how fortunate I had been.  Although the weather and conditions were tough on us, I was booking plenty of trips. I realized how blessed I was to have so many awesome clients that supported me this summer.  I really do get to live my dream, because of all of you.  I am grateful for every angler that steps foot on my boat, and I promise to work my tail off to show you a great time.  You all are amazing, and I cannot thank you enough!!!

Speaking of Redfish, and conservation, we have released every Redfish we've caught this year.  I will complete this mission of putting them back over the next few months to finish out 2024 being 100% C&R on Redfish.  There's no looking back, I'm going to keep pushing to make conservation cool for everyone who is getting into this sport, and hopefully I can set a new standard for our fishery going forward.  

And with that, the sun has set on the marsh of the Crystal Coast for the final time this summer. 
​Off to new adventures.

When the sun sets on the marsh, it rises on the Cape.  Albie season has begun!

The bait and the Albies have been here for a few weeks.  We've been out catching, tagging and releasing Albies in between Redfish trips in the marsh.  I'm just a couple days from going full steam into Albie season.  For everyone that booked a trip with me over the next two months, I appreciate it and I can't wait to see you bowed up on the bow of my boat soon!