I had trouble sleeping Friday night in anticipation of fishing on the Salt Strong boat in the morning. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. We were to meet up at 7:30 am for breakfast, and then we planned to head out on the boats at about 8:00 am. It was also announced during supper that there would be a tournament for bragging rights between the chapter presidents. This added to my excitement. 

I showed up at Chief Eddie’s cottage around 7:15 am, and there was a complete production line making breakfast and sack lunches. There was someone cooking eggs, a few people were making the sandwiches, and I helped Stan put the breakfast sandwiches together.

Once we had completed preparing breakfasts and lunches, we all gathered up at the docks. Luke was ready to get going; however, two of the boats were delayed due to charging issues and having to replace batteries.

Since our boat was fishing with only artificial baits, Luke decided we would get a head start and left at 8:00 am even though the other boats were delayed. Luke planned to start at a spot where he had seen many egrets along the shore the night before. With the current winds, the water was pushing out, which made the tide much lower than anticipated and made this spot a little challenging to get to; however, we managed to get there and started working the shoreline when another boat jumped in front of us in the direction we were working. Since we did not see any life at this first spot and the other boat was in front of us, Luke decided to push to another spot.

The next spot was a large oyster bar; however, the low tide made it impossible to reach, so we had to move on to another spot. We ran to Crab Creek and started working the west shoreline north past Banna Creek. With five of us throwing baits, we were covering all our bases. Once again, we did not see much life, but we kept working. When we got near the end of Crab Creek, we saw what we thought were dolphins, which was disappointing since we did not have a fish on the boat yet, but we continued to work the mangroves.

When we got closer, we realized it was not dolphins in the creek but a bunch of manatee mating. I felt like we were in a nature documentary when we saw them all splashing around. There was one dock at the end of the creek, where I had my first bite of the day. I had a gold digger colored power prawn jr. with a 1/4oz football jig, and a snook thumped it pretty good. After a few seconds of pulling drag, my leader broke below the knot. I was so disappointed I had just lost a massive snook, but it was equipment failure and not my fault.

I retied a new 20lb leader on my main line and then switched to a slam shady 2.0 with a Owner Twistlock 3/0 hook as we finished working Crab Creek. Our next spot we worked was the shoreline of Dickman Isle. This is where we started to see life, and the bite started to pick up. In this area, Luke landed three trout ranging from 14 to 16 inches, a short snook, and a ladyfish. Cathy also caught a small Crocker, which we threw into the live well to use back at the dock later in the evening. Almost as quickly as the bite turned on, it turned off.

It was after 11:00 am, so we made the run back to the dock to pick up our packed lunches since we departed before the lunches were finished. We picked up our lunches, headed to Cockroach Bay, and focused on catching more fish. This plan panned out well, as we all caught lots of trout while drifting the flats. We had fun pulling in the trout but pivoted to seeking some snook and redfish.

Luke had a plan to run to a spot he knew would hold some fish, but as we started to make the run across the bay, the winds kicked up, and we started seeing whitecaps, so Luke chose not to make the run, and we headed back to Crab Creek. With the tide coming in our hopes, there was enough water to get to some spots we could not earlier.

As we moved into Crab Creek, we ran into the group of manatees again. This time, it was much closer to the mouth of the creek. This spot did not produce any snook or redfish for us, but my brother, Chris, from the Nature Coast Chapter, lost a very nice flounder as he tried to bring it on the boat. He kept blaming the net man, but I was still able to give him a hard time as he gave it to me for losing my snook.

Once we exhausted this area, we ran back to the dock. We were unsure when we had to be back for the weigh-in. Since we weren’t sure, we headed back at about 4:00 p.m. As we came into the canal, we decided to try our luck. Not far into the canal, I had another snook on; this time, my FG knot failed. I was frustrated as, this time, it was my fault for the loss. Although I did tie a good FG knot, casting it in the mangroves all day, something compromised my knot and made it weak. Next time, I will check my knots more frequently to avoid losing a fish like that again.

Since none of the other boats returned, we returned to fish more mangroves. Unfortunately, the rest of the afternoon was unproductive. It was a long, hard day fishing with the winds, but I had a blast and learned a lot from Luke.

We ended the day with a surf and turf meal. Between all the boats, we only brought back three trout. I had brought a snook fillet, and Salt Strong provided the steaks and potatoes. Darlene made a great stew, which everyone loved. After supper, the winners of the tournament were announced. Terry from the Sports Coast Chapter landed the largest snook, and Glen from the Sarasota Chapter took the largest trout and redfish. However, Rodney Durant from the Alabama Chapter caught a larger redfish Friday morning, so he gave him the plaque.

In the end, it wasn’t about the plaques or the bragging rights but about the moments spent in the company of fellow anglers, the laughter shared, and the knowledge gained. As we bid farewell to another day on the water, I carried with me not only the memories of the day’s adventure but also a renewed appreciation for the beauty and unpredictability of nature and the unwavering fellowship of the Salt Strong community.

Tania and I send our best wishes to all fellow anglers, hoping your fishing adventures are safe, blessed, and full of tight lines and good times! Until next time, keep casting and chasing those dreams on the water.