Blown Out

Note:  This is the trip report I wrote up for last weekend (I'm a little behind on my blogging). 

Try fly fishing in this...

Well, the weekend didn't exactly go as planned.  As the wind picked up at Pensacola Beach this weekend, so did the waves.  Large waves on Saturday and Sunday made fly fishing the Gulf side of Santa Rosa Island impossible.  Hanging out on the beach and playing in the waves were still options, but as far as fishing goes, we were relegated to the Sound side.  In previous trips, the Gulf side has been kinder to me, producing various kinds of fish with some regularity.  The Sound side has been much less generous.  This trend continued as I spent Saturday evening and Sunday wading the Sound side flats with very little luck.  The flats look very inviting - crystal clear water with a white sand bottom and numerous patches of grass.  This inviting water yielded a total of... wait for it... one fish.  One stinkin' speckled trout.  Actually it was a pretty nice speckled trout, and we made the most of our one stinkin' fish, cooking it in tin foil over a campfire.  It was delicious.

This used to be a 16" speckled trout

The most exciting moment of the weekend came while wading the flats.  I was casting into a patch of sand surrounded by grass and caught some motion out of the corner of my eye.  A 25 inch red was just cruising along the edge of a grass bed about 20 ft from me and closing.  I attempted to flip my fly in the fish's general direction moving only the very tip of my rod, knowing that any significant motion would ruin what little chance I had left of the fish eating the fly before it saw me.  Miraculously, the fly landed in front of the red, and with one strip, the fish turned to follow the fly only to see me and spook at the last second.  I think I threw a temper tantrum at that point.

Anyways, it was a beautiful weekend to be on the water with friends, and Pensacola hasn't seen the last of me by any means.  But next time, things will be different...

I'll be back.