Don't be in a Hurry

I was determined not to fish by any other boats tonight and that's exactly what I did. It was slow going until I realized my game plan was wrong. It always pays to stop every once in awhile to just look around. It was one of those nights that you could see for miles, determine if there was any bait around and check out some new rip currents. If I hadn't stopped, I would have never realized that I was surrounded by massive pods of "rain bait". Not ideal (Peanut Bunker would have been better), but I didn't have much time so I just waited to see what might develop. I couldn't have written the script any better. In about 10 minutes the fish started attacking the bait balls and I had fish all around my boat. I could tell I had a bait ball using my boat as cover because I could see the fish smacking my hull from all sides. I managed a few 20"ers, but most were around 15". I thought for sure I would be able to find some bigger fish, but I couldn't get my fly down deep enough before a smaller fish bit it. Oh well, at least I had them all to myself. It's funny how people see a bunch of boats and go racing toward them like they are missing something. I spoke to a friend that said he was having a tough bite and was fishing around the "fleet". Knowing that, I found it interesting how many boats (I watched them through my binoculars) went racing off to join the action or lack thereof. I'm as guilty as anyone for falling for that trap, but I'm slowly realizing it's a lot more fun to find your own fish...especially ones that are biting!!!