'Catch' special moments while fishing
Time flies and kids grow up fast. These were my thoughts when friends Roman and Nico joined me for one of our semi-annual fishing trips. They live in California, but their grandfather is a Daniel Island resident and we fish when they visit for Christmas and summer.
We missed our winter trip last year, due to a severe winter storm. So, I had not seen the boys for about a year. As they boarded my skiff, I noticed they were several inches taller than when we fished last summer. Idling away from the boat ramp, Roman and Nico took turns catching me up. I quickly realized, they are not little kids any more. We have been fishing together since the boys were 6-years old. It boggled my mind that they were now teenagers!
Our plan was to target trout until the tide rose high enough to look for tailing redfish in the marsh grass. Unfortunately, several days of heavy rain made for extremely poor water clarity and the trout bite failed to materialize. The slow fishing gave us plenty of time to catch up. We talked about their friends, movies, video games and social media. I marveled at how much they had grown.
When the tide got sufficiently high, we made a short run to a marsh area that has been holding a good number of redfish. Roman and Nico quickly spotted a redfish tailing in the shallow water. As quietly as possible, I maneuvered the skiff into casting distance and instructed the boys to determine the direction the fish was moving. We made casts to where the fish would be (in a few seconds) and waited. The redfish slowly moved towards our offering and ate it. When Nico set the hook, the salt marsh exploded. The redfish was much bigger than we originally thought. It put up a great fight. After a quick photo and release, it was Roman’s turn to catch one. It did not take long. We spotted another tailing redfish right away and repeated the process.
As I took a picture of Roman and Nico holding the fish, I thought once again, time files and kids grow up fast.
Contact Captain Greg Peralta at captgregp@gmail.com or call (843) 224-0099.