Tailing redfish with a gator on my tail
Recently, my fishing trips have been more like nature tours. That is code for: "not catching a lot of fish." Between rain and massive new moon tides, it has been a struggle to consistently catch fish – even with Brody, the amazing fish-finding and stock-trading dog.
On Friday, high tide was at about 5 p.m. Due to the moon phase, it was forecast to be about one foot above normal high tide. Not great for how I typically fish. However, the unusually high tide did make it possible to target “tailing” redfish. So, Brody and I launched the skiff at 4 p.m. and ran to a hard-bottom spartina flat.
The area that Brody selected is home to literally thousands of fiddler crabs. Full and new moon tides provide redfish with access to this food source. As the redfish roots fiddler crabs out of their holes, their tails protrude above the surface of the water – hence the name “tailing” redfish.
The tide was not quite high enough to allow the skiff easy access. Rather than jumping out and wading to the spot, I decided to wait a few minutes for the tide to rise. I staked out the skiff and quietly watched the tide rise. It was very peaceful. An osprey dived into the water and captured a mullet. A few minutes later, a manatee slowly swam by the boat. A blue heron and an egret were on the spartina flat eating crabs and minnows. I told Brody we may not catch any fish, but this was a great fishing trip.
When the tide got high enough, I moved the skiff onto the spartina flat. A redfish was tailing about 20 yards away. I grabbed my seven-weight flyrod and gently exited the skiff. Brody decided to stay in the boat. As I was wading into the casting position, Brody began to bark. He does not bark much, so I turned to look at what got him so excited. An alligator was a few feet behind me. It was not particularly large, so I was not that concerned. Brody kept on barking. The alligator kept on following me.
Distracted by all the commotion, I made a bad presentation to the tailing redfish. It shot off the flat, spooking a couple of more redfish as it left. I figured that was enough nature for one afternoon and waded back to the skiff. The alligator followed me. Back in the skiff, Brody and I split a cold beer as we watched the sunset. We caught no fish, but we had a great nature tour.