I launched a little late in order to avoid the early rush at the ramp. That effort paid off, as I was able to get the boat in the water with no waiting and no crowd. I did have to park some distance away, but it was worth it.
As I idled up Sister’s Creek on an incoming tide I noticed that even the offshore boats were running inshore. I reached my first stopping place – one that is almost guaranteed to provide me one redfish – and there was not one, but three boats sitting back in the creek and at the creek mouth. I moved on.
The second stop was almost as bad. There are only a few ledges and drops that hold fish on an incoming tide. I thought I had this next place all to myself, but when I rounded the bend, there sat another angler in exactly the spot I wanted to be. He was catching trout and bluefish as fast as he could get a bait in the water. I idled around him and into the mouth of a small creek just behind him. I was going back to another of my “secret” holes when I noticed that yet another boat was sitting right where that hole was.
The story was the same all day long. How could so many people know all of my fishing spots? Of course it was only after I calmed down when I got home that I recollected how I found most of these holes – I saw someone else fishing them and made notes!
Trying to get free from all the other anglers, water skiers, jet skiers, pleasure boats and yachts that were churning up the Intracoastal Waterway, I headed back into some creeks that I had not only never fished, but also had never seen anyone else fish.
The spring flood tides had the water higher than normal on this tide, so I was able to get to places that were ordinarily inaccessible. It seems the fish had the same idea. And wouldn’t you think that they had the right idea? Boats were churning the water. The banks of the ICW were being sloshed to a muddy froth. There was no peace!
Click on "Next" for page 2
