Let me tell y’all something…I have fly fishing my entire life practically, and I have stumbled upon something that is a whole new level of fun.

For those of you that follow this blog, you know that probably about two years ago I was gifted a Bote Micro-Skiff/Stand Up Paddle Board (specific model is the Rover). I had fished on one of these with my best friend down in Florida on several occasions, and knew I had to include it in my arsenal. I have spent the last two years figuring out the best ways to fish out of this, and how to be consistently successful in a multitude of fly fishing scenarios. This year, I was lucky and fortunate enough to venture out and target one of my favorite species on the board: Redfish.

My girlfriend and I spent a week down in the 30A section of the Florida panhandle in September. We had been in the area earlier on in the spring with a few other friends (without the paddle board in tow), where I took some time to scout a few areas with some fishy looking flats. Having caught some fish wading in the area during the spring, I knew that if I returned with the board, we would be in for quite the time.

So, with the board in the car and a couple of beautiful weather days granted to us, my girlfriend was kind enough to accompany me on the flats with the board to pursue some Redfish. We ventured out on the perfect day – the water was extremely calm, clear, and mullet were everywhere. Perfect for paddle boarding and sight fishing.

The tide was up a bit, allowing us to “push pole” about 15 feet from the bank and look for fish pushing up shallow. Within 10-minutes, it was clear that it was going to be a special day. We had a nice red sunbathing up shallow in the sand – presented the fly perfectly, no spook, but the fish wanted nothing to do with the fly after a couple of casts. Fishing the panhandle area for 10+ years, I knew that I most likely needed to downsize my fly, and tied on one of my go to “Redfish Hushpuppy” flies that are essentially a deer hair looking crab thing that the reds seem to love.

After this fly change and pushing down the bank about 20 more yards, it was on. We came up on a pod of three fish, cast, and had a red absolutely smash the fly. Fish on. The fish took off and pulled our board around with it. Having only 10 pound test on and a small fly, I carefully fought the fish to the board, and was able to get it in the net. After some cheers and a few pictures, we let this beautiful fish go to keep growing, and this was only the start for the day.

After landing this fish, we pushed down the flat further to let the area settle from the chaos. No more than 5-minutes later, we pushed out a little bit further in the flat towards the end of a dock and I noticed a red sitting on the sand bottom in probably about 4-feet. This fish was blending in very well to the bottom, but the sun allowed us to get our eyes on it. I threw a gentle cast right over the pot hole it was in, and watched the fly slowly start to sink…mind you it is a light fly, so it was taking its dear sweet time. To my surprise (and absolute benefit – I’ve never seen a Redfish do this before), the fish motioned upward like a Brown Trout would with a dry fly, and softly slipped my fly without me having to even strip. Another fight ensued, and we got this beautiful fish in the boat. The deeper red coloration was indicative of it sitting deeper in the flat.

After this fish, the unbelievable success continued. Easily caught another 2 or 3 fish that were pushing up shallow and loving the Redfish Hushpuppy that we had on. Due to the phone being in the wet bag and the number of fish we had been hooking, we made it a point to start letting the fish go without a picture, in that the more time we were fishing the better off we were. After about a hour and a half, the tide started to go back out, and the fish weren’t as stacked up. So we started to push back towards the boat launch.

However, on the way back we noticed a large wake up in no more than a foot of water. A beautiful fish moving right quickly, and it was clear that it was in feed mode. The issue was so were we…With the paddle board moving fast, I quickly stripped out my line, threw out my best possible cast, and fortunately intercepted the fish. It destroyed the fly, and took off right towards the board. After we made sure that the fly line wasn’t getting caught up on us, we moved shallow so that I could jump in the water to fight the fish in that it was taking off deeper towards an oyster bar. After a nice fight and a few close calls, we got the fish in, took one last picture of the day, and soaked in the amazing moment.

Days like this are tough to beat, and tough to replicate. Only ever so often do all of the conditions and stars align to have fishing sessions like this. We were lucky to be on the water this day, and we were lucky that the fish were feeling spunky. This was one of those days where fly fishing brought the best out of me, and let my mind focus solely on enjoying on seeing some fish and enjoying the day.

Tight lines,

Joe