1/27 big scools

I woke up this morning at 5:45 to find a layer of frost covering the deck of my skiff. Forecast said 36 degrees, and I think for once it was right. The plan was to drive up the road to scout out a new area for the low tide, which was at about 8:45 this morning. I met my friend, AB Puckett, for an early breakfast and then headed for the boat ramp. We were in the water by 7:00 and I was up on the platform by 7:30. As I poled onto the flat, I could already see some dolphins working one end of the flat. The good side of that was I now knew that there were fish in there and I knew where they were. The bad side was that those fish were now spooked. So I eased my way in, hoping that the school of fish would settle down and get happy again. The first school of about 100 fish came our way, still unsettled from their attack from Mr. Flipper, but they weren't in a good mood for feeding. We played around with them for a bit, before moving on to find new fish. Immediately we were on another school that had a few fish tipping up in it. AB cast my black toad fly into the group, and as the 200 or so fish started moving over it, hooked into a nice red. He landed his first ever red on fly, a fish of about 26 inches and 7 lbs.

After that fish, I kept pushing the boat to the end of the flat, where we came across a few more scattered reds. As we tried to get a decent shot at them, some more dolphins came into the area and put on a show for us - throwing water 5 feet in the air, turning on their sides, and crashing about as they tried to find a meal. We watched as the fish fled the assault and came right at us, a school of probably another 200 fish. Unfortunately, they had been spooked pretty good and we couldnt get any of them interested. Ended the day shortly thereafter and headed back to the ramp. Another great January morning in the Carolina lowcountry.