Victory!
 

I recently donated a saltwater light tackle, fly tackle “sightfishing” trip to the live auction at a conservation award dinner where I was honored. A Dad of a 14 year old bought it, and we took the trip Friday. The young man had recieved a 9 wt. setup for christmas, and had been practicing in the yard, teaching himself to cast. We located a nice bunch of fish early, got out of the boat and the young man not only caught his first fly caught fish, he caught a limit of three redfish, and five black drum, and released another 3 drum!!

The “guide” did okay too!!

What an awesome first fly fishing trip for a 14 year old!

Starting out with a 9 weight is a tough way to start

9 wt. is sort of the “standard” for this type of fishing down here. That redfish is pushing 9lbs., and is pure stubborn muscle in 10” of water. Plus, when wading, you have to contol the fish with the rod when he is at your feet to land. I was next to Hunter when he caught that one, he hooked it with about 25’ of fly line out, and didnt start making line until the fish had all 100 ft of fly line and 100 yards or so of backing out against a properly set drag. They dont run with the speed of a bonefish, but they make it up in torque!!

Understood. As a fly casting instructor, I'm just saying that starting someone out on a 5 weight until they learn a bit about casting has worked better for me

No doubt. This young man is exceptionally athletic, and was a very good caster considering he was self taught. He learned to double haul on you tube!

I checked his leader after 3 hours of casting to and catching fish, and not a single wind knot!

We all have to start somewhere! With me, it was a 9’ 7wt Ted Williams two piece tubular glass rod with a 7 wt level line on a pfluegar “automatic” reel when I was about 8 years old.

Great job getting a youngster started Mark!

Very True. But rod doesn't matter just need proper coaching on technique. Hank Patterson is the best at teaching beginners. Snap it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Db6moaCuk8

Fortunately redfish can be forgiving and are great fish to learn on and don't have to be expert caster to catch em. Redfish in a feeding mode you don't have to always make a 40 yard cast with pinpoint accuracy with a heavy fly, but you do need something with some backbone when you hook up, hence 9 wt. Most of the time if you can put a fly inside the diameter of hula hoop at 10 to 15 yards and closer, you can catch a nice redfish as evidence with Mark's fishing buddy. A lot of times you don't even have to worry about a splash down if the tide is right, sometimes that commotion will make them take it immediately as reaction bite, especially if there is another redfish around due to competition. All you really have to worry about is not lining a fish.

But don't get me wrong, redfish can also be as skittish as a 20 inch trout in the Firehole river that has had every expert fly fisherman throw something at em but dynamite.

Totally agree on the Redfish, but black drum is a entirely different “kettle of fish”, they are not aggressive, and will rarely “chase” a bait. Reguire pinpoint cast to strip within 6”by fish’s eye and mouth, back to front. If they “tip-up” on the bait, you give it a five count and firmly strip set. They are extremely easy to “line” spook, and a fly with much more than bead eye weight splashes way too loud, especially on a dead calm glassy morning like we had last Friday. Because of the calm conditions we were throwing unweighted tan and buff “sliders” #4’s.

I once won a bet with some pals that I couldnt catch a Red on a jalepeno. Using rubber bands and a treble hook, i turned a jalepeno into a topwater, and caught five in about 30 minutes! Using a casting rig of course. When feeding, Reds are very aggressive, and will often immediatel turn and attack the sound of a fly hitting the water anywhere near them. When not feeding, they often act like the trout mentioned above!!

You had an automatic reel! Had to save up for that. Started about same age using a 9' 6 wt brown glass tubular rod from Western Auto and it came with
Western Auto Revelation click and pawl reel. All made in the US of A. I have cast some cheap 90 year old bamboo rods that were stiffer. Have caught literally thousands of blue gill and bass with that rig.

Used to fish lakes and ponds that had brushy overhangs. With that soft rod and a tapered leader you could make such a tight loop it was like rolling a red carpet under those low limbs and presenting a fly right on top of that fish's kitchen table. Catching a 5 lb largemouth bass with bream fly on a soft 6 wt is a real hoot and you learn that bow to the king maneuver real fast if you have any hope of landing that bass.

Only reason I wanted an automatic reel is that we fished from Jon boat most times and this was before fancy trolling motors. We would sit on front of boat and take paddle and scull in a figure 8 motion with left arm while casting with right arm working those banks. Automatics were great for taking out slack while setting hook.

BTW that is amazing he learned to double haul. Probably had no problem picking up on strip set instead of using rod lift, which is something that needs to be unlearned for most of us that started out in fresh water but also working the salt water.

Great story Mark, thanks for sharing.

BTW inlaws live in Louisiana and we fish the Lake Borgne and La Marsh area. We don't wade fish in that water though. One of these days will make it to Texas to try that wade and fly fishing bit.