Moving from Kansas to Florida is not a cultural shock, it’s an ecological shock. Kansans are not used to seeing flocks of curlews feeding in our front yard, reports on the evening news of alligators or black bears wandering around the suburbs.
It’s taken me over a year to find an outfitter who takes clients fly fishing for redfish…and doesn’t have an age limit. Well, I’ve found it: Blackfly Outfitters. Blackfly has a fully stocked shop with all the tackle you could ever dream about, plus a nice inventory of fly tying materials. And everyone I’ve ever met there has been FRIENDLY and HELPFUL.
So…long story short…I signed on for a four hour charter last Thursday Nov. 7th. I’m an experienced fly fisherman so when Captain Andrew Mizell of Southern Marsh Charters asked me how far I could cast, I said , “Oh thirty, maybe forty feet”. But that’s standing in my driveway, no wind, and no fly on the leader. In real world conditions…I sucked. I wound up trying to cast a fly the size of a small sparrow with my 7 wt. rod. I soon switched to my 9 wt. It wasn’t pretty. But Andrew was patient and kept putting me into position to catch fish and I finally boated this small redfish. Minutes later I hooked but did not land a much larger fish. Story of my life.
Needless to say I’m already planning my next charter.
If you want to go check out Blackfly Outfitters http://www.blackflyoutfitters.com .