Fun fishing? You betcha

Palm Coast Observer
Sports

Sometimes when the fishing is slow, we have to think of ways to amuse ourselves. Such was the case Black Friday, when Capt. Ralph Olivett, his friend Kelly and I went to try our luck at flounder fishing.

We had nice healthy bait in the live well and beautiful weather — all the makings of a great day for fishing. Just one problem though: The flounder were not cooperating. We fished several locations and only had one flounder all morning long. It was released; it was just barely legal size.

As the afternoon rolled around, it was apparent that the flounder were taking the day off, but we continued to fish. I came up with the idea to make things interesting. I suggested the first one to land a crab would be rewarded a dollar from each of the other two. The contest was agreed upon, and the fishing began — or should I say the crabbing began. The competition was fierce between the three of us, and after a lot of laughs, Capt. Ralph had come out the winner.

Moving on to the next spot, we changed the species of the competition from crab to twigger fish, also known as a stick or small branch. You never know what you might reel in while bottom fishing. The contest was on. Ralph had the first twigger — a small one. I then hooked into something that felt like a fish as I reeled it in against the current. I told Ralph to get ready to net it, as I believed it was a big one. As it came into view, it turned out to be the largest twigger of the day. Boy did I take a lot of abuse over that, but I was proud to win that portion of the competition.

The day did not wind up being a total bust; I landed a 26-inch redfish just before calling it a day. Even though the fishing was slow, three friends shared a lot of laughs that day.

Aggressive fish
Here’s a quick story about how aggressive fish can be when they are feeding. I was fly fishing last week using a 2.5-inch fly, when I hooked a fish.

I knew it wasn’t big, and when I got it to the boat, it turned out to be a snook. How big was it you may ask? It was about 6 inches long. It swallowed that fly all the way to the back of its throat. Luckily I crush the barbs on my hooks and was able to retrieve it and release the little guy unharmed.