6/30/2007 I had the pleasure of fishing with Lee Forsythe and John Burpee today for their 1st salt water fishing trip. They drove in from Dallas Friday so we could get a early start this morning. We left the boat ramp at day light and had our lines in the water before the sun broke the horizon. As we cleared the Bull Rushes we were happy to see a lot of feeding activity on the flat we choose to fish first. While John fished the spinning reel from the middle of the boat Lee took the bow first and had a strike on the 2nd cast.The hook didn't stick ,but a few minuets later he got a solid strike and was hooked up with his 1st Red fish ever.After a good battle the fish was in the boat. It was 24 1/2 inches long and weighed 4 1/2 lb. on the Bog grip scale.After pictures we released it to fight another day. About this time a rain shower passed through but left a beautiful rainbow just west of our location. John put 4 rat reds in the boat on a 1/4oz gold spoon then gave the fly rod a shot. The bite was starting to play out and it took a while for him to draw a strike but when it happened it was thrilling. I had noticed a large fish charging bait near a clump of grass as we worked our way down the grass line. John made a well placed cast and as soon as the fly hit the water the red exploded on it. I think every one on the boat jumped when it happened. The line sped off the deck and the Red made a hard run then turned back left. As suddenly as the fight started it ended as the hook came loose from the fish. The bite had stopped so we moved around with out much success. The weather started deteriorating and a funnel cloud appeared out of the clouds and started moving to the ground! Luckily it never got to close to us and it went back up. We had a shot at two nice 28 inch class Reds after the clouds left when the sun came out. There was a minor difficulty when the fly line balled up on the rod and we missed the shot. About 10 minuets later we had another shot at them but it wasn't meant to be as they spooked and blew out of sight. A bigger thunder storm is closing in so we called it a day around noon. All in all we had a good day on the water, hopefully next time John can even the score with the Red fish and catch one on the fly.

Tight lines, Mike http://rectorsguideservice.com/