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TheCream

My overwhelming flop of a trip

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It was a perfect storm (literally and figuratively) that pretty much killed my saltwater week last week in SC. I felt like I was well-prepared, I tied 5 boxes worth of saltwater patterns and got some great advice from folks here as well as other sites and my local shop (SE Ohio/WV). I arrived at the SC coast Saturday the 8th of October. It was sunny, warm...and there were more or less gale-force winds coming in off the ocean. I had never seen the surf that rough in Garden City before, and I knew if the seas didn't calm a bit there was no chance I was getting my kayak out past the breakers! The conditions only got worse gradually from that day through about Wednesday morning. Incredibly strong winds, seas as high as 8-9' (2-3' is normal), riptide warnings through Tuesday, rain, thunder, lightning, etc... My 6 day fishing trip was more or less cut down to 2.5 days. I struggled to even keep a 5oz sinker on my bait rig on the bottom in those first few days. Wednesday I was bale to get out on Murrell's Inlet in my kayak, and surprisingly found some fish...that I couldn't buy a strike from. I tried everything I had, large and small, streamers to shrimp to crabs to spoon flies, and not one strike. I think they were puppy drum, and they were herding bait up against the banks and smashing the crap out of them, it was exciting to see and my adrenaline level was up! I went back on Thursday under identical conditions and found only a handful of fish that I also could not get to strike. Friday, my last day, I dedicated to the shark fishing. Everything went according to plan. I launched at Huntington Beach State Park, had a bag of baitfish I had netted, and added a bag of small fish caught fresh that day on my bait rig to use for chum/cut bait on my conventional gear if I couldn't entice one on the fly. I have to say it felt unnerving to toss cut fish and chum into the ocean at water level, and I was extra careful at hand-rinsing time. I had a piece of cut whiting on my bottom rig and a 6/0 orange Murdich Minnow on my 9wt ready. 2.5 hours later after steady chumming, I was shark-less, sunburnt, and threw in the towel. For the trip, I caught 0 fish on the fly. None. I did well on the bait rig on small stuff in the surf, but the fly fishing completely flopped.

 

Here are a few pics from the trip.

 

Rough seas:

 

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Caught some small whiting from the pier:

 

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Angry redfish food:

 

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Finally out to sea:

 

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The inlet:

 

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HBSP:

 

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I know you were disappointed in the trip......but it sure beats a day behind the desk! The Whiting are good eating! Thanks for sharing the photos.

 

Mike

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The results were disappointing, but more or less I feel cheated by Mama Nature. It happens. I feel like if I had the full time to be able to get out and fish, I could have had a better chance to adapt to what I was finding (or not finding). The time crunch limited me to Plan A, only, and there was hardly enough time for that!

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Sucks to have a time limited fishing trip and when momma nature throws more crap at ya it really sucks! Mike A is right though, better than being behind a desk and whiting are rather tasty...hope for better luck on your next trip Cream!

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I feel like if I had the full time to be able to get out and fish, I could have had a better chance to adapt to what I was finding (or not finding).

 

This is why I always recommend to my kids that they maximize their 401K contribution!! Retirement provides that opportunity to perfect your craft!! Hang in there!!! :rolleyes:

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Sorry to hear you got blown out. It's bad trips like that one that make the good ones so much more enjoyable and makes you really appreciate them. Whenever this happens to me, it seems the weather always clears up right after I leave or the weekend ends <_<

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John Gierach talks about this kind of thing in Still Life with Brook Trout it sucks when it happens but you are already looking forward to your next big trip and even though this one didn't quite work out for you, you went, you saw, you fished and you learned. You made memories that you will share with your family and fishing buddies and that is what really matters. As much as we like to be successful, when you really think about it, actually catching the fish is only a small part of this way of life because that is what fly fishing is, its a mind set, a way of life. You notice things as a fly angler that no one else would notice. What we do is far more than a hobby.

Weather is the one thing that you can't count on when planning fishing trips. This time it was a matter of "you should have been here last week" but next time maybe it will be your week.

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