Can't Stop The Flow.......
The month of July has been very hot and full of afternoon siestas, sunsets on the malecon in Ezperanza and mornings at the bakery with all those sunburned faces, mine included. Yep... it is summer, for sure. To top it off a group of my friends from Ft.Collins, Co came down for a summer get away and we have spent a great time enjoying the festivities,Beaches food and lots of laughs...Oh yeah fishing was having a hard time working itself into the rotation but one night dancing the night away to salsa with so many familiar faces in th new town square listening to a famous band calle El Gran Combo and they played one incredible song after another and everyone knew the words...even me. I had to get my old fishing friend Jason Slaughter (aka Peewee..he will explain the nickname) out to one of my favorite spots to paddle the kayaks stake off and start hooking fish that run faster than anything I have ever been tied to, including cars... So after a couple deafining exchanges at close range trying to hear each other over the blarring salsa , it was on.................. The following morning at 5:30am I pulled up to the big old house on the hill in Ezperanza to get an old fishing buddy on his first Bone fish. We squeaked and rattled down the road to the last stop on the USFW access and began to get the kayaks off "little blue" my 1993 Chevy s-10 and it has the nickname because there is very little blue left on her, but that little truck has been hauling gear and people all over this island for years and not once left me stranded. It didn't take but a couple of minutes and I could feel the wind speed increasing and the white caps on the horizon were beginning to multiply. I looked over at my fishing buddy and began to explain the finer points of paddling his Tarpon 12o Kayak through waves and wind, PW and I had fished in tons of wind in our adventures of old which took us into the Colorado Rockies, the plains and Parks of Wyoming and into a group of lakes at around 8500ft called the Delaney Buttes and we were tortured up there in the elements for the fish we would break morning ice with our 8ft pontoon boats on the lakes trying to catch the big morning bows cruising the shore looking for a few good crawfish, 10lb 25in my personal best on those lakes .....so I knew PW was up to this 1.5mile paddle straight into the wind and waves. 84degree water, piece of cake and we were going to the promise land.....Ensonada Honda and I am not talking about just the flats, but the whole bay holds a huge array of life, both above and below the surface. the paddle out was a challenge and with a little cadence and lots of patience our Kayaks sliced through the waves and wind. We had arrived at the protected coves this great piece of water offers variety in species and techniques, sure EH is know for it's great Bone fish, Tarpon and Permit opportunities but it is so much more. On a well equipped Fishing kayak you can see and get on water so thin you almost feel funny being in a kayak, but you glide over silent and touching nothing. The traditional antiquated gasoline pollution and sonic noise pollution are motivation for me to promote a greener alternative with less overall eco-disturbance. When using Kayaks...I am challenging anglers to go greener, I am challenging them physically, Mentally. The rewards are obvious and the experience is truely personal. It is a movement catching on all over the world and what a better time than now to begin to change our lifestyles to a healthier and greener way that will foster obvious benefits.Okay back to the story, we get to the fishing grounds and begin looking for our first target and we saw plenty of choices, the wind direction and distance pretty much made the choices easy, it took a few attempts for PW to get the distance down, when you are out there with so wide open water and sky, everything becomes relative especially the distance to a tailing Permit...as soon as he was there he was gone ...the ghost teaches and another lesson that day, preparing PW for his first bone. I could see weather moving in and we got to see tropical rain closeup and personal, we took cover and waited for the Chubasco cloud to pass.The front passed and the wind calmed just enough to see Pw's first bone coming into range, silvery glisten reflecting on the tail like a signal mirror telling where hhe was and what his feeding dispositon was... first cast way short, picked up his line I told him to just relax and cast. Next shot was a couple feet off target which ended up being great. I pulled out my Olympus 1030 and began to record, watched and waited, one small 3in strip fast and short, it was all this wiley bone needed to decide he would eat, the take was soft, the s shape your line makes when on the water, I instructed PW to watch his line and sure enough we could see the line slowly growing tight, "Fish On".......Yeah explosion and the run almost put Pdub on his knee, it took seconds for that bone to take PW"s backing to places it had never been before hit a tangle............."Game Over" He battled his first monster on video for almost a solid minute.Now I have seen PW hook into more fish than anyone else , I mean Hogs!! I know in most any place he goes with a rod , it's bent this guy catches and it was great to see the respect in his eyes once he realized what he had just experienced...he was ruined for ever. PW got the bug after his first success with an Ensonada Honda bone and will be back for more. We got into the typical Barracuda and Pargo (Mutton Snapper) who inhabit the mangrove lined Shore, on the paddle back to the car he looked at this place and knew he would be back and could have some of the best memories ever fishing in Vieques with friends. Fishing green is not as hard as people who have never tried it would want you to believe, Kayaks slow you down to natures pace and this is the next level of do it your self guide excursions, with the correct guidance and gear, you will gain the experience and confidence to go to destinations like this on your own to explore your fishing dreams in the most beautiful place I have ever called home. Good luck on your journey and happy fishing. Mi Isla Nena Contact us for information about the outdoors at http://www.viequesadventures.com/
Labels: Ensonada Honda, Fly-Fishing, Jason Slaughter, Olympus Stylus 1030, Orvis Zero Gravity, Vieques Adventure Company, Vieques Kayak Fishing, Wilderness Kayaks
posted by Vieques Adventure Company at
9:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home