Fishing - with all due

respect to my beloved trout, I am most severely inflicted by this
denizen of the deep, sir lil tunny.

This past weekend I finagled an invite out of my Sage rep, Raz
Reid, to hook up with him, Paul Johnson (also of Sage), Bill
Kiene (ya'll know Bill), & Jim Curtis (raz's helper) to join them
in some false albie chasin' down at Cape Lookout, NC.

It all started Thursday evening when I was speaking to Raz on the
telephone about some sunglasses. I jokingly ragged him that Sage
boys from the west coast were down at Harkers Island and how come
we weren't there. He said.... "ya wanna go, I'll meet you up
there." ..... well hell yes... directions were given and I told
him I'd arrive late fri eve or early sat am as I had to meet up
with Memphis Jim to fish for trout friday am.

Sorry I missed ya Jim, Marie informed me you called about 15
minutes after I left.

I arrived at Harkers about 6pm and found the Harker Island
Fishing Center ( http://www.harkersmarina.com )which is where a
local guide, Lee, offered to direct me up to the Sage house.

Upon following Lee to the house, I was warmly greeted by Paul and
Bill and we talked for awhile. I was told to get ready for dinner
and we drove off to Beaufort to meet Raz, Jim, Brian & Sarah
(most excellent guides), Scott & Jessica (editors of SW Fly
Fishing mag) at a seafood house.

Some house..... great food and great company. We returned to the
shack and everyone retired early (well Bill and I bs'd about roff
to about midnight) for the next days fishing.

Sarah ( http://www.outerbanksflyfishing.com ) had Paul, Bill, and
I out on the water by eight and we headed to the cape. Upon
arrival, we searched for albies but couldn't locate any so the
decision was made to head out to a wreck 10 or so miles away, out
in the "graveyard of the atlantic."

Bill, Paul, and I all fished deep with fast sinking lines. The
technique is to get a bunch of line out not far from the boat and
start counting to 20 or 30. When the line becomes taught you
start stripping it in slowly and repeat the process over and over
as you drift through the zone. Our only luck on this adventure
was Bill snagged the bottom once and I had a bump.... which well
could have been the bottom also. There were fish down there, we
could see them on the depth finder, but alas, no luck for us
seafarin' anglers.

We headed back to shore on a westerly course and arrived in the
vicinity of Bogue, about 20 miles below the cape. We fished to
"risers" as I affectionately called them (ya can take the boy out
of the stream, but ya can't take the stream out of the boy) the
rest of the day along the shoreline back up to the cape.

None of us had any takes even though we cast to many active pods.
It was real tough fishing as the "busts" were short lived and by
the time you got in position to cast, the fish were elsewhere.

About casting..... we were fishing the new Sage Xi2's ( 9 &
11wts) with Tibor reels. I did far better in the wind with the 11
wt. but Paul, who could probably lay out 90' onto a dime in a
whirlwind, was casting the 9wt like a champ. I wish I could cast
better, I'll be working on that alot this year. The reason for my
wish is simple..... the faster and more accurate you can get your
streamer into the bust, the better your odds for a hookup.

We returned to the marina late in the afternoon with no fish but
I personally had one of the finest days "astream" I've ever
enjoyed. The company was the best and it was way cool to be out
on the ocean again.... a homecoming of sorts for me.

We went to a party Saturday evening hosted by Tom Earnhardt. He
has written a book about flyfishing the area and is well regarded
locally as an expert on the tunny. Chatted with Lefty briefly
(gotta get them kreh points, donchaknow ;-) , ate some fine bbq
and fixins', had a few beers and walked back to our shack early.

As we were all sitting around the table enjoying some wine, Sarah
popped her head in the door and basically told us "bedtime in 30
minutes guys, yer asses are mine tomorrow...." or something to
that effect. She was serious and we only violated curfew mildly,
an hour or so.

Sunday morning, as I am prone to be the early riser, I got the
coffee brewing and the other boys arose and joined me for the
day. Raz optimistically pronounced that we were gonna get fish.
We drove to the docks, procured provisions, hopped in the boat,
and were off.

Beautiful day.... sunny and warm, Carolina Blue Sky meeting the
dark blue Ocean on the horizon. As we were leaving "the Bite" to
the sea, a large schooner at anchorage greeted us in the pass. A
wonderful picturesque sight. We circled the ship to ooohhh and
aaahhhh, but in hindsight, I bet 'ol Captain Sarah, was scouting
for fish. We searched the shore above the jetties for busts but
didn't see any and Sarah had us heading back down to Atlantic
Beach shortly thereafter.

We arrived off the beach and Sarah headed us in towards shore.
Almost immediately we were into fish but again, no hookups. We
started idling down the shoreline in search of more and came
across some larger busts. Paul (fishing from the back of the
boat, the harder position) launched a wonderous cast into the
bust and hooked up with a albie. WOW!!!! He did a hilarious two
step jig to get his legs and feet out of the way of the fast
disappearing fly line off the deck. About 10 minutes later, Sarah
expertly had the fish aboard and pictures and hardy congrats were
laughingly spoken.

The pressure is on.... the curse is broken.... gotta get that
mojo workin'

Bill wouldn't fish..... he insisted that it was my due to get my
first albie. About a 1/2 hour later a bust. Surprisingly, I
launched a decent cast into the midst of the furious bust. All I
can say is oh boy.... what a pull, damn near ripped my arm out. I
"gracefully" did my step to get off of the line and the fish was on.

What a wonderful feeling to feel the sheer brute power of the
fish rip off line and then backing into the distance. I heard Raz
yell from Captain Brian's boat, "Walt's got one!". I heard Sarah,
Bill, and Paul laughing and cackling, but most what I heard was
that sweet sound of backing ripping off the reel.

About 10 minutes later, after a very hard fight, the fish was
deftly grabbed by Sarah and was in the boat for obligatory
smiling pictures. I had lost my virginity and was ready for more.

However, I told Bill I wasn't casting anymore until he got one.
Bill, for one and a half days had unselfishly cast less than I so
that I could gain some casting skills and get a hookup. I put the
rod in his hand and about a half hour later he was into a
brute..... a fish so big that most of the backing was off the
Tibor Gulfstream reel. Unfortunately, a large ocean swell passed
between us and the fish and somehow caused some slack in the
line, which allowed the denizen to shake the fly. The pain and
disappointment was heartfelt by all of us.... man, that fish must
have been 26 lbs. Bill ;-)

That was the end of our luck that day..... no more fish even
though Captain Sarah had us in good shape.... just plain tough
fishing.

A bit about our Captain. Sarah Gardner is a world class pro. She
is delightful to be with and skilled at her profession. The
highest honor that can be bestowed on her is what I observed
repeatedly in two days of fishing from her Jones Brothers boat.
When she would slide off and motor away from a exhausted bust in
search of more fish, other boats followed her. They knew her
instincts were most likely leading to more fish..... and most
times they were right.

Paul and Bill, what a great time fishing together with ya'll....
thanks so much for the encouragement, suggestions, and most of
all, the wonderful time spent together.... I will treasure the
memories forever.

I owe so many thanks to all involved and who all made me feel
welcome....

Walt