Now I'm not much of a beach man. Give me them hills any day. Anyway,
down at the beach with a bunch of friends and for a lark I take along my
9' 8wt. Figuring that there could be a fly shop there like at other
isles on the coast I didn't prepare before leaving. Hey, if I'm going to
go to a shop and get advice, the least I could do was to purchase my
supplies there. Oooops. Surf fishing only. No leaders, no flies. Nothing.

Tied on the strongest leader in my wallet, a 2x, dug up one clouser and
a crab pattern and off to the surf I went. Ignorant of coastal fishing,
I stepped into the surf during an ebbing tide. Not only did I look and
feel stupid with the bait casters all around, but when, after my second
cast the fly popped my shin, I knew this was a futile exercise.

Ocean Isle is a very non-commercial beach near the South Carolina line.
Situated on an unusual east - west angle, the back side is punctuated
like a comb of canals that feed from the Intercoastal Waterway. Made my
way across a couple of streets and headed up one of the feeder roads
that give access to the many houses with water access. About 1/3 of the
way up I settled in on a vacant dock. Enjoying much calmer water, I cast
towards the Waterway with my crab pattern and began bouncing it off the
bottom, which by my estimate was at least 12' down. Within a matter of
minutes, fish on, first cast even. It gave me a nice tug towards the
waterway and set the hook. The fight that ensued was unusual to a
trout/bass/bream boy. Steady tug, then slack. Steady tug, then slack. As
I got the fish closer to hand I identified it as a good sized flounder.
Here, I could see it's technique. Float to the top then make a steady
dive. After a few minutes of this I brought to net a good 16" flounder.
Damn that's one ugly fish. The size of that mouth would rival that of a
largemouth.

Next cast brought another to hand at the same size. Third cast, again
another fish on. Pulled and tugged like the rest, but broke off with my
only crab without coming into sight. Tried bouncing the clouser off the
bottom, but after 4 or 5 casts realized that my opportunity had passed.

Along with a red drum caught in the surf by a friend, they made a good
addition to the Low Country Stew simmering at the house.

Lessons learned: forget the surf with a fly rod, take stronger leaders
and more crab imitations. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Thanks for reading.

Drew