I don't claim to have any skill at all and certainly not in sal****er. It's
nice to be at the stage where you're still easily amused and sal****er
flyfishing is just out of this world.

Heidi and I booked a cruise cheap before we decided to get married and so it
became our honeymoon. Alas, I had already negotiated a day of sal****er
with my 9 weight....

From the beginning:

Many of you remember the guide we met in July on that great Blackfoot float
that John H so deftly arranged. We helped the guide, Jacob, load his raft
into his boat. He showed us a bunch of great permit photos and explained
that he guides in Key West in the Winter. So I called him. We had the
whole cruise with a nice room for slightly more than the cost of one day
with Jacob, so I asked about wade fishing opportunities nearby. He told me
about a great marina, near lots of flats, off the beaten path in the Lower
Keys near Key West. Although he didn't have the guy's name or number, he
explained that we could rent Kayaks there. I called the Marina and got the
number of the Kayak Guy. Jason (not to be confused with Jacob) agreed to
drive the 16 miles and pick Heidi and I up in Key West. After a few nervous
minutes, he showed up and, talking a mile a minute, gave us a great verbal
tour on the way to the Marina. He had all the gear ready: paddling
jackets, brand new kayaks, pfd's, dry bags, food, water, and a kayak for me
with an anchor. He gave us a map of the nearby keys and directed me to a
big sand flat in front of a huge channel.

Jacob had told me what to tie and I'd tied a bunch of 6" sparse chartruese
and white flies with a little flash on 2/0 Gamakatsu's. Fun to tie. After
two calls to Jacob I knew that I could expect sharks, barracuda's and maybe
Jack Crevalle if I was lucky.

It was windy! Heidi's a sport but I could tell right away that she wasn't
digging paddling against the wind. I'd loop back and she'd tell me to go on
and that she was fine but it was clear that this wasn't fun for her. We
paddled against the wind, over deep and shallow water and I spotted a few
rays but no fish. It became clear as I looked at the distant key that was
my target: if she paddled all the way there she would not paddle all the
way back. So I looked for something likely nearby.

I got on the lee side of a nice key with lots of pelicans:

http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/web/Pelicans.jpg

The birds were beautiful and there were different birds all over the place.
There was a Turtle Grass "flat" in front of these Mangroves and a distinct
deeper channel. This was gonna be it, so I anchored and stepped into the
mucky turtle grass. After a little trial I'd gotten the casting worked out
and figured out where I'd blind cast. I'd gotten maybe two or three good
casts in and stripped the big fly back as fast as I could as Jacob had
instructed me to. At that point I saw a good sized shark maybe thirty feet
in front of me and I picked up and shot a great long cast, but it was well
behind the shark. Since it was long and straight and I suck at casting a 9
weight (or any rod for that matter) I started stripping fast anyway.

The sal****er strike is like lightning. It got heavy on a strip, I did my
best strip strike and lifted my rod, and it turned into a running chain saw
in an instant. I was whistling and hollering at Heidi like some dork at the
San Juan "I've got a FISH ON!". And it was hotter than anything I'd ever
felt. I was sure it was the shark. My tippet was braided wire and I held
on. When the fish got close the first time I saw it was a Jack Crevalle,
maybe 10 lbs but it felt like a hundred. It saw me and made two more runs,
each about the length of my flyline. Heidi was about 500 yards from me when
the fish got a little tired and I got it close again, so I decided to take a
picture the way I've done with trout: get the fish at your feet, grab the
camera and snap, then put the camera down and release the fish. I took this
picture and one more of the beautiful strong fish:

http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulf...ckCrevalle.jpg

and of course I broke my rod like a dork:

http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/web/rod.jpg

It was over. And although it was a letdown it was a blessing in disguise.
If the rod hadn't broken, I'd have stayed out there forever and Heidi would
have been even less happy in the rough conditions. I got a fish and Heidi
got to go shopping and we had a drink in Key West.

Jason picked us up early after a quick phone call and I assured him that I
wanted to pay him for all day as planned. He drove us back to Key West via
a different route and gave us more of a tour. When he dropped us off I
asked him what I owed him. He said "uhh, bro, let's call it 80. He got
$100 and it was a fantastic deal.

bruce h