MacDill Reds...vini vidi vici

[jbdba01]

Following my comments from this thread... Had a hard time holding that red to I lipped, shot, and released him quickly.

Executive Summary
2 people, 12 reds, 8-9 rats, 1 25", 1 30"



Details
"And now...the rest of the story." - Paul Harvey

[DaveR]

Nice fish and pics but I don't care for the collage. Just me but it looks cluttered. Not a shot just an opinion that ain't worth squat.

[jbdba01]

Addendum:

My neighbor invited me to go fishing at MacDill. He had told me he and a friend had slammed the reds on Saturday, so it was practically impossible to say no.

Where we were fishing is not for the faint of heart. The first order of business is you have to cross a deep creek in a belly-boat. The process is expedited using a kayak paddle. You feel a bit exposed with your legs dangling off the boat and the paddle making all sorts of splashing noises, but where we crossed is not that long a paddle - 20-30 yards tops. Since there's only one belly boat, you tie the belly boat to the fishing rod, and then retrieve the boat. Repeat until all anglers have crossed. Once done with the belly boat you drag it to a nearby beach and leave it high and dry. It's nice not having to worry about people stealing your property.

The area we were fishing did not allow kayaking, but you could have one in tow. I didn't quite understand the why's, but I'm sure there's a good reason. In other areas of the base you can kayak, but where we were wade fishing was the order for the day.

If you're not comfortable wading with sting rays then MacDill is not for you. There must have been tens of thousands of them. At one point I found myself in a mine field of them feeding. They stir up the water and it really slowed the wading efforts. The sting ray shuffle keeps you safe(r), and in most cases the noise moves them along. However, there are some that don't move along until you get within a foot or so. We didn't have any issues, but you certainly watch where you step. Even then sometimes you'll see one take off that you didn't see.

The early part of the morning was somewaht slow, but eventually we got on some smaller Reds. It was interesting to see that even though we were separated by 100-150 yards or so, we were practically hooking up within 30 seconds of each other.

Charlie had the hot hand bringing in seven reds, the last one being the big fish of the day - 30". I managed to get some good photos of him fighting the fish, but need to work a bit more on the angles and what not.

I caught 5 Reds with the longest somewhere in the 23-25 range. He gave me a hard time holding him and eventually I had to hold him using a bass grip.

It's a good workout walking in the mud, but carrying a backpack for my lures and water was probably too much. Next time I'll carry less "stuff".

All shots were with my 7-8 year old Powershot Pro1 - jpeg format. T2i smokes it, but I'm still on the fence on whether to take it or not.

[jbdba01]

Nice fish and pics but I don't care for the collage. Just me but it looks cluttered. Not a shot just an opinion that ain't worth squat.

Yeah...pretty much tells the entire day in one photo. Def "busy"...many times less is more. Personally I like the B&W. Other than the size what else was there to say?

[22acrowd]

Nice fish and pics but I don't care for the collage. Just me but it looks cluttered. Not a shot just an opinion that ain't worth squat.

Give you bad memories of eating paste in elementary school?

[DaveR]

[UrbanLegend]

What day did you go out? or did I miss that part? I was out there Saturday morning and almos immediately got into some dink trout, saw some reds tailing, even caught one of the rats. Things were looking good until som eidiot decided to come plowing through the channel full bore about 20 minutes in. After that the only action was a 30" sailfin cat and a ladyfish. One hour later it was time to yank the y-aks and head back to the truck.

[jbdba01]

What day did you go out? or did I miss that part? I was out there Saturday morning and almos immediately got into some dink trout, saw some reds tailing, even caught one of the rats. Things were looking good until som eidiot decided to come plowing through the channel full bore about 20 minutes in. After that the only action was a 30" sailfin cat and a ladyfish. One hour later it was time to yank the y-aks and head back to the truck.

We were out there on Monday (I worked Fri night and early Sat).

Gotta say I've never seen so many rays in my life. I need some curb feelers on my wading shoes. "That would be cool."

We crossed the creek and then waded in the no kayaking zone for probably 2.5 miles, perhaps more considering we went in and then out several times. My neighbor that I went with said Sat was El Fuego. He had pics to back it up - "Dang Gina"

Gotta say - I love the feel of MacDill. It reminds me of the Canal Zone (or what was the Canal Zone). Balboa High '81.

We fished from 7:30 - noon. Needless to say I skipped running on Tues. That last leg of soft mud...the humanity of it all.

[UrbanLegend]

My buddy and I were on a tight time limit so we had to fish the low point of the outgoing tide. You're right about the rays, must be a convention going on. I have to make some time to get back out there. That's a beautiful location!!!

[Todd]

How does one gain access to fish there?

Used to fish there a lot back in the day but can't now.

[jbdba01]

Gotta be military or know someone who is. Hence the limited pressure.

And even then on Monday there were quite a few people out there. I was surprised to see so many people willing to run the gauntlet of rays. You side step one and almost step on another. I tripped while shuffeling and almost went face first. At one point I was wading through a hole and there must have been 50-100 wing tip to wing tip. Do the math on 2.5 miles of wading and do that trip repeatedly, and it's just a question of when you get tagged.

Sorry bro - I'm not military. My limited exposure to the military was not good for our country or me. We both left saying - "Well...that was interesting. Thanks, but no thanks." Yet another story best told over beers. Suffice to say I have immense respect for those who serve.

I just happen to know our country's finest who are passionate fishermen; Fishhawk is often referred to as MacDill East. Got to meet Gen Douglas Brown at a retirement ceremony. That was cool too. Much cooler than fishing...meeting people who shape history is always educational.