[dropcap]E[/dropcap]veryone has a good friend who lives away from the coast who always promises to visit and fish with you but it never happens. Well, a few weeks ago my friend Tim gave me a call and said that he and his family were coming to the beach for vacation and wanted to get a day on the water kayak fishing with me. My good friend Tim is a graphic designer and photographer, so we do get out a lot during the year together but it is always for a project he is working on. It’s never just a day hanging out and kayak fishing together.
So, just after the Fourth of July, the whole family was in town. I had an overnight bag packed to spend the night at the beach with them. We all enjoyed a great dinner out, catching up on life since the last time we had seen each other and then headed back to the house to get some sleep for a early morning start in southern Brunswick County.
The following morning, we headed to Blue Point Marina on Oak Island, a great pub- lic launch near the southern end of the island. Tim and I were both in our Native Slayer Propels kayaks because we wanted to cover a lot of water in the short time we had to fish. We put out half way into a falling tide, hoping to find some reds on the flats.
We worked some promising-looking water with suspending MirrOlures and Berkley Gulp baits for a good part of the morning, chasing the tide, as we lost water and it became too shallow for the kayaks. All to no avail, the reds just did not want to cooperate with us.
So, as we were chased out of one creek, looking for some deeper water, I noticed a nice rip happening on an oyster bar. As I shot by on the current I made one cast and thump, I reeled in a 13-inch flounder. Tim and I both started pedaling in reverse for me to slow down to land my flounder for him to get in position for a cast. We had a good time at the little creek mouth, landing several undersize flounder…never get- ting one big enough to bring home to the family for dinner.
Even though our day was full of undersize floun- der, we had a great time hanging out and catching up. For a change, Tim was on the water without working…well, until at the end of the day when he stopped to get a few stock pictures just in case he could find a use for them.
If you have a old friend who lives inland and always wants to come and fish, make it happen! I can assure you we had a awesome day! During the time on the water, we caught up on our busy lives and just had a lot of fun. We finally made time to make this trip and, as of now, he and his young son are coming back this fall for another fun day of kayak fishing here on the coast. This also means grilling on my back porch, hanging out with an old friend. Now I am under pressure to make sure his son smokes him on the water, catching bigger fish than either of us older guys. The picture attached to this article is of a 13.5-inch flounder. As you can see, even when you do all the tricks to make your fish look big and you have a professional photographer take the picture, it is still a small fish…there is no doubting that!
But, in this case…size didn’t really matter!