Sometimes the wind just blows

Sometimes the wind just blows. Its part of it. We don't like it. But it is part of spring. And very necessary. If we want to fish in pretty water, nothing like a little south east blow to push in the blue water. Fish love it too. Lots of Oxygen and usually warmer, saltier water. But that doesn't help us with our weekend plans now does it. How do we salvage our time off? I'll let you in on a secret. As a guide ( and especially as a offshore fly fishing guide ) I am often poked and prodded and even outright asked for all my secrets. How, when, where and anything else that might slip out. We do come to the dock with some big fish, and that in itself draws allot of attention. When I hint as to where we caught them, I am eyed with suspicion. When I explain how we caught them, I expect many to accuse me of outright lies. " If you don't want to tell us fine, but don't lie about it!" How do I fish the same places as others and come back with an impressive catch? Chances are I didn't run as far as they did. How does a tournament pro win? How about our military might? How do they win? Its simple. We are prepared. Yup that's it. You don't see pilots carrying 5 gallon gas cans and rocket launchers to the flight deck. Nor the tournament pro pulling new lures out of that really hard to get off sticky vacuum packaging plastic stuff, or digging through that Wal-Mart bag. His gear is tied, tried, cleaned, ready and stacked orderly. No bag of unopened gear, no ripped nets, his tackle is ready and boat serviced. No old spark plugs in his ride either. I don't know if f-16's use spark plugs, but you can bet, before they fly over the desert, whatever they have to spark that beast off is fresh. So that's how I salvage my windy work days off. I restring my lines. Tie new leaders. Put a new hose clamp ( did you know that on charter boats all hose clamps are doubled, not one but two ) on the live well pump. Fix my cast net, or landing net or dip net. Whatever need doing. " Sure that's a smart thing but how does that help catching big fish " you say? OK, as I am sitting on the reef, since I had the time I took all the hooks off some of my top waters and tied it to an extra spinning rod. If I am doing busy stuff I would never take or have the time to unwrap it, find my split ring pliers and remove all the hooks, and cut the old hook off and retie a fresh teaser. But if it is ready to go, I'll just take a quick flip ( because I was prepared). Maybe I'll see several Amber Jacks following it to the boat. I may have my angler grab a different rod with a different fly because it was also prepared. My angler can put the extra heat to keep the fish out of the reef because I tied on a newly prepared leader. And I'll land it in the repaired landing net. Fewer chances for mistakes in a landing net w/out holes in it. Since I replaced my old worn out ruler with a new one, I'll be able to see if it is legal or not. No chances for mistakes here. And I'll do this anchored next to you on the reef. How did I know to try the teaser? Because I rigged it up one windy Saturday morning when I was bored. That lead into my next secrete, experimentation. Standing By, Capt. Clif