Charlie Broke My Rod at Shell Mound

I paddled out from Shell Mound just after low tide and scooped up a bucket-full of blue crab using my landing net. My intention was to target tailing black drum, but I admit, I had low expectations. I'm not sure if it was the weak tides or the fact that I fished the last third of the day--or maybe a self-fulfilling prophecy--but redfish and black drum activity was low and I went fishless for hours. Eventually, I found a school of trout and caught at least a dozen. Finally, as I paddled back over a series of oyster bars to the launch, I spotted the big flag of a tail with a spot on it, arcing back and forth a few times before disappearing. I thought for sure it was a big redfish--seeing the spot on the tail spiked my adrenaline. Keeping my distance slightly down-current of the vanishing and reappearing tail, I aimed a 4/0 circle hook baited with a quarter blue crab at my best approximation of the fish's "nose," extending, in my imagination, the body profile of the fish forward from the tail that wagged ahead of me and the bow of my kayak. What happened next made for an entertaining end to the trip, and has me in the market for yet even more new fishing gear.