Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Confidence Backed

"Ready to catch 'em?" David Hilton asked as I stepped onto his pontoon boat this morning. "I'm going to wear you boys out!"

Most guides I fish with start the day with at least a few qualifiers, saying the fish "should" bite, or "they bit well yesterday, so we'll see"  Many quickly point out the wind, a high pressure system, a giant tournament that was just on the lake or some or the reason that catching fish might present problems. They like to keep expectations at least a little low so any measure of success seems extra good.

Not David Hilton. At least not today.

He was certain we'd catch a bunch. In fact, he was sufficiently confident in his approach that he was certain we'd start catching fish almost immediately.

The captain was right. We started catching Santee Cooper striped bass almost as soon as we started fishing, and by 10:30, we had caught and released 58 stripers. We tried some catfishing for a while and the wind kicked up in a big way, so we didn't sustain the same torrid pace, but by our best tally we ended up catching 75 stripers and a couple of blue cats.

I learned a lot today and got a bunch of good material for stories, and just as was promised, I'm worn out!

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