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Fly Fishing for Redfish Capt. Bill Sheka Jr. battling a redfish on a Flyrod about 1989. Bill has been flyfishing for many years,catching his first rainbow trout at Red River, New Mexico in 1965. Capt. Bill holds the record for the most redfish ever landed on a flyrod in a single day." 41 " .This incredible day came on July 13, 1995 while wadefishing with clients Craig Sawtell, John Graham, Mike Mount and Tommy Gouger. Bill already had set the record just days before with 33 reds landed but wanted to better it, so that it might never be beat. Bill and his clients were out of the boat at 7:10 a.m. Everyone stood in a line, in water a little above their knees and started casting to the huge school of fish.The clients took breaks during the day from battling the reds and waded back to the boat periodically to get some snacks or water. However, Bill had his sights on bettering the all time record for redfish landed in one day. The same record that he had just set a few days before. All morning long ,then into the afternoon, Bill was continually battling reds on the flat which yielded one after another.Finally in the late afternoon, totally exhausted, Bill climbed back on the boat at 5:10 p.m. with no breaks or letup. " I almost could not get back into the boat because of how exhausted and dehydrated I was ", said Bill. The reds ranged from 24 inches to up to 34 inches that day. Bill was using his famous Sheka Shrimp patterns and also Clowser minnows. He was using a 9 wt. Sage RPLX with Cortland 444sl floating weight forward flyline and a Lamson reel. This GIANT school of reds had over 5000 in it and were "locked up" in a tidal pocket.It was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. Bill did not go longer than 5 minutes without a fish strike and between fish realeased, with many being hooked up within 15-30 seconds from releasing his last. "I was horsing in most of the fish in about 6-8 minutes apiece , trying to land as many as I could", said Bill. Normally a 25 to 28 inch red takes 10-12 minutes to play. His clients and him landed a total of 126 reds that day. During the time period on July 7, 1995, fishing the same GIANT school of fish, Bill had Mr. Jim Poole and his son Jarrod with him. That day resulted in the first record with Bill landing 31 reds , including his largest ever on a fly rod, 38 1/2 inches. The total for the day for all 3 anglers was 121 reds landed. Then, Bill took Danny and Mark Middlebrooks flyfishing on July 17, 1995 on the same GIANT school of redfish and it resulted in a total of 62 reds with Bill landing 33 of those. Danny and Mark caught their first reds on flyrods that day and they racked up the other 29 between them. That 10 day period was the best Bill has ever seen and it may never be duplicated again. Imagine 41 reds on a flyrod in one day, backed up with 33 and 31 fish days for good measure. A record for sure. "The day I set the record of 41 reds was the most exhaustive day of fishing I have ever had. My fingers were open bloody wounds from the flyline feeding across them." says Bill. It was the wildest week of flyfishing Bill could have ever imagined. "The Lord was so good to me." says Bill. Psalms 84:11 |
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Greg Laubachs 31 5/8" Trophy Trout Capt. Bill and his client Greg Laubach showing off Greg's super fat 31 5/8" speck that went 10 lb. 9 oz. This is the largest trout Bill has ever had a client to land on 6 lb. test line. What a feat. Congratulations Greg. |
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John "Big Trout " Kruger and his
monster speck 32 3/4" 11 lb.+ Another monster for John Kruger fishing with Capt. Bill in Baffin Bay , Texas Congratulations John. |
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Will Balthrip and his 32 3/4" 11
lb. trout Capt. Bill is all smiles for his client, Will Balthrip and his beautiful trophy speck from Baffin Bay. Way to go Will. |