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Fly
Fishing for Redfish
Capt.
Bill Sheka Jr. battling a redfish on a Fly rod 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.
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Gallery
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