The wind blew, but the fly-fishing bite was stronger

The wind didn't prevent large spotted seatrout from taking a fly.

It was windy today.

Real windy.

Spotted seatrout are among salt water's prettiest fish.

So windy I was the only moron out fishing.

Most had sense enough to stay out of the wind.

To make things even worse, I was fly fishing. I took two fly rods out with me. I left the spinning gear at home.

Didn't make much sense since the wind was blowing out of the southeast at 22 miles per  hour, with gusts to 30.

But I launched my NuCanoe Pursuit and paddled almost directly into a stiff headwind. It took me a little longer than usual to reach my destination. Once there, I lowered the anchor, pulled it back to the stern and let the wind turn my kayak to the preferred direction.

First stop resulted in only one small ladyfish.

The Clouser Deep Minnow accounted for all fish.

I contemplated just calling it day, but decided to try one last spot before heading in. I paddled 100 yards south and anchored.

This time, I found spotted seatrout. I caught six in short order, and all were either in the slot (15 to 20 inches) or over. Largest trout of the outing was a plump 23-incher.

Not bad in such windy conditions.

I also added a small sugar trout before giving in to the conditions.

When it's windy, I find anchoring is the only way to go. You simply cannot present a fly and work it properly when you're on a wind-blown drift.

With my anchor trolley system, I can always face the desired direction simply by positioning my anchor properly.

It was tough working the fly even when anchored. The current was strong, and I was having to "mend" the line uptide in order to create a decent drift. That allowed me to work the fly slowly.

For this outing, I was using a 7-weight TFO TICRX fly rod with a sinktip line. Fly of choice was a chartreuse-and-white Clouser Deep Minnow, perhaps the best fly ever created for saltwater trout.

I landed six trout, but I'll bet I missed another half dozen. Plus, I had trout get off halfway back to the kayak.

Considering the conditions, I was quite pleased.

Quality ruled out over quantity on a day that simply was two windy except for mad dogs and me.