Paying attention to the behavior of pelicans, terns and other seabirds yields dividends.
A lone tern circled behind the boat as Capt. Geoff Page and his longtime pal Capt. Ron Hueston scanned for the approaching flats and potholes. I was watching aft and noticed the little white bird with the smooth, dark head making repeated passes over an area of Sarasota Bay near a deeper dropoff.
Most of the many terns we’d seen that morning flew from pothole to pothole, head tilted downward in search of pilchards. Occasionally, a tern would dive into the water and flutter up with a beak full of breakfast.
Page, a fishing guide from Sarasota, called those good signs of the same food sources our targeted redfish and trout sought. But when I noticed the bird behind our boat clearly focused on something below, I advised Page, who spun around just in time to see a herd of reds plow through a pod of pilchards…