The fishing was slow, the redfish dour and uninterested, the result, most likely, of a cold front that the Tampa-Sarasota area just could not shake.
The company, however, was stellar. I was with Captain Greg Peterson, the excellent tarpon and redfish guide, and Rusty Chinnis, the indefatigable warrior of these waters in his capacity as the chairman of Suncoast Waterkeeper. We talked as we tossed flies at the few redfish we spotted on the white sand and seagrass flats, watching in bemusement as yet another one turned away from our offering with snobby insouciance.
The redfish might not have been hungry. But we were.
Luckily, Chinnis had stopped by Harry’s Continental Kitchen on Longboat Key that morning and picked up supplies…