Marty Stephens of Evansville, Indiana, was my guest Friday and the morning started out with great promise. It was a little on the cool side as we left the Lanark Village boat ramp for a run to the east. The sound was slick and the breeze non-existent as Marty took his place on the bow with the 8-weight Loomis fly rod and tibor everglades reel. I had tied on a pink popper and poled us into position into the shallow depths. There was a ton of life around, including lots of jumping mullet, pinfish, rays and even a couple inquisitive turtles. Within a few minutes Marty had mastered the short strip sequence and the gurgling popper was drawing some interest. But a shoulder injury proved to be problematic, so we switched to spinning gear–a Stradic 3000 reel mounted on the new Crucial saltwater rods. The silver/black Bagley finger mullet drew an explosive strike from a big trout, which unfortunately failed to return after the near miss. Marty kept the plug in the zone and we both were puzzled as to why the redfish we were seeing didn’t want to take a bite. With the incoming tide increasing its flow, it was time to make a move for more cooperative players. Over the next hour we tried a few more flats hunting for reds and pompano, but the rapidly-building wind made visibility a problem. OK, if that was the hand Mother Nature was dealing us, we’d adapt. I handed Marty another Crucial combo, only this time a Capt. Mike’s gold/silver 3/8-ounce weedless spoon dangled off the end of the leader. Bingo! The slow wobble and flash was just the ticket as Marty skillfully whipped his first redfish. Pushing nearly 26 inches, this shiny beauty had apparently escaped death in an earlier encounter. Down each flank a serious scrape and bite marks looked to be the work of Mr. Jaws. The spoon continued to work its magic. Two smaller reds up to 20 inches were whipped in short order before another 25-inch red finished our drum tally. Four for four on your first redfish adventure is a pretty good average, I’d say. We completed our day trying to hide from the now gusty wind and Marty added to his saltwater bucket list with a few speckled trout and a couple jumped ladyfish. DOA CAL glow/holographic shad tails with a red 1/4-ounce jig head was the lure of choice for these toppers. Marty is on his way home to the land of bass and bream, but he’s promised to rehab his shoulder so he’ll be ready for cobia and tarpon his next trip down to Florida‘s Forgotten Coast. Capt. Dave Lear Charters captaindavelear.com