Holden Beach ICW

I was lucky enough to spend last week at Holden Beach with family. Took the kayak and escaped on Wednesday to get a line wet. Put in at the Wildlife ramp under the Holden Beach bridge as the sun was breaking the horizon. Headed east from the ramp and was soon greated to the ICW by a pod of dolphin - what a great welcome. Soon after, I had the first legal flounder pulling on a strawberry and white tail red fish magic with the spinner removed. Caught a few fish which I believe were Lizardfish so I changed to a 4" white gulp swimming mullet on a redhead jig. I continued east for about a mile and caught multiple flounder but they were just short of being legal so they all got live another day. Headed back toward the ramp and about 11am the tide started to change and the bite picked back up. Caught another legal flounder about 200 yards from the ICW ramp fishing the docks behind the houses on the south side of the ICW. Since the tide was changing, I decided to head west past the ramp for about 1.5 miles. Caught a few more flounder and then the drag on the rod I had been trolling out the back of the kayak started to sing, and what a lovely song it was singing -- BIG BIG FISH. I quickly secured the rod I had been casting only to see a LARGE boat flying up the ICW. I am now starting the sleigh ride and trying to turn the kayak into the wake this boat left behind. I was glad I was able to get the nose pointed into the wake or I would have been swimming. Spirits were already high since the fishing had not been bad, but the way this fish was pulling, it was about to become a banner day. Since I did not see any more boats coming down the ICW, this fish had my full attention. The fish was still taking all the line it wanted - even with me trying to increase drag. I was keeping pressure on the fish and then the line went limp. I had started another sleigh ride so I thought maybe, just maybe this fish had changed course and was swimming to me and I was floating in its direction. REEL, REEL, REEL was all I could think. Problem was that this ends like so many of these stories - I was reeling like crazy only to see my bait break the surface. Feeling like the minister in Caddyshack I verballized my displeasure to the fishing Gods. They must have been listening because one of them quickly put the thought in my head - with everything going on (securing rod I was casting, trying to grab the singing rod from the rod holder, watching the LARGE boat flying up the ICW, dealing with the boat wake, etc), YOU FORGOT TO SET THE HOOK!!!!! I once again hold my head in shame as I write this report. The fishing gods had one more revenge - I had a 1.5 mile journey back to the ramp in the hot afternoon sun. Not knowing the waters, I assumed that since my morning float was not bad, and the tide had changed, I must of headed in the right direction for the afternoon portion of my little trip - WRONG! 1.5 miles against current and wind.

All in all, it was a good day of fishing. Talked with a local pulling his skiff out of the water as I was preparing to load my kayak trying to gain some local knowledge for future trips. Come to find out that most of the locals blow right by the docks close to the ramp and this is where I caught the most fish. I got the feeling this local will be fishing these dock with 4" gulp swimming minnows because he claimed he had not seen a flounder on his boat in over a week.

That's a great report. Thanks for sharing. I have fished a kayak in the ICW myself and you're right, it can get pretty exciting just from the boat traffic. However, the docks are a great place to pick up some flatties.

Good story and great write up!