For Flat Out 1998 was a year of tests. It started early this spring when Sarah sat for her captains exam in Baltimore. "I studied harder for one damn test then I did for all of college!" Getting the licence let Sarah put her fly fishing teaching skills in practical situations. There was no better reward than coaching a novice through their first 24 inch striper. We did several land based schools together and had so much fun that we added lessons to the Flat Out's official offerings.

Spring was an exciting time for me, besides having Sarah as a partner, I got to renew many friendships with clients from past years. We had excellent stripers and speckled trout in the sound. Michael Novack landed a 27 inch speck. It was so big that I thought it was a skate and tried to break it off! By early summer Fly Girl, (official name)an 18 foot Parker center console arrived and it was time for Sarah to work while others fished. (Brian was secretly relieved). Her first official trip was a little shaky, but at least the water was warm when she had to jump overboard to untangle a fly line from Fly Girl's prop. Her clients eyes got just as wide when she told them they were her first official trip, as when she ran them aground. With a few minor launch ramp comedies and just one fishless day the summer went well. Speckled trout were thick in the sound. Adding the second boat allowed Flat Out Charters to run several group trips with six people. It was fun to compete with each other.

Summer Strikes

Brian spent much of his summer in deep water. The wrecks produced lots of bullies including amber jack, the ultimate test for clients and tackle! The summer weather was calm and the access to the wrecks was easy.
Tom Thomas, long time client and friend was the first in '98 to battle a big amber jack. After several broken rods and strained backs, Tom landed several fish over 60 pounds!! Besides jacks we caught spadefish, albies, Spanish and king mackerels.

Harkers Island

Probably the ultimate test for Flat Out came at Harkers Island. Could Brian and Sarah survive 40 days (and nights) in a dog house sized hotel room. We encountered snow drifts of tuna scented clothing, a cold and colder running shower and a cellular phone that should have been replaced with tin cans on a string. We survived...in fact, we thrived! Only the fly rods had a miserable time. It seemed that no brand was immune to over-active albies. The test at Harkers this year was to find fish; normally not a problem. When the going got tough the tough went trawling.

Many days saw guide boats following the shrimp trawlers like flock of hungry gulls. We affectionately named this new albie game "gumping." So when squadrons of albies squealed reels and tangled fly lines the battle call of "fish Forest, f-f-i-i-s-s-h-h!" came crackling over the radios. Speaking of radios, they had about the same life expectancy as the fly rods. We were often the deaf leading the deaf. But we were never alone! Fishing at Harkers meant fishing with friends; and as always, it was tough to go home.

We returned to slow fishing due to an incredibly mild fall. Weather was beautiful unless you were trying to catch migrating stripers, or hunting ducks and geese like many of our guide friends. Stripers finally started moving south despite the balmy weather.

In Conclusion...

Finally, We want to thank all of you that gave us the pleasure of your company and look forward to seeing all of you again in 1999. Sarah looks forward to starting her sophomore year as a most capable guide with a very shiny prop and just a few gashes in the otherwise flawless jelcoat.

Here's hopin ya catch a big one!!!