ESPN Saltwater

ISLAMORADA, Fla. — It's hard to fish the flats of the Florida Keys for bonefish and redfish when you can't see what you're trying to catch.

But that was the task facing the anglers and guides Saturday on the first day of the Mercury Redbone Celebrity Fishing Tournament, who battled winds gusting to 30 mph that made the water choppy and dirty.

The weather won, as the majority of the field failed to catch either species.

"It was hard," Arnie Sedel said. "It was blustery. Even when you were out of the wind, it was horrible. We tried to get in close to the mangroves and we were getting eaten up by little pinfish."

Sedel and his celebrity partner, former Miami Dolphins player Jim Jensen, did not catch a bonefish fishing with Capt. Randy Stallings on oceanside flats.

"The water was all gray and cloudy," said Jensen, who did catch some barracudas and a bonnethead shark.

The conditions made it pointless for Stallings to pole his flats skiff, so he staked out most of the day and had his anglers cast out live shrimp in the hopes that a bonefish would swim by, smell the shrimp and eat one.

"We just went from place to place," said Sedel, of Deerfield Beach, Fla. "It was very tough. We did everything possible, but there were no fish."

Cal Collier Sr. and his son Cal Jr. had a good day, relative to the rest of the field, catching a total of five redfish for 400 points fishing in Florida Bay with Capt. Steve Thomas. Each man caught two redfish on spinning tackle and jigs, worth 75 points apiece, and Cal Jr., of Atlanta, added a redfish on fly, worth 100 points.

"The fishability was very poor and that was the biggest challenge," said Cal Collier Sr., of Lake Forest, Ill. "Basically, we saw a trace of a redfish — either a mud or a swirl or a push.

"You can deal with wind, you can deal with anything, except if you can't see the fish. That's why, aside from the Redbone, when I book a trip, it's at least five days."

That way, said Collier, he's usually guaranteed at least a couple of days with decent weather.

"But you know what?" he said. "If you play outside, this happens."

Capt. Frank Crescitelli, one of New York City's premier inshore guides, deals with his share of foul weather fishing in and around New York Harbor. As long as conditions aren't dangerous, he leaves the decision whether to fish or not up to his clients.

Saturday was one of the days when most clients would have postponed the trip for another time.

"It was just brutal," said Crescitelli, of Staten Island, N.Y., who fished with Brendan McCarthy and Capt. Paul Tejera. "This is the fifth year I've fished the Redbone and the worst wind ever."

Crescitelli is involved with the Redbone event in Montauk, N.Y., and is the chairman of the Fisherman's Conservation Association, a four-year-old organization in New York that already has 1,000 members and runs the Manhattan Cup, an all-release tournament out of New York City for striped bass, bluefish and weakfish.

He, McCarthy and Tejera were committed to fly-fishing for bonefish Saturday, but never saw a bonefish despite visiting several of Tejera's favorite spots. By then, it was too late for them to run into Florida Bay and try to catch redfish.

"We poled, we staked up," Crescitelli said. "We went back in at 12:30 because we had a plan, it didn't work out and we weren't going to change it."

Steve Waters is the outdoors writer for the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. Read more of his stories at www.sunsentinel.com/outdoors.