So near, but so far

I was hoping to add a golden trevally  to the bonefish and permit from earlier in the week.

The morning was a literal wash out - rain lashing down, however the afternoon cheered up and as the sun started to drop, and tide rise, I was hoping to get a last chance.

The trevally arrive on the flat as a moving set of waves, with the fish just below, touring around and munching the smaller inhabitants of the turtle grass.

For once I was in the right place and the saw the waves well in advance, managing to drop the fly ahead of them and then frenetically rip the fly back. One set of waves accelerated behind the fly and the fish came up behind like a surfacing submarine (while I was crouching into the water in the hope it wouldn't see me). Then everything was tight and the fish was departing at speed.

After that it was a case of keeping between the fish and the danger of the lobster pot behind in came it decided to take a turn round the buoy rope. 

At some point I managed to kick a sea urchin and get a spine if my foot. But eventually the fish was at the point of giving in, on it's side a few feet away. It wasn't the hoped for golden trevally, but it was still a beautiful, fierce looking trevally, glowing green and gold in the sunset.

I made a grab for the tail but the fish edged out of reach by a few inches, then rolled slightly and the hook pinged free. I tried diving after it, but with a flick of its tail it was free...