Fishing Mud Island, Getting My Butt Kicked!

I took a step and felt the mud ooze around my wading boot as it sank deep. Moving my other foot I felt it also sink and I wondered if I would be able to get them out before I lost my balance and fell over into the thigh high water. Of course I didn't have my life jacket on and as usual I was wondering where there was a firm path of shell and sand. Dave and Ken seemed to wade through the area with ease and Ron had wisely stayed behind fishing a shell ridge. Was I that out of shape or was it simply knowing where the  firmer bottom lay?
It didn't really matter as I had already decided that today was one of those dues days,( A dues day is when you catch or find nothing but gain a little bit of experience which theoretically leads to a payoff down the road).
The day had started and I had no inkling I would be fishing Mud Island. I have been coming here for five years and it is the first time I have ever had the chance to fish the bay side of San Jose Island. Excited but knowing that it was my first time there I wondered if I would catch anything. We were after red fish and the others all had strike indicator bobbers on their lines while I was fishing a Carolina rig, a Lindy rig to my walleye fishing friends.

I waded and cast and stopped for a bit, waiting to see if I got a pickup. I saw Ken catch a sting ray and then Dave hooked one himself, It was a really large ray and he had to break off his line to get rid of it. After about a dozen steps I felt a pick up and waited for the circle hook to work its magic and it did! The fish made a small run and then came in too easy, it was a rat red. Now the people here call under size red fish rat reds and consider anything to small to keep and eat a waste of time, but I felt good to catch a red fish, regardless of its size. See I learned long ago, in a walleye tournament in Montana, that what ever you catch is what you catch and you should always be proud of your fish.
A little later I saw Dave set the hook and land a nice keeper red and he measured it before putting it on his stinger. It was as it should be, the captain of the boat should always catch fish and even when others out fish the captain its still about his/her skill and knowledge. The captain also gets the blame, but I have been there too many times myself and so it doesn't really matter, its all about time spent on the water, and dues days.
I never did catch another fish although I did have two pickups. We went to several other spots and Dave did catch another keeper, this time a nice twenty seven inch red. I was happy anyway, I had fished new water, got to watch experts wade fish for reds, and most importantly I hadn't fell over in the mud! Clear skies.