- The only known adult Orca in the world
- IGFA event April 14th and 15th.. Jose Wejebe event
- Fishing TV show Spanish Fly host Jose Wejebe Killed in a plane cash in Everglades City, Florida April 6th 2012
- Only in Florida
- CCA Florida – Tampa Chapter Announces Twenty-Seventh Banquet, April 22, 2012
- Fly like a bird
- Biscayne Bay Estuary deep dredge threat
- A fish named “Ball Cutters”, yes it is exactly what you think!
- Rod Naming contest, Win 1 piece 12 wt Fly rods or Spinning rods, Deadline March 26th 2012
- Ladies Only fishing tournament in Sunny Florida, March 23rd 2012, Chix n Stix
Return of the Everglades Snook + Nautilus NV11/12 tarpon edition + Pet Peacock
The snook and bonefish have taken constant beat downs from cold fronts that have come into Florida back to back, not only bringing with them extreme record low temperatures, but also many cloudy days to follow rather then the typical blue bird skies. As a result, there was a massive fish kill and multitudes of snook were found dead throughout Florida. The bonefish in Biscayne Bay and the Keys have taken a beating too and many casualties were had. Admist the horroific reports and many days off the water being snowed in without the need for snow to be present, many anglers still held onto hope. This hope that even though many fish were killed, many have taken refuge in the deeper waters of the Gulf and Atlantic to weather out this cold.
I am happy to report some great news straight from the poling platform and casting deck. Big breeder snook are making their return to the inshore waters of the Everglades and schools of bonefish are moving through Biscayne Bay and the Upper Florida Keys once again as the weather is slowly warming back up. I have not been the only one to observe this, as I have heard the same from many other anglers.
I met up with my buddy Capt. Peter Babb again this past weekend and fished the inshore waters of Chokoloskee. After we had missed our optimal tide for a particular group of redfish due to spending an extended amount of time looking for big tarpon (yes we did see one), we stumbled upon something that will be burned into my memory for a life time. While poling down a random shoreline in gin clear water, I noticed some big fish under the boat moving off. I thought “tarpon” at first but then we spooked more of these big fish as we moved further down and I got a good look at them… they were indeed schools of snook; big 30lb+ fish. It was truley an incredible sight to see snook that big in clear water. Of coarse, we threw at a few of these big giants and they wanted nothing to do with our artifical presentations. Peter and I then stumbled upon schools of snook, each fish over 10lbs, cruising up and down a shoreline. With the gin clear water, we could see the bright green backs from a mile away. The first few groups of fish proved real finicky so I tied on a DOA CAL jig/shadtail combo. This is the same setup I used in Pine Island Sound fishing with my buddy Capt. Rick De Paiva to sight fish the pickiest snook in shallows. The next group moved in and I deployed the DOA CAL to a beautiful snook that accepted my offering and graced the air with the sound of a screaming drag. After a short tussle, I had this very respectable snook posing for a photo. Definitely my highlight of this entire year.
One of many Post-Freeze Gulf snook, ready to return to the Everglades
DOA CAL
Earlier in the week, I had a chance to meet with the guys at Nautilus reels and pick up my new weapon of mass destruction for this next tarpon season. Nautilus Reels has released the “tarpon edition” NV11/12 fly reel. The special edition reels feature special engravings on the reel that serve both function and asthetics from a tarpon etching to indications to measure drag settings and backing capacity. The Nautilus NV reels are all known for being light weight, which is perfect for today’s market as rod manufacturers are making much lighter rods these days as well as rod actions that balance out better with lighter reels. The G Loomis Crosscurrent Pro-1 (which I have matched my NV with as a 12wt setup) being a prime example of this. My black NV Paired with a Cortland Precision Tarpon Taper line, the rod/reel/line is as sexy as a hot Russian blonde and balanced like the ultimiate wet dream. Here’s a little reel porn to get us through a time when we are all waiting for the poon…
Stay tuned for more of the good stuff… until then, keep on making those tarpon leaders and tying flies…
East Coast Giant Jacks, Cobia, David McCleaf, Wired Sebile Stick Shad, DOA Bait Busters
Feb 21st 2010
Yesterday Hank and I was going to go after some back drum here in Tampa Bay. We had plans of running Hank’s 22′ Patherfinder and see if they were around. While these plans were in the works I get a call from my friend David McCleaf wanting to get on some giant jacks over on the east coast. Since I’ve done the black drum thing before and have never tried for the big jacks I opted to choose the east coast option.
Hank showed up at the house before the sun and the chance to come up and were driving across the state with all our gear packed. Changing plans in the middle of the night I know I would forget something. I packed along some offshore Sebile and Tarpon rods. I also brought along my 10wt just in case they were ravenous and not moving too fast.
Heading off and running the beach looking for fish sure sounds like and iffy plan for the most part but today it actually worked! First,we spot some triple tail on the buoy on the water out. Dave gets his underwater gear ready but by the time he jumps in they were long gone. David then spots a pod of floating cobia, as everyone scrambles for rods and tossed out the big sebile meant for giant jacks the cobia refused the offering. As David scrambles to tie a DOA bait buster on, I scramble to put the fly rod together.( I know, I know.. NOT prepared!) Then I remember I didn’t bring any flies!#$@!$!@$ REALLY NOT PREPARED!
We lost the cobia in the melee as we kept fumbling around. It wasn’t long however David spots them again. He tosses out the bait busters and one of the cobia eats almost instantly. Snap!, as he sets the hook… Double !@$!@$!@%!^. I haven’t used that combo in months as I’ve been most fly fishing so the line snapped on me. Now go back and read the lat paragraph as we did the same thing but this time tying on a new leader to boot.
We trolling motor along luckily found them floating again.. this time we stick one and go it to the boat. A nice 17lb fish to pose for photos with. After the photos we lost them for good however. Regardless, a very exciting start to the day that is for sure.
For the next two hours we didn’t see a darn thing. Isn’t that the way it usually goes though?
On the way back to the ramp we ran into them. The giant jacks, there were big pods of them roaming around. They were all 20-30lbs easy. Believe it or not they were very picky and spooky. I am sure they have been pressured today as it was a nice day and people were out in droves fishing. They were not chasing bait and making foam on the top of the surface as most jacks are known for. I toss in there the magic swimmer, the flats shad, and they did not want anything to do with it. The lure of choice for them today was the big stick shad in the mackerel color.
We yanked in about 6 of these guys before we lost the pod as the sun was going down. It was an excellent day of fishing with a couple of good friends.
On the way home Hank and I stopped at Norby’s in Lake Whales,. If you are ever near there, it’s an Excellent steak place. Lots of inexpensive specials particularly before 6pm. Very rustic atmosphere and good service. The sides and the salads were just ok. The steak was well cooked. Hank had the NY strip and I opted for the 24oz Rib eye. I definitely had to take some home with me. My eyeballs were bigger than my stomach that night.
The top lure got smoked while the bottom lure got ignored for the most part. If it was up to me I would think the bottom lure looked better. Good thing I brought 2 different ones.
