- 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
Mirrolure Soft Plastics
Just a few of the styles and colors
We all know who they are and what they do. Mirrolure has been making great hard plastics for quite a while, and we all probably have a few in our tackle box. The company is based in the Tampa Bay area which is a plus as well, at least for me.
Now, Mirrolure has come up with a line of soft plastics that are in my arsenal as well, along with my confidence baits. At first I was skeptical. I liked the designs, but every time in use, the fish either weren’t biting or they didn’t like the colors and styles being presented. It surprised me a little that Mirrolure even broke into the soft plastic market, which has nothing to do with catching fish, but the soft plastic market is tough to get into, as with everything else in the fishing industry. Now I think Mirrolure may have a winner.
On a recent trip with a friend, merely looking for winter trout, I was proven wrong in my skepticism. While I was using other soft plastics that were producing just a couple of days ago, and producing well, that’s what I stuck with. My buddy was using the Mirrolure 4” Rootbeer Soft Shad and the 3-3/4″” “Lil’ John”.
Well, to make a long story short, I wasn’t catching squat, and my comrade was reeling in decent trout. The bite was not on fire by any means, but the Soft Shad and Lil’ John did the trick, so I switched up and caught a couple speckeled as well. We even brought a flounder to the boat.
One of the very few I caught, due to me being stubborn...
Cookie cutter speck caught with the Soft Shad
Drug along the bottom slowly, this guy wanted an easy meal
Lil' John-I like the looks of this one...
There is only so much I can write about a soft plastic artificial. I like the colors offered as well as the different designs, in addition to the action in the water. The price is competitive with most manufacturers, and Mirrolure also offers scented baits, that I’m sure will be reviewed on Salty Shores in the near future. In my opinion, I feel these baits will catch any of the fish the Tampa Bay flats have to offer, just as well as any other of your “go to” lures. Check them out; it won’t break the bank and may get you that lunker trout or red you’ve been looking for.
A TampaBay Permit..say what!?
Well it never fails that someone catches an oddity of a fish species that normally one doesn’t see in our TampaBay waters. Spencer Goodwin of the HCKAClub posted a quick report of his INCREDIBLE catch while kayak fishing off the waters of TampaBay.
By Seein’Red: caught this permit today TAILING on the flats, first time I’ve ever seen or heard of this in Tampa Bay, talk about crazy!
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.
2/20 ML w/ Fishbites
Yesterday afternoon we went over and registered at New Smyrna Outfitters for the Fishbites tourney. The rules are, take any picture with the bag of soft plastics in it. Well we went out and fished a little later to get on the afternoon bite. Paul (Fishtrapper) told us at that location the fish are crawling, and when you pole the hull will be sticking on the bottom. He told the truth. We started to pole up to the first fish and the boat started to stick. About 10 pushes later CRACK, broken push pole. We were able to get both sections and the longer part was about 14ft.
On the way back to the ramp chasing Paul we ran out of gas. Paul was nice enough to turn around and give us a tow back to the ramp. Turns out the Yami 50 2smoke is a work horse! Paul was able to tow us back to the ramp…on plane, at 18-19mph. I snapped a couple pics, and this was the best one. In keeping with the Fishbites rules it has the bag in it. Broken Push Pole, Spilt Beer, Outta Gas.
This morning started off a little better. We decided to try to pole with the Wang Anchor. It worked out pretty good. With Erik working the Wang he stuck this fish in short order.
Then it was my turn. We started to set up on a larger school of fish and I pulled this one out on Fly. The Fly is an Unnamed tie by Chuck from New Smyrna Outfitters. As soon as I can get the name of it I will post it up.
We made it back to NSO for the photo contest. I ended up getting second place with this one.
Another picture from yesterday. In TB we don’t really get fish with this much color in the tail.
-Richard
Deer Hair for Redfish
I really enjoy throwing deer hair at redfish. Watching those bottom feeders charge the surface gets my blood pumping. Unfortunately our Texas weather has been less cooperative than in previous years, fewer sunny days and colder winter water. I usually make throwing these hair-bugs a year round business. Gracias El Nino! (Fly tied for me by my good friend Chip Evans)
ML 2/19
Today was the first day of the 3 day event with ECC/New Smyrna Outfitters. It was a great start with Erik on his second cast sticking this 10 1/2lber
Sebile Snagless Magic Swimmer Prototype by Rich Osgood
Once upon a time there was this old man. He had an old cane stick and some cord with a nail bent in the form of a J hook. O.K. this really isn’t what I am here to talk about. Recently I have had a chance to fish with some outstanding fishermen and good friends. I have also had the fortune to be able to come across some great tackle as well. I am somewhat of a gear and a food Junkie! I love having what I consider to be “Top of the Line” tackle and gear. I need Porterhouse Steaks instead of Cube Steak. Loaded potatoes instead of mash! I’m sure most of you can relate! Most of my fishing is in Matlacha Pass or Pine Island Sound. Heaven is really a better name for this area.
Let’s get back to the real reason I am here! I have been granted the right to fish with some extraordinary tackle of late. Sebile lures have been a huge part of my arsenal for the last 1-2 years. I have been fishing them pretty exclusive just to get an idea what a $13 plug is really like. The price tag was always a hard sell on these lures for me, but recently my tune has changed on that! I would probably spend a few more dollars on them if needed. I spent all of last Snook season using them. I used the Stick Shad in a variety of colors and also switched it up from the floaters to the suspending variety depending on water conditions. 2009 for “ME” was probably the greatest Snook year I have had in the past eight years. This goes for all that fished on my boat with these lures as well. I did use other go to lures and they still produced. Was it that the lure was that much better or just something different for the taking? I think a lot much better than just for the taking! Again, I gave these plugs a solid season (1 year).
Can I ramble along anymore? Yes I can! I have been fishing the Sebile Magic Swimmer 95FT. This plug has one double barb hook in the middle and a white feather tied on the rear. Yes, there are no hooks on the rear and the middle treble is missing a barb or hook. This set-up makes this lure pretty much weed-less! Watch out Fish! The Magic Swimmer I am using swims down to about 6”-1’. Very shallow running and darn near a top water if fished slow enough. This plug is very deadly in the shallows. I couldn’t wait till I got on the flats to use this so I decided to tie it on one of my newest rod and reel combos. I am currently fishing the new Shimano Stradic CI4 2500 with a Shimano 7’2” Cumara spinning rod. Been using this set-up for the last 3 months and it has been SWEET! 
I tied that bad boy on and headed out back to the fresh water canal behind my house. I made sure I found the most matted hydrilla section I could possibly fish to truly test this plug. Swisssssh and it’s on! First cast and I hooked a 2 pounder! Nice little Bass to start this trial off with. Next cast resulted in the same. Can it be the “Almighty” of lures? 12 casts later and this lure yielded 5 bass up to 3lbs. O.K., the lure catches fish but does it stand a chance in the weeds? Yes, I was purposely casting into anything I saw floating or just submerged under the surface. I did manage to snag a few pieces of debris but nothing like it is when I fish other hard baits. I have yet to put this plug to the test in saltwater, but I have fished it very hard several days so far in different freshwater conditions! Weeds are weeds no matter where you fish! The end result is that this plug Slays Bass and is almost as weed less as a soft plastic rigged weed less. I will own many when they are available to the public! Wicked Runs and Big Feesh!
Rich Osgood
Note: this is a prototype so it will not be available to the public until June. However, if you just cut off one of the hook and take the hooks in the back off you will have essentially the same lure.
Saltwater fishing Photos, second look. Prototype Sebile Magic Swimmer
Feb 19th 2010
I had a few minutes this morning to go through some photos from the last couple of weeks.
From the everglades mother ship trip to the Miami Boat show.
Coming up today or tomorrow a couple of lure review by my friend Rich Osgood. I got him a prototype Sebile magic swimmer. He really digs it.
I was about 10feet away from this everglades alligator. The photos was a little out of focus I was it was low light and I was shooting in f2.8 but I thought it was a cool blurry action shot.
Miami Sky Line
Calamari
Jungle Jooooooooooooose! no it was not mine. yes I tasted it.. thumbs down.
Poor man’s way of How to shoot in the rain.
Rough Day boating and fishing that day with Sebile.
Tailers with Captain Joe Harley
