As our tarpon season has come to an end the search for tailing redfish has begun. The Redfish season is only in its juvenile state, but it feels like we have caught a seasons worth! To see tails here and there are very common in our area but not this fall…sure….we have seen a few here and there but it has been large schools everywhere. When the fish get like this, its like they are on crack, they eat anything that is offered in front of or on top of them a time where flock shooting is encouraged! It started late August where good friends Eric, Ben and I made our way to the same flat, same tide, and same time of day.. only 7 years later. Like clock work the pods and schools were nose down all over the flat eating anything that came into them. For seven years straight now we have been there and seen the same chaos every time!! We even get into a few big snook prowling the flat and the occasional small poon to show up and play. I fished fly and did equally as well as the boyz with spin tackle!!!!

Next came a short Labor Day trip to Boca Grande with good friends Joe and Ashley Nicolette just for some R & R with my wife!! They have a condo right on the beach so it was very relaxing. Good times hanging out and casting flies from the beach at big jacks……until I hooked a monster and managed to loose my wedding ring stripping as it turned and ran at me!!!!!! Yes I lost the ring..and NO did not land the fish….. Wife…NOT happy!! Jacks are **** fish but a lot of fun on the fly if there is nothing else around! It was cool to see all the turtle nests and to find out if you live on the beach it is mandatory to turn off the lights inside after a certain time not to confuse the turtles.

Where we called home for the long weekend!

Back on the water with Rich and Nick chasing the schooling spot tails to find them once again everywhere!! from pods of 20-30 to schools of 500+, it has been fly fishing for redfish heaven! We lost count of how many big reds we boated and even had multiple triple hookups on fly…..like I said….juvenile season but catching a seasons worth already! Last Friday Capt. Colby Hane of Sarasota joined Rich and I to look for the Late, Late season backcountry poons. The tide never got right and we had a few issues with the skiff so we yanked it and headed to look for snook which was another bust for the most part. We only saw maybe a half dozen poons roll out of casting distance and the wind was howling at the snook spot making it basically impossible to sight fish effectively!! Next time Colbs!!! To make things worse for Colby, Sunday I was out with good friend Ben and during the sunrise part of the morning we were on about a 1000 poons rolling and busting bait schools all over us. I really thought we were going to hook up on fly but the show ended within 30 min….. That really got me going for next years season! Redfish have been on fire so I think this will shape up to be a season to remember.