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in the cone of death………..
With the hurricane season officially behind us and the more common northerly winds filling our days I had a chance to reflect on a few memorable afternoons back in September. I reckon as we get older those days where school is called off because the prospect of an approaching storm are simply no longer welcomed. Hell, many of us Floridians burdened by excessive windstorm premiums feel blessed another season flew by unscathed. These parts ain’t a cheap place to call home and that is with certainty I say this.
While we avoided the cone of death (which can be defined as the only justification necessary for Miami TV stations to go into non-stop hurricane coverage and scare the crap out of South Florida residents) and the general BS media hype associated to it, the repercussions of nearby misses did have some effects. Typically the late summer months into October are characterized by extreme high water on the flats. Combine this with a near miss swell or surge and what we have is extremely high water, i.e. zero tailing fish for days.
I suppose every once in a while those days that you expect the least are the ones that end up surprising you the most and on one particular day this would prove quite true. When your day starts with doubled over fly rods, a pair of nice bones and an old friend…………it’s hard to get better but it did.
And while we barely saw any water low enough for tailing fish it did prevent our common late afternoon boiling water temps and the fish were on the feed……………and we gladly welcomed them
fish kept coming to hand……………..
we were damn blessed and we knew it………….
by day’s end we had tagged 8 fish for Bonefish & Tarpon Trust http://www.tarbone.org/ after nearly a dozen bites.
Needless to state a good day of fishing always provides some motivation at the vice……….
Somethings never get old or ever lose their luster, particularly bonefish with a fly rod…………………..guess when that happens time to take up golf
Back to regularly scheduled wintertime exploring I guess.
Happy Thanksgiving……………lots to be thankful for that is for sure.
The wonderful boom or bust days of winter……..
While I prefer to bonefish like most in the heat, our wintertime fishery can be spectacular at times…….it can also be void of life.
The simple flip of a coin can either lead you down the path of righteousness or a pointless dead end. This is the gamble of the wintertime fishery, simple boom or bust if you will.
Monitoring water temps is a must, having the right weather is second and having a large amount of luck can always be useful. Since the cooler weather graced us most slicked days have been spent tooling around with the youth in tow. The windy wintery days were left flying kites on the edge or sitting in the duck blind. Many of the slicked days where conditions were right happened to be cut short because the baby was along for the ride. A few of those days kept me thinking what if……………..
So as the Holiday approached I was able to waive the white flag at the office early one day in attempt to toss a few flies without the family in tow. Weather looked right, but the water was presumably cold, yet we decided to fill the cooler a push out around noon.
After an hour or so of nothingness we figured it was one of those “put in your dues days”………………………..until finally I was able to confirm Santa had indeed come early.
He left some floaters……………………………………
As it turns out apparently I was a good boy this year……………
Then came the acres of pre-spawners…….
I was giddy as a school girl………………..
In all the awe we decided maybe we’d catch a few………
In all the fuss as we shot through fly after fly I realized it had been a good while that I consistently sat down at the vice with a fine glass of wine and whipped out a few bugs. This used to be my typical evening routine but with the new addition to the family free time has been limited at best.
On some occasions that monic fly line is worth it’s weight in gold……..
Then it seems Santa’s tailers decided to show in masses…………..
And in five knee shattering hours of fly-fishing 14 bonefish came to hand with well over 20 fish hooked………….
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday………..
emotional mercenaries………….albula vulpes
Sometime ago back the fellas and I ducked out in attempt to tangle with a few of our larger local emotional mercenaries…………………it was just one of the days where the fish seemed to all be digging trenches right to the bow of the skiff. God love ‘em when they act like this because it doesn’t happen very often.
Given the 95 degree weather and high water temps cloudy weather can be somewhat beneficial this time of year. It obviously complicates matters in a situation that is already riddled with hurdles but what can a dude do about that………
Unlike most days where one of us is scrambling between the push pole and the camera lense, we invited an extra contender, because of this my close friend Ross Reeder was able to spend a majority of his time behind the lense. End result………..some fine images.
Light was awful given the inclement weather approaching but the crustacean commandoes didn’t give a rats ass……………they were hungry which was evidenced by their ravenous behavior.
1 o’clock got ‘em? Yep (as a school of sizable bones barrel up on to bar as if they hadn’t eaten all damn day)
Jeez some nice one there huh? “sure looks that way”
Christ man they’re digging hard, don’t screw it up we are losing our light “like I don’t already know this jackass, just get me the shot”
(and this is when you are saying to yourself, I better not screw this up, son of a bitch those are big bones, your palms start to sweat, the 2 minutes of waiting for the right angle and the right shot feel like 1 hour, your jerkneck buddies are going ridicule you for eternity if you blow it, knees are now slightly buckling, your thinking what a loser you are, you have caught 10,000 of these fish and yet you still pucker up like drunken catholic girl on her senior prom night………for the love of God get a grip!!)
You take your shot…………………………….
wait……wait……………long slow strip…………tight! oh hell yeah!
now your clearing your line……………thinking about how you are going to tell your buddies to shove it up their asses……then you realize “oh something ain’t right here”………………as the weight fish decides to torpedo off the damn flat like a bat out of hell
And in a split second your buddies start screaming……………….meanwhile you pucker up again…….the 12lb tippet becomes tighter than a guitar string…..you clear a few wraps off your toes then realize fancy footwork is a must……..a deep chested tribal “Son of a Bitch” comes from your lungs in the fishes general direction………
the fish finally reaches the skiff, high fives are mutually thrown….this time we win
Like many, I love these fish, the way they rumble up on flat pushing a head wake, or the famous dimple and disappear, or the slicked morning floaters, or deep water mud puffers…………..like all other fish they do have to eat to survive and it is always about being at the right spot at the right time. The general erratic nature of these fish is the drug, the drug the keeps us coming back. No matter how many thousands of these bastards we have caught, I still vividly remember nearly every fish that has touched my hand, well at least certainly the good ones.
This afternoon would prove no different……………as the fish kept paying us some much needed respect
the old el original 17.8 still getting it done………..
Tampa Redfish Fly fishing, wading in the icy cold.
Jan 2nd 2010 part 2
I looked out side it was very cold and windy but there were no clouds in the sky. This will make it excellent for sight fishing. Now a days if I can see the fish I would rather catch them on fly because it makes it more interesting.. yes, more pulling your hair out as well. Heading out by myself, I packed up the skiff with limited gear. I met up with Tom of Wang anchor and Joe of Carbon marine who was already out on the flats. As I pulled up Tom was releasing a small redfish he caught on the fly.
Since I was by myself I couldn’t really control the boat much. After a few frustrating tangles I decided to get out of the boat and waded. I was on fish with in a few minutes but I kept spooking them. I figured out they didn’t like the false cast very much as these are Tampa redfish not those dumb Louisiana ones. 
I got a nice over slot fish landed and released. That was the formula Joe and Tom quickly noticed and did the same. We landed 8 reds on fly today in 3 hours and 5 of which were over the slot. Once we lost the light it was pretty much over. 2010 for my armature fly fishing is starting off very well.
9wt Gloomis CC GLX, Loop Ecotech reel, Sharkskin line, about 12 foot of leader 15lb tippet.
While wading I dunked my reel a couple times in the saltwater, releasing fish. Loop tells me they have a waterproof drag. I got home and rinsed it off with fresh water I will let you know the results.
Tom snapped a shot me and my 1st fish.
These shots were done on they Olympus waterproof cameras. Very bland, I tried to fix them up in photoshop but this was the best I could do.
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