I tried muscling it in at first. Never knew a fly rod would bend like it did. After the fish got tired of running it It just hunkered down in the mud and wouldn't budge so we just poled the skiff up to it.
Saltwater Flyfishing
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Last: 24 days ago by Dogdoc
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Fly fishing; less fish, better stories.
Update from Key West.
Went offshore with Captain Rush Maltz of Local Knowledge TV yesterday morning, and WOW what a day it was. Dad and sister threw conventional rods but I took my 8 wt with me and threw it exclusively. We were on the Dolphin almost immediately, and found schools consistently throughout the day. We threw back about 4 of every 5 fish we caught, and we came back to the dock with 27.... well over 100 caught between the 3 of us! All about 5-10 lbs and were a BLAST on the fly. Caught them on a big popper, deceiver, clouser, bare hook, you name it! Also had a 7 foot long Dusky shark come in while we were fishing and was catching Dolphin on his own too! All in all amazing trip and can't wait to do it again.
Headed to Bonita Beach for Snook and Tarpon until Wednesday when we hit Miami for some Peacocks and Snakehead!
Went offshore with Captain Rush Maltz of Local Knowledge TV yesterday morning, and WOW what a day it was. Dad and sister threw conventional rods but I took my 8 wt with me and threw it exclusively. We were on the Dolphin almost immediately, and found schools consistently throughout the day. We threw back about 4 of every 5 fish we caught, and we came back to the dock with 27.... well over 100 caught between the 3 of us! All about 5-10 lbs and were a BLAST on the fly. Caught them on a big popper, deceiver, clouser, bare hook, you name it! Also had a 7 foot long Dusky shark come in while we were fishing and was catching Dolphin on his own too! All in all amazing trip and can't wait to do it again.
Headed to Bonita Beach for Snook and Tarpon until Wednesday when we hit Miami for some Peacocks and Snakehead!
Yep, that's a great day!!!
Centerpole90
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You picked a decent week for Bonita. The water is a little stained, but that makes the snook easier to catch. Caught one yesterday just by dragging my fly behind me while walking.
Keep an eye out for tripletail in those red drift algae clumps. Had one last weekend, but didn't know if I could lip it or not, and it threw the hook while I thought about it.
Keep an eye out for tripletail in those red drift algae clumps. Had one last weekend, but didn't know if I could lip it or not, and it threw the hook while I thought about it.
Salt of the water
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I know some of y'all had to be out on the water this past weekend with that perfect weather. Give up the goods
My kids and I played at a local pond chumming up koi and catfish with bread and catching them on their TFO Bug Launcher 4/5 wts. While it wasn't quite the same as poling the skiff for reds it was still a pretty damn fun time.elnaco said:
I know some of y'all had to be out on the water this past weekend with that perfect weather. Give up the goods
The reds will always be there, but time with the little ones can't be replaced.
I started teaching my daughter to fly cast. Her technique is a little unconventional but we're working on tightening those loops up. She's going to be a bow hog for sure.
I started teaching my daughter to fly cast. Her technique is a little unconventional but we're working on tightening those loops up. She's going to be a bow hog for sure.
elnaco said:
I know some of y'all had to be out on the water this past weekend with that perfect weather. Give up the goods
I fished (mostly poled and scouted) solo in the panga yesterday. Wind was little high but do-able.
Widgeon grass has really taken off in the marsh I frequent. Probably about double the area it was a month ago. Water clarity is improving, but fishing can be tough in the really thick grass. Anyone have thick floating grass fly recs? Sometimes I'll see a fin pop up nowhere near a pothole. Heavier flys dig in and grab grass, lighter flys don't seem to get noticed.
Saw lots of gar and a couple bigger redfish. Spooked a few fish and had a couple decent shots at reds where I got the push pole down and the fly rod out in time. No eats.
Saw a cork in a heavily shelled part of a larger marsh pond. Poled over to pick it up and it took off. Poled over to where it popped back up and it took off again. Finally got close enough to snag it with the fly rod. Buried my fly in the cork and fought the fish. It just about took me into the backing on its first run. Made a second and third run of 50 ish foot when I got it close to the boat. Finally got it close enough to grab the cork and it was a big red. Probably over-slot. Started lifting the cork and the line popped. Probably oyster nicks in the line, surprised it didn't break the cork off on its own before.
Taking my dad and father in law next weekend. Hoping for lighter winds and clearer water.
Day 1 in Bonita so far. A few Mangrove snapper and a snook for me on the fly, have a beautiful pic of him but my phone won't download IMGUR for some reason.
Caught some live 12" mullet and chunked one under the boat dock and my buddy caught the biggest snook I've ever seen. Not on the fly but damn it was huge. Have pics of that as well. If I can get imgur to download I'll post them because that fish deserves pics
Caught some live 12" mullet and chunked one under the boat dock and my buddy caught the biggest snook I've ever seen. Not on the fly but damn it was huge. Have pics of that as well. If I can get imgur to download I'll post them because that fish deserves pics
If you are on a phone, you can still upload without downloading the app. Just go to their desktop site.
Preemptive oh face... waiting on those pics!
And that photo doesnt do her justice at all....
Very nice.
It's nice when people visit from out of town and it takes em less than 24 hours to destroy every fish you've ever caught. Thanks for the kick in the pants! My brother did the same thing last year with a bass in the pond behind my house.
That's one amazing snook! Holy smokes! Did you have 40# leader or get the corner hook set?
That's one amazing snook! Holy smokes! Did you have 40# leader or get the corner hook set?
That was 50 lb leader plus a corner hook set!
Meanwhile I just got back from the beach and there were 3 that big sitting in the rocks. I didn't see them until I hooked one and it took all of 10 seconds for her to wear through my 25 lb flouro. Lost my favorite new fly too.
Meanwhile I just got back from the beach and there were 3 that big sitting in the rocks. I didn't see them until I hooked one and it took all of 10 seconds for her to wear through my 25 lb flouro. Lost my favorite new fly too.
elnaco
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Another Monday of The Bachelorette and finals basketball that I couldn't care less about means another small project.
An issue I have on La Chancla is there's no place to put my fly rod when I'm running. I don't really have gunnels to put rod mounts and I don't want to put it in the cockpit to bang and slide around. I guess I could put it in my sweet new stripping bucket and I'm sure it'd work but experience has taught me if something can go wrong on the water, it eventually will go wrong and one day I'll probably hit a wave right and my rod will go in the drink. So this weeks installment of "Small Project Monday" includes modifying my old poling/ casting platform to pull double duty as a rod holder.
This is my aforementioned piece of kit. The Ballin' on a Budget casting platform
Need a casting platform but don't want to spend a ton of money? Look no further than a restaurant grade aluminum dunnage rack. You can pick them up on the cheap off of craigslist. Bolt a piece of starboard to the top and bam you've got a budget casting platform that can support something like 600lbs. Anyways, I actually sit on this when running and stand on it to poll. I was lazy and didn't take a bunch of photos this time but you'll get the idea.
I cut down the starboard some and re-drilled the bolt holes and applied super noise dampening foam covers over the newly exposed aluminum to keep my rod and reel from banging around. The foam is secured with super high tech NASA space straps. I had some leftover neon green bungee chord from some project that I can't remember that I then fixed to the frame to secure my rods. Final product looka like 'dis.
The last thing I need to do is add a toggle to the front bungees so they can secure together. Hopefully said toggle won't turn into a fly line magnet in the event I miss the stripping basket, but that'll be a trial and error deal.
An issue I have on La Chancla is there's no place to put my fly rod when I'm running. I don't really have gunnels to put rod mounts and I don't want to put it in the cockpit to bang and slide around. I guess I could put it in my sweet new stripping bucket and I'm sure it'd work but experience has taught me if something can go wrong on the water, it eventually will go wrong and one day I'll probably hit a wave right and my rod will go in the drink. So this weeks installment of "Small Project Monday" includes modifying my old poling/ casting platform to pull double duty as a rod holder.
This is my aforementioned piece of kit. The Ballin' on a Budget casting platform
Need a casting platform but don't want to spend a ton of money? Look no further than a restaurant grade aluminum dunnage rack. You can pick them up on the cheap off of craigslist. Bolt a piece of starboard to the top and bam you've got a budget casting platform that can support something like 600lbs. Anyways, I actually sit on this when running and stand on it to poll. I was lazy and didn't take a bunch of photos this time but you'll get the idea.
I cut down the starboard some and re-drilled the bolt holes and applied super noise dampening foam covers over the newly exposed aluminum to keep my rod and reel from banging around. The foam is secured with super high tech NASA space straps. I had some leftover neon green bungee chord from some project that I can't remember that I then fixed to the frame to secure my rods. Final product looka like 'dis.
The last thing I need to do is add a toggle to the front bungees so they can secure together. Hopefully said toggle won't turn into a fly line magnet in the event I miss the stripping basket, but that'll be a trial and error deal.
Water has been crystal clear today. We can see hundreds of snook in the shallows and tarpon rolling out in the surf. Caught 8 beach snook this morning and even got a guest appearance from 13 manatees!
Centerpole90
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That's big-time!
Damn you and your awesome trip photos. I'm straight up peanut butter and jealous sitting here at work.
Keep them coming though
Keep them coming though
Jrod05
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What flies did you present to the manatees?
Almsot forgot Mahi pics! Heres just a few.
Excellent work!
Wow. Killing it. This is easily my favorite thread on the OB.
im a little offended you took a picture of me as I was swimming through the water tho
im a little offended you took a picture of me as I was swimming through the water tho
RickSawyer said:
What flies did you present to the manatees?
I hear that if you get a quickly rotating metal disc out near the manatees it'll get slammed faster than a free impala in East Houston. The hard part is perfecting that 30 mph retrieve.
Do you remember when we had one visit Mansfield? I have pics/video @ home. He hung out near my slip
That one hung around for a few years. Stopped seeing it around 2009 ish though. Boy that thing was lost.
Yep. That's the one. We could take a fresh water hose, spray it on surface, and he was anywhere around he'd come over and play in it.
I remember the sea cow. They still have a manatee zone sign on the no wake buoy in the harbor?
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