This thread needs more action. Fished POC / Seadrift Monday. Conditions were brutal. Water was high, dirty, wind was 18-20, fish weren't moving or eating, cloudy. Had zero shots Tuesday. Zero. Pulled one slot red out on Monday morning. Barely a slot. Sight casting for reds on the fly is not for the faint of heart. But I can't explain it. I'm obsessed.


My guide's ride, New Water Stilt.

Chased some jacks earlier this week and had a blast.

Bump. New to the flats game but I recorded my first ever snook and baby tarpon hookups in ENP recently. No fish pics as I broke them off too soon due to inexperience. However this is not discouraging, only more addicting to commit to refine this all-consuming fly fishing habit I have come upon. The beauty of the backcountry in the Keys and ENP is breathtaking. These were the only ones I snapped as I was more focused on fishing.

I'm in Homosassa getting my ass kicked!


LRHF

Still getting humbled! Not that many fish moving onto the flats. Dead calm most of day. Had a bite but didn't ever pull tight. Guide saw the fish flash and the bite tippet showed some abrasion that wasn't there before.

The fish are hanging in deeper water offshore, saw hundreds of them meaning there were thousands around. They would come up then dive back down deep. We played with them for a while with a sink tip, had one follow the fly up until she saw the boat then did a u-turn 10' from the boat and dove back down (never stopped stripping).

I have 4 days left and more hopeful now than ever. Have pursued baby tarpon but this is definitely different!

LRHF

Another challenging day!

Had some good shots at fish but they didn't eat (a big shark had just come through). No doubt challenged by being mostly a trout guy, these big Tarpon are nothing like baby Tarpon or Redfish! Learning tons and more hopeful that it will eventually happen!

Had a very quick shot at a 150 lb plus Tarpon sitting in a hole as we drifted past with the wind. Huge fish, thick and long and definitely a black top. One day!

Homosassa beatings continue!

So dang close! I've had a number of "Homosassa Blow Jobs" where you get a follow, tug, keep stripping but never come tight.

Today- found a very nice fish looking our direction. There was a light ripple on the water and took a shot about 10' to the right of the fish. The current drifted the tight line into the fishes vision, started stripping and watched this +/- 100 lb fish follow, speed up, flash (feel tug) but never came tight

Had some good action early this am that didn't get any follows or eats. Made plenty of terrible shots as well (most actually!)

It's just nutz being here. I've seen Tom Evan's on the water every day. We briefly talked to his guide Al Doparik and learned he didn't catch anything today (Tom was still in the boat at the dock about 75' away).

Got Poon ****ed by the Red Devil (Steve Kilpatrick) as a wave of fish came in from deeper water heading East towards shore.

I mostly fish with a good friend on his skiff. Fishing with a mutual friend and always different with a new person. Still learning each others style but here a funny snippet from today. He saw a fish from the poling platform and verbalized at 12:00. I had glare and asked how far. He demanded that I turn around and look where he was pointing…. Shockingly, still at 12:00! Another 7-8 seconds pass and the fish appears and I make my casts. He's becoming a well respected guide around here but a simple distance would have sufficed!

I have two more days on the water and the fishing seems to be getting better each day.

LRHF

Strip, strip BOOM!

It's been a grind but finally put it all together today! Jumped two fish- first one jumped then broke off, 2nd fish was leadered and pulled a 3rd one off of a daisy chain, flashed but didn't hook up.

Fish 1
Watching for fish off the bow when a string of tarpon streamed past left to right about 10' off the bow. They were cooking and terrible angles. There was a small break and decided to make a cast to the left with a decent angle hoping another fish cruised through. What luck- another wave came through, started stripping away from them and BOOM! In the blink of an eye, the fly line was gone and this fish was hauling ass away with the reel singing! She ripped another 60 yards if backing then launched into low earth orbit. After that, the line went limp and upon inspection, she severed the bite tippet (60# fluoro). This was a 130# class fish!

Fish 2- we played in some windless flat water for a while until breeze picked up and the tide switched. Finally we pushed into the wind with the sun at our backs and found some fish slowly working it way. A short 35' cast was presented, waited a few seconds for the fly to sink and the fish to get closer. A few short strips and a Tarpon surged to the fly and line started flying! This fish was closer to 70# and jumped a lot. Put to the heat to her and quickly (is there such a thing, I wore quickly!) leadered the fish. She took a smaller run from the boat and broke the bite tippet. I was still pumped but would have liked a boat side pic…

Had an opportunity for a 3rd fish in a daisy chain. These have been a real challenge for me all week, I've been too cautious about spooking the fish. Threw it about a foot inside if the counter clockwise chain, waiting a second to sink the fly then strip into an oncoming fishes view and saw the surge and flash but didn't get tight.

I defiantly get excited from catching big fish but haven't gotten shaky in years until today, wow!

LRHF

Who doesn't love to see INSTANT KARMA served?

Well, I witnessed it firsthand this morning. My daughter and I went out for as short trip because we had a funeral to attend at 2. We were poling down a shoreline, checking some guts, or drains, for redfish feeding on bait flowing out on the tide.

As we poled up the shoreline a bay boat came running the shore going the opposite direction. I thought they were certainly inconsiderately close, considering they had the whole bay to run, but whatever, they went on and I just mumbled a bit under my breath. About 20 minutes later were coming up on a drain, about 100 yards away, and here come the same guys from behind us, still burning the shore; they go out around us again, but this time they dip right into the drain dead ahead. Directly in our path.

Now I was pissed. What a douchy move. They had seen us twice, they knew what we were doing and decided to cut us off within hailing distance. One bailed off one side of the boat and one off the other, wading. As we got closed the distance to about half I told my daughter I was going to pole right by their boat and continue up the shore. There was no need to get on top - we'd just pole right past them, between guy #2 and the boat, and be on our way. This wasn't going to ruin our stalk.

However, when we got within 100 feet they had made their way back to the boat in a hurry and, you guessed it, decided they get up. That REALLY pissed me off. First they cut us off and then REALLY sh*t on us by blowing out. Their problem was... they couldn't get up. They tried. They tried again. As we got closer they tried a third time... no luck. We practically had to hold up to keep clear of whatever was about to happen or get splashed with mud.

They jumped off and started pushing frantically to avoid closer contact with us. I couldn't help it. As we poled past them in their mud ball I pointed to the intercostal a mile away and said "Hey guys, deep water is that way". They never made eye contact, they just raised a single hand each acknowledging the communication. My daughter said I did laugh audibly for the purpose of them hearing me... I think I was just laughing sincerely, but either way - they deserved to be laughed at by this time.

This was them after we were well past and my frustration gave way to gloating.



But Karma is a b*tch because sometimes it's the gift that keeps giving. This was a good 20 mins later, after they had tried unsuccessfully in at least 3 other spots to get on plane, they were STILL PUSHING. I'll bet they pushed well over half a mile.



I don't own the water. They were well within their legal rights to cut me off, even if it was a douchbag move, and I am well within mine to shame them accordingly, and share such with my internet friends. I didn't take a picture of a single fish, but I did take a picture of them pushing a dang nice bay boat that was just a bit out of its depth. They provided the entertainment for the day.