Too Late

Went out yesterday with my buddy R&R for a mid-week bite, but our trip was cut short by the storms in the surrounding area. Even thought the radar showed that the storm was on top of us, we really never got much rain. With a few lighting strikes close by it was worth heading to a "watering hole" until things past through. Unfortunately, by the time we got back on the water it was too late. The good news was we did find some fish busting bait in shallow water which was a good sign of things to come.

Down Deep

Went out this afternoon in hopes of fishing decent fish. I actually did find them, but they were deep, between 25-30' and hugging the bottom which made it tough to get my fly down to them. There were a few trollers picking up fish, but it was kinda slow for them from what I could see. There was more bait toward the main stem of the bay and on the western shore tonight. I did pick up a few few dinks at sunset, but not much happening at all.

Miami: Trip 2

Well, I had another "business" trip the last few days in South Beach and managed to get some fishing in while I was down there. Day 1 was only a half day so we stayed close by and hit several flats (same flats I fished last week for the most part). I had a good day catching a dozen bonefish (used a crab pattern) and had several more break me off on the bottom. The conditions were much better this week and my ability to see the fish also improved a bunch. The second day was a tarpon day. We set up along the outer bank and waited for the fish to move. And boy did they. We saw singles, doubles and two schools that had over 50 fish, in all I saw well over a 100 fish. If you have never fished for tarpon, you have no idea the excitement you get seeing a 6 foot long submarine coming your way...it's way cool. I never landed one, but managed to hook up on three (used a worm fly). The show they put on is unbelievable. The guide said two were between 100-125 lbs and one was close to 150. One jumped several times and swam right at us (I couldn't keep up) and the other ones just came un-bottoned. After all day on the water I went back to the hotel and prepared for my night trip which started at 10:30 and ended at 5:00am. We started off using top water for snook and I had several blow ups, but they didn't connect. Since the tide wasn't running enough we went looking for tarpon under the lights. This was both an amazing sight and very frustrating. We saw another 100+ fish, mostly in the 60-90 lb range. They would just swim back and forth along the shadow line slurping shrimp (only 20 feet from us). We were both casting shrimp after shrimp, but not one even looked at the bait. I even hit one on his nose, but got no reaction. So, I'm still waiting to land my first tarpon, but this trip I saw so many (not all in casting range) and have a much better feel for what it takes to get one to bite. My next trip will be the one!!

Miami: Trip 1

I recently returned from my first of two "business" trips to Miami. I managed to fish a few days this go around with mixed results. The first two days brought 20+ knots of wind and a tide that was working against us. To say the least, it was tough fishing in a flats boat and resulted in no fish. I managed to cast to several Bones and saw a few Tarpon but it just didn't happen. Day three was a different story. We found several Bones and Permits on the flats in the am, but with a friend who came along it made casting to the fish a bit challenging. They were super spooky and tough to see with a bit of chop (at least for me). I did manage one bone (around 7 lbs) and saw several Tarpon migrating north but we couldn't get any of them to bite. We then made our way into Biscayne Bay and had plenty of Jacks, Groupers, Snappers and even a few sharks. The highlight was a 140-150lb Tarpon my buddy caught which took about two hours to land. It was an amazing site and certainly the biggest inshore fish I've seen caught. The trip was a good start to getting a Florida Grand Slam (Tarpon, Bone Fish and Permit). I saw some crazy stuff down there including a 35' foot boat (loaded with kids) get detached from a Ford Explorer (way undersized vehicle for the boat) go rolling down the ramp at 15 MPH and slam into the water then the dock. Our guess was they were using a smaller ball then the trailer required, lucky no one was hurt. Can't wait to try it again next week!!!

CCA Tournament

We had perfect weather for this weekend's tournament, but the fish were tough to find. Went out with my buddy R&R and covered a lot of water looking for good fish. I started off catching a lot of dinks at first light. but nothing of legal size. We then moved south, then further south and even further south. We ended up catching maybe another 25-30 fish, but they were all small. There was only one location all day that produced quality fish. Unfortunately, we were very close earlier in the day but decided to move before it turned on. Most guys only caught 1-2 fish the entire day. The best part of the trip was finding a few new fishing locations that should be outstanding spots, especially this Fall.

Last minute Pre-Tournament Trip

I was hoping to get our earlier today to check out a couple spots before the Captain's meeting for the CCA tournament, but it was blowing AGAIN. The wind finally did laid down enough for me to get out for an hour after the meeting. Found plenty of bait and fish, but they were all "super dinks". I spoke to several guys earlier and most people either didn't catch anything today or only dinks. Can't say I'm dialed in for tomorrow, but at least I now have a game plan.