Fishin' with the Fam

Earlier this month my dad, brother, and cousin came down for a little fun in the sun and also to wet a line on the new boat. Well we successfully completed both of their goals and landed a couple fish to top it off. Below is a photo montage of the boys and some of their fish. Enjoy!

Mahi-Mahi

Well there isn't a fly fishing story involved here, but it doesn't make it any less awesome! Caught this 20 pound brute the other day! Then I followed that up on Tuesday with TWO sailfish! (No good pictures..) Yes this is what I do as my part time job... Hopefully the good fishing continues! 

Baby Tarpon in Flamingo

There are a couple of things in life I will rarely pass up on.. One of those is an opportunity to chase big fish with a fly rod. So when Captain Chris White asked me if I wanted to head to Flamingo to try to catch some baby tarpon I was more than willing.

Flamingo is a small little "town" inside the Everglades National Park. The town consists of a couple boat ramps, a little boat rental place, and a food trailer that is only open sometimes... So town may be a large over statement.

Regardless, the fishing there is pretty unreal. It's the opposite of the Atlantic side. The water is murky, sometimes muddy. There are huge, expansive channels bordered by thin, widespread flats. Here you can find snook, redfish, lady fish, sea trout, tarpon, and tons of other cool fish. I was specifically here this day in hopes of feeling a tarpon on the end of my life for the first time, but I would, as always, settle for anything eating my fly. 

The day started off slowly and I found myself switching flies pretty regularly until I settled on this bright orange, krystal flash looking fella I tied up myself shortly after arriving in Florida. (I'll show you all what it looks like sometime...) I don't know if it was the fly (I think it was) or if it was the tide (Chris thinks it was) but all of a sudden we started seeing a little more activity and before I knew it I had a split second hook up with a 10 pounder. He exploded out of nowhere crushed the fly and I trout set him out of sheer surprise... Chalk 1 up for the tarpon. Several more flashes later I was still blanked on these little guys. My next and final hookup was on a pretty solid tarpon that just inhaled the fly I strip set the hell out of him and he bolted straight at me! I caught up to him just in time for a little bit of tail walking, but that was all I got. He smiled, gave me the middle fin, and swam away. Now I took some pictures of this trip but I no longer have that piece of technology... But that's another story for another day. 

http://fishingtheworldover.com/

Bonefish Submission

Captain Darrick Parker sent me this photo of a nice 6-7 Pound bonefish caught in the flats right outside off the coast of the Ocean Reef Club. Shown here is Abbey Kissel Hallingby with her biggest bonefish ever. She looks pretty pumped, but I lets be honest I would too if I caught a huge bonefish like this. 

Hey there Isaac...

Well it's officially Florida living I guess.. Today we are being evacuated from the Florida Keys. Tomorrow into Monday this nasty little storm is going to cruise it's way up the keys bringing some flash flooding, gale force winds, and some serious thunderstorms, not to mention the possible tornado or two, OH MY! I guess it's all part of southern living, but you'd think that these people would be used to it by now. I was in the grocery store yesterday and people are panicking already?? We haven't even had a thunderstorm yet.. You have time people. I mean it's not like I'm not preparing myself I have 5 cases of water but I'm not freaking out, I guess maybe it's because I haven't seen a thund-herr-hurricane since I've been here and maybe it'll be different when it's all said and done. Maybe I'm just being optimistically pessimistic about the size of this potential storm. Either way I think it's only fitting that I finish my initiation into South Florida living with a hurricane in the same week I landed my first bonefish on the fly. If only everyone could be as lucky as me. Who knows what's going to happen let's at least hope for the best. But, if you don't hear from me for a few days it's probably because this asshole Isaac knocked out our power. 

My First Bonefish on the Fly!

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to go out and fish the flats to chase some tailing bonefish. Okay wait let's preface this story with some details.

I was in the Orvis store this week and one the flats captains walk in, James Koch, he had been out bonefishing the last two days with the same client. They had been seeing tons of tailing fish but were unable to connect with any.. He was a little frustrated so he asked me if I would go with him before work really early in the morning. "Be off the docks at 6:30 at the latest," I told him I would be there at 6:15. 

Of course I wasn't going to hesitate. I haven't had any real opportunities to chase bones yet so I wasn't going to pass. Now the weather just had to cooperate and we were golden. 

5:30 am we check the weather. Confirmed a go I showered and left my house. Arrive at dock 6:17... two minutes late. 



Imagine if you will the sun rising over the ocean. Just enough light to see and barely a breath of wind on the water. Just enough wind to break up the silhouette of the boat without hindering a cast at all. The sun starts peaking up over the horizon and we start poling the flats. I have to fight not to cast at a needle fish I am so excited...

I kid you not we are maybe there for 20 minutes and I see my first tail. James poles over to it slowly and a few more pop up. The next few seconds feel like an eternity I shoot a cast out in front of them it's a short cast really maybe only like 40 feet. I drop it at 30... too short. Recast closer but still too short.. I'm starting to panic a little, I reach back and just drop one in about 3 feet in front of my last cast and right on length wise. "STRIP, STRIP, STRIP!" FISH ON!! BOOOM that thing just explodes line out, I'm doing all I can not to wrap it around the rod, reel, my feet hands, all the experience I have with big fish melts in front of me as this 6 pound bone fish tears off 200 feet of line in 5-6 seconds. It's on, I can celebrate making it through the most difficult part. I look at James and he says to me "I never really do breathe while all of that is going on." Me either. Several minutes later it is such a relief when that fish is up to boat for a good photo opp where I can "Grip and Grin" with the best of them. 

I had two more good shots at bones this morning. The first I spooked, just didn't lead them quite enough. The second which was a way better shot, I hooked into. When it took off I had almost all the line out, it circled and it ran right back at me. I stripped it tight only to have it take off again! I was all but in the clear when I put just a little too much pressure on the last 6 inches of line and it jumped up and wrapped the butt section of my rod. It about broke my heart. But, I guess that's why we get the itch. If you land all of them why would you keep fishing for them. It's the challenge we want. A wise man once told me "If fly fishing was easy, nobody would do it."

Special thanks for Captain James Koch. A fantastic, knowledgable, easy going, experienced flats guide. I highly recommend fishing with him if you get the chance and are down our way. If you want to fish with him you can either ask me or call the charter desk at 305-367-2227 ext. 2! Thanks James!

Afternoon Kayak Trip

Yesterday I took the kayak out after work in search of something.. It had been a few days since I wet a fly line and I was seriously getting the itch. I decided I was going to head out after work, I packed my bag, threw in an extra water bottle, and made sure my camera was charged. 

First, let me be clear that I am in no way an Olympic kayaker. It takes me quite a bit of time and sweat to navigate long distances in these little plastic boats. 

I spent the majority of the first hour chasing around a couple of larger barracuda just trying to get the skunk off. No luck. 

I finally took off up a creek in search of something, a bonefish, a tarpon, a crab? I didn't care I just needed to feel a pull on the end of my line. It took me about 45 minutes of straight rowing until I got to where I thought I needed to go (I went to the wrong spot). I paddled in slowly, tons of bait fish swimming all around me. I was starting to get excited. I was easing in deep into these mangroves and deep into the creek when I spotted a tail. I unhooked the fly, stripped out enough line to make the presentation, shot the cast, landed it softly, waited, waited, strip, strip, strip, strip.... Nothing. Repeat. Nothing. Switch flies, readjust kayak, repeat. Nothing. 


2 minutes later a 4 foot nurse shark cruises right up my kayak in about 10 inches of water. Looks right at me smiles and gives me the middle fin. 

The only thing I ended up hooking that day was a rather large blue crab that was very aggressively into my 1/0 chartreuse deceiver. 

Back to the drawing board. I got a new hot spot I'll check out sometime next week I'm sure. 

Tripletail Submission

The guys from the Mr. Nice charter operation landed this monster Tripletail on a fishing charter this past week. Naturally, I was intrigued because I had never really heard of a Tripletail let alone really expected it to look like this! Capt. Tripp Walker explained that this time of the year if they can find some flotsam (any large floating debris) they can usually find some Tripletail! This is an exceptionally large one considering they grow "up to 41lbs" and this hog was pushing 30. 

Other interesting facts about Tripletail.

- The name "tripletail" is given because of the fish's three rounded fins: dorsal, caudal, and anal.

- Tripletail are well known for their unusual behavior of floating just beneath the surface with one side exposed, mimicking a leaf or floating debris.

Patch Man Do Fishing Trip!

Recently, Danielle and I had the opportunity to go out and spend a day on the Patch Man Do together. Captain John had heard that maybe there were some Pompano running through the area and he wanted to check it out to see if we could find them. Of course who am I to turn down a day on the open water... Luckily, Danielle was off from work as well and I could finally get her on a boat! We had a blast out there catching all sorts of fish... unfortunately none of which were pompano. I also happened to land my first bonefish.. Who needs to be in the flats? 

Species the Patch Man Do found for us this trip included:

Bonefish
Hogfish
Black Groupe
Mangrove Snapper
Yellowtail
Lemon Shark
Porgy
Cubera Snapper
Blue Runner
White Grunt

If you want to see more check out this short video and some pictures from our trip on the patch man do!!

 Patch Man Do 
**There is some graphic material in this video


**It should be made clear that in the video Captain John removed the head of the shark to bleed the fish out. If you don't bleed the fish the urine that is in the blood stream will spoil the meat. So since we were keeping the animal for dinner it was essential we didn't allow the meat to spoil. 

Blacktip Shark!

We went out fishing with John Wambolt who is the Captain of the Patch Man Do in Key Largo, Florida.  The entire day was filled with excitement, constant banter and laughter.  Going into the day I wasn't sure how much fun we were going to have fishing the patch reefs, but it turned out to be an extremely memorable day out on the ocean!  

    Blacktip Shark Video!

Click on the link above to watch the video of the fight that Brian had with the 30-pound blacktip shark.  Although we hooked into a bunch of sharks, this is the only one that we landed onto the boat.  We hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed fishing on the Patch Man Do!

Patch Man Do
John Wamboldt (Owner) 
Reef Fishing (305) 522-4787

Captain John began fishing in Long Island Sound 20 years ago for stripers, bluefish, and flounder and moved on to offshore yellowfin and bluefin Tuna fishing. In Rhode Island, he was a mate on the Thunderfish, an offshore shark boat fishing for Mako and Tiger sharks. He moved to South Florida 6 years ago and worked aboard the War Bird as a mate before becoming the owner/operator of the Patch Man Do, a Reef Fishing boat. Captain John can take you to the patch reefs for snapper, grouper, and barracuda as well as a large assortment of other species.

Kirk's Heading Home

Unfortunately we didn't make our goal of landing a tarpon to add to the blog. My two days off work this week were completely rained/blown out. We had our chances at landing big fish but we just couldn't connect when the opportunity was presented. It brings me back to the first time I had an opportunity on that 2 foot 5 pound rainbow, I blew a golden opportunity then and I blew it this week with Kirk. That's okay though, it's the missed opportunities that make you try harder, it's the failures that teach you things. That being said, it would be nice to get a little positive reinforcement from time to time. But I am convinced those opportunities will come, I just need to put my time in. Next time Kirk comes to visit we will be well prepared to hammer some baby tarpon and whatever else South Florida has to offer.

For all of you missing your trout updates have no fear I'm sure Kirk will be back on Spring Creek in no time catching fish, flipping rocks, and name dropping. As for myself, it's back to the drawing board with techniques and patterns... I'm going super heavy jig style for the snook and peacocks of the canal fishery, and going brighter and medium weight for the tarpon. I want them to think I am dangling a nice wounded pilchard right in front of their face.

Patch Man Do Part 1

Yesterday work was winding down to an early close for me and Captain John Wambolt walks in and we started talking fishing. Well one thing lead to another and we were trying to plan a trip to go off shore on his boat to do a little patch reef fishing. Kirk was out helping him on his boat when John just asked "hey, you guys want to go out today?" I responded "Can we go in 30 minutes when I'm done with work?"

Next thing you know we're gassing up the boat and heading out in search of whatever the reefs may hold. Six hours and 9 species later we were hauling up the last and biggest catch of the day a 30 lb black tip reef shark. But that's a story for later...


Species we landed:

Black Tip Reef Shark
Sailor's Choice
White Grunt
Black Grouper
Barracuda
Cero Mackerel
Yellowtail 
Ballyhoo
Porgy


We may have had a larger mutton snapper on as well but the barracuda were causing a serious problem in that regard. Check out a couple of pictures and check back later for the video of the big shark!

Flats fishing update

Kirk was out again on the flats today. I sent him down to Islamorada, to Anne's Beach. It's not really a beach but at low tide the flat is exposed so it looks kinda beachy... For the Keys anyway. Anyway he was into the 'cudas again but couldn't find any tarpon or bonefish. He doesn't seem discouraged, but with these views who could be really too disappointed. 

Day 2 in the Keys

Day two of fishing in Florida has just come to an end and it's been quite an experience.  I was out for several hours today and had a ton of barracuda chase the various flies I was slinging.  Most of my fishing was done today throughout the low tide and I wasn't lucky enough to get another chance at hooking up with baby tarpon as I had the previous day.  Then suddenly behind me I heard a tail slap on the surface of the water to turn and see a 2-foot Nurse shark surveying it's new visitor.  It didn't get too close but I had my rod ready just in case I needed to pop in in the head with the butt of my rod.  Another neat thing that I got to experience was a boisterous Osprey perched atop an abandoned ships mast while I was casting to it's neighbors lurking amidst the mangroves.  Finally it took off into the distance and I thought it was time for me to head back to cool off for the afternoon.   

Once I picked up Brian from work, we headed to another canal to try out luck and only fished for about a half an hour as we heard the grumbling of a brewing storm.  One positive note before we were chased away we found a new area that had a lot of swirling fish chasing various bait fish.  Before we could venture further away from the parking lot the lightning began and we felt the wind start to pick up significantly.  Stay tuned for my updates, maybe a tarpon is around the corner! One more week of fishing in the Keys!

Here are a few samples of the fish that I hooked up with today!  

Florida Keys Here I Come!

I booked my trip to Key Largo about a month ago and it has been consuming a lot of my attention the last few weeks!  I've been talking to Brian a lot about whats been going on down in Key Largo since he made the move down there.  He's had a lot of fun getting to know the water so I thought it seemed fitting that I would assist in this learning process.  Needless to say I leave State College, Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning and will be spending the next 9 days doing nothing but fly-fishing the flats of Key Largo.


Last year I visited Key West and hooked into a few jacks and a big shark but I'm looking forward to catching whatever will agree to ferociously attack any of my fly imitations!  I'm sure we will be spending a lot of nights reviewing GoPro footage and pictures that we take!


Here is another picture that one of my friends sent me from Key West.  His name is Nick Rohrbach and he works for a fishing charter boat that always gets into good fish!  He sent me this picture of a great fly-fishing guide and another picture from his boat of an estimated 1,300 pound fish!  Check them out!