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!

"Treat" of the Week

This week I bring to you another installment of... More memorable moments. These moments are "firsts." These past years have been full of firsts, and these are just a couple of pictures that captured some of my "first" moments.

First Barracuda On the Fly

First Peacock Bass On the Fly

First Sunrise in Alaska

First Condor Sighting in Chile

First Brown Trout in Chile

Patch Man Do Fishing Report

The next couple of pictures are documentation of a few fishing trips while working on the Patch Man Do. I got to give the Nomad Net a good workout hauling up a couple of large Red Grouper. It handled the test. The following pictures are of a small bonefish, a couple of porgy's, red grouper, and a pretty big barracuda. We caught lots of other fish, and some bigger fish, but when you are busy it's hard to get pictures taken of everything. Especially the spotted moray eel we caught... That thing was so ugly looking. 

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 Extravaganza!

Sorry for the delay in posts but Kirk and I had an exciting day of fishing! We started it off by hitting the flats in a pair of Kayaks searching for tarpon, bonefish, or whatever else we could find! We ended up catching a bunch of barracuda and Kirk had 3 baby tarpon eat but couldn't stay connected... Then we went and hit up the canals for an evening of peacock bass fishing! Check out the video I put together and stay tuned for some more pictures and action as Kirk continues to fish his brains out! Enjoy!

Airport Flat!

Today I finally had a real day off. No working as a mate, no traveling to Nashville for a wedding. It was truly just a day off to relax kick back... and hit the flats. I went to what the local guides refer to as the "airport flat," and as I'm figuring out here nothing is what your mind leads you to believe. The flat was rocky and weedy and because of the low sun and the wind I couldn't see a fish to save my life. Danielle was out there with me to help take pictures, soak up the sun, and grab my fly boxes to help pick out new flies. I went the first hour or so just blind casting to nothing, then I walked up on this shipwreck you see in the picture below and on my way I threw a blind cast hooking into what I can only assume to be a bonefish or a big fish because it went for a ruuuuuuun, but unfortunately I lost it. After that I hooked about a dozen barracuda and landed 5. Below are two of the smaller ones, I lost a ton of flies holding them up for pictures and having them shake their head and sever the line right in half. 

Today was awesome. I didn't land the big one, but that's what keeps us all fishing "the big one that got away." I did see a sizable shark by sizable I mean between 3 and 5 feet long which was crazy because I didn't see it until it was 10 feet away from us and it saw us and bolted.. Still awesome, saltwater fishing is crazy but I'm learning to love it. Time to tie up some flies to make up for all the ones I lost today to the razor sharp 'cuda teeth.