Colorado Photo Submission

Eric Norman thought we needed a little fresh water love back on the blog so he sent us this hog. His buddy sent him this picture from the Blue River in Colorado. I've wanted to fish it and I looked down on it from 10,000 feet this summer... If I'd only known that hogs like this were in there.

Well thanks again Eric and I look forward to seeing what you guys were able to find in Ohio this fall. Wishing you luck from Florida and looking forward to seeing a couple of rack bucks here soon! 

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! 

Everglades Fishing Report: Backcountry Grand Slam!

I'll admit heading to the everglades and fly fishing the back country with 20-25mph winds didn't exactly excite me like it should have going into this trip. But, with wonderful advice: "you can sleep when you are dead," I set off for Flamingo at 6am. Surprisingly enough it seemed calm, excitement growing. 

When we arrived in at the boat launch it was like a scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Birds." There were vultures and seagulls everywhere and they were seemingly hovering right above our heads waiting for the right moment to peck out our eyes... (Apparently they are a problem there?) That thought quickly left my mind as we raced across whitewater bay and into some intricate interconnected mangrove channels. This place is a maze of epic proportions. When I was in Alaska I though the lakes and rivers were complicated but at least we could use elevation as a place marker or a guide that you are in the right place. Out here if you don't have a GPS you are screwed. Oh hey, that clump of mangroves looks like that patch we passed an our ago but it also looks exactly the same as... yes... every other patch of mangroves in this area! 

When we finally popped out somewhere in Hells Bay we were immediately on fish but it was sporadic. We would get a flurry of 5 or 6 snook and then nothing. For just about long enough to lull you to sleep and then another one would try to rip the rod out of your hand. This went on for most of the day until we hit this stretch where there must have been hundreds of snook just lining this cut, because it was all I could do to release one and get my fly back in the water. It was literally two straight hours of catching 14-24 inch snook, all on the same fly, all in the same 300 yards of water. It was insane, it was BY FAR the most action I've seen on a fly rod since I've moved down here. To top that off in the midst of the chaos I landed my biggest red fish to date on a fly rod. As well as two mangrove snapper, and a lady fish. All in all I'm sure I landed 25 snook and that is a modest estimate... 

On our way back to the ramp to end our day my luck found a way to have another positive twist! Tarpon started boiling everywhere on glass minnows. Holy shit! Several casts later I had the silver king doing a tail walk across the water right in front of me. Granted it was only a 4 pounder instead of a 104 pounder, but I'll take it! A couple more tarpon in the boat made me one happy fella. After all it's not every day I get to go out and land the backcountry grand slam... Tarpon, Snook, and a Red Fish. 

First Tarpon on the Fly!

The smallest tarpon I landed... haha awesome. 

The only fly I used ALL day. It caught everyone of my fish. It's a little worse off then it started but boy was it productive.

Big snook of the day!

The Red Fish that completed my Grand Slam!

Spruce Creek (10/17/2012)

October 17th, 2012 I visited Spruce Creek for the first time in about three weeks and had a great time hooking into a few good rainbow trout.  It was a beautiful day and the wind was extremely calm which allowed for a tangle free nymphing day.  A few days earlier, I went to another stream and the wind was blowing hard and it seemed like every other cast I was hooking into fallen leaves that were getting swept down the stream.  I can only imagine the difficulty that the fish were having seeing any type of aquatic insect to feed on.  Both days produced a nice tan caddis hatch but the only time that I saw fish feeding on top was on Spruce Creek where there was minimal debris in the water.    

Below are a few photographs posted from my recent trip to Spruce Creek!  I hooked into a much larger rainbow that took me under two branches and snapped me off.  Life will go on!

Enjoy!

Tarpon Photo Submission

Captain Chris White sent me this photo holding up a 30 pound tarpon that he caught near Flamingo this past weekend. He sent me this as a way to make me jealous as I still haven't caught a tarpon on the fly... Well it worked Chris I'm jealous.. When are we fishing?

South Platte Photo Submission

This weeks user submission comes to us from Will Torres. By the sounds of it Will has been spending this summer chasing trout on the South Platte River. Now that fall has arrived he is just as excited as I am to start getting into some seriously hungry fish. Well thanks Will for the pictures and keep us in the loop if you have any new pics to share! 

Fall fly fishing out on all areas of the South Platte River is my favorite time of the year to catch some nice trout! I caught these browns all in the Deckers area on #20 BWO. I have had good trips all summer long out on the Platte just been waiting for fall and now its here and I'm making my trips up to lip every sipping trout I get!

Reminder: Catch Magazine is Awesome!

In case any of you needed reminded. Catch Magazine is by far and away the best fly fishing magazine out there. Fantastic camera work, good stories a new movie every month. It's just really, really good, entertaining stuff. For this, their premiere publication for their new calendar year they threw in a FREE cover photo for everyone to enjoy. So I'm sharing it with you. Check out the magazine, for $12 a year you cannot beat it. 

Catch Magazine

New Job + After Hours Snook Fishing = Great Success

I started my new job this week. It's a pretty fantastic new job. I will be working as the first mate/deckhand on a 64 foot Spencer Yacht custom sport fish. I work directly under Chris White who has been working in this industry since he was 12, well getting paid since he was 12.. The boat the "Sweet Release" is an immaculately maintained yacht and my first day we got to put it in the water and give her a test run. Followed by a serious cleaning, that is a lot of boat to clean.. I look forward to learning a ton of information from this job as well as getting a couple days a week on the water catching fish learning the trade and just becoming a more well rounded fisherman. 

The best part about the new job.. Chris likes to fish as much as I do. So after a full day of running, washing, and drying the boat it was time to chase some snook. And chase some snook we did... 

SUCCESS - suc·cess/səkˈses/

Noun: 1. The accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
           2. The attainment of popularity or profit.

"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

Alpine Fishing: Slate Creek

As some of you may know by now I was away in Colorado for the past week and a half chasing elk around the Eagles Nest Wilderness of Summit County. While the elk hunting wasn't a complete success it did allow me to spend some time chasing another illusive species that I had been craving, wild mountain trout. The watershed we fished was approximately 8,500- 9,000 feet above sea level. A small difference from the 16 feet of elevation I currently live at.. Slate Creek gets legs from Upper Slate Lake (12,000 Feet above sea level) and flows through the Slate Creek Valley, which happened to be within walking distance (3 miles) from our hunting camp. 

We decided after one of our longer, more excruciating excursions into the wilderness that it was time for a break and to see if we couldn't catch a couple fish. It was exactly what we needed, the fishing was excellent the weather broke, and you couldn't imagine a more pristine backdrop. The three mile hike in seems like nothing when I finally was able to break my troutless streak. 

Lucky for the photographs the Brooke Trout were beginning their spawning cycle and boy were the colors vibrant. Bright sunrise orange bellies with dark black mouths brought me back to Alaska and their cousins Dolly Varden. It truly was a trip to remember and this little fishing trip in the middle of it was just the tip of the iceberg. 

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. 

Spruce Creek (08/25 - 08/27)

This past week I spent several nights fishing Spruce Creek.  The temperatures weren't extremely warm so Jeff Scipione and I decided we would go and check out the big fish that lurk in Spruce Creek.  We did very well fishing inch-worms, stoneflies and slumpbusters once the sun went down.  It was a lot of fun and we caught several fish near or around the 20 inch mark.  Two of the fish that I hooked into the first night were ones that I will be going back for because I didn't get a chance to land them.  One was a huge rainbow that I've caught once before on a pheasant tail earlier this year and the other was a massive brown that I've never seen before.  Needless to say it lies at the top of my most wanted fish to hook into!!

The craziest thing was, right before the rain shower and thunderstorm the trout went into a feeding frenzy.  It was like a switch went on, unfortunately we didn't get to fish it through because we had to get out of the water once the storm rolled in.  I'm sure the fish continued to feed voraciously, but we didn't want to get struck by lightning!

Enjoy some of the pictures that we've compiled over the last few adventures on the public section of Spruce Creek!