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Venice - Snook Alley - April 15th, 2007 |
RECORDED: 
62 °
FISHING: Great
APRIL 14, 2007
I had a great time yesterday! Again!
Bill Brindel and his buddy, Al Parillo, are down from upstate New York for a week and decided to take a half-day charter. What a hoot!
Bill’s an electrical contractor with a dry sense of humor that sometimes made me do a double-take. And Al’s a Sicilian who makes gloves for the US military and loves my Guisseppe & Luigi jokes. What could be better than that?
Catching fish? Yeah, we (they) did plenty of THAT, too. Al really laid it on (and I got in a couple of funny shots, too) when Bill landed a two-inch snapper and a four-inch lizardfish. They both got into a bunch of healthy ladyfish, though.
Unfortunately, the redfish we saw were pretty spooky and wouldn’t eat.
I took John De Muth, his son, John, and his son-in-law, Mark, on a real excursion Thursday morning. We started off looking for reds (zip), went up to Grassy for Spanish (more zip!), and finally worked back inside where they landed a lot of trout and ladies and some lizards.
Nice guys. Lots of laughs.
The night before, Brad Hardin and HIS son-in-law joined me for night snook. Lots of fish. Several hookups. No Kodak Moments! It’s just been that kind of wacky season under the lights. A total flip-flop from last year.
Earlier in the week,Dean Morton, his dad Chuck, and HIS brother-in-law, Ray Larned spent the day with me and we had a ball. Laughed all day.
Ironically, I grew up in Niles, Ohio. They grew up in Niles, Michigan. The same small town only in different states. Know what I mean?
Dean lives in Boulder now, working in the computer biz. Chuck, who’s been coming down to Venice with his family for nearly 40 years, still lives in Niles. “Never been anyplace else,” he said, “except for my time in service.”
Ray, who dabbled as an outfielder and pitcher at Western Michigan for a couple of years, eventually got a degree in education and just retired from the Saline (MI) School District.
OK. So much for the background bios.
Bottom line: We went outside and didn’t find any mackerel that wanted to play. And I mean to tell you I marked HUNDREDS of fish on the Garmin 172C!
Feeling somewhat miffed, we motored back inside the Venice Jetty and went looking for redfish. Nope.
OK. I can take a hint.
Off we went toward Little Sarasota Bay.
No, it did not disappoint us.
Dean caught the first fish. And the second. Maybe even the third. Yeah, I’m pretty positive he caught the third one, too, because about that time he started jabbing Old Dad pretty good. And I helped.
Ray caught a couple of fish about that time, and he and Dean really started unloading on Old Dad. And I helped.
Actually, it got to the point where I kept changing Chuck’s jig in the hope he’d finally land a fish. He did. A lizardfish. About 4 inches long.
It flopped back into the water before I could get a photo, but I DID snap one when Chuck was unhooking another “lizard” maybe 5 inches long.
“Did you catch that fish or snag it?” Dean yelled. Ray laughed. I took pictures. Chuck swore at me. He was just kidding, though. I think.
Actually, the fellas did a pretty good job of catching some decent spotted sea trout and a few hefty ladyfish before the phone rang. It was Capt. Mark.
He’d finished his morning trip and was back home watching the weather channel. and called to tell me there was a band of heavy weather moving through Sarasota.
Thanks, Mark!
We fished a bit longer and got a few more fish on the jigs I’d tied. They have a white head, two white hackle feathers on each side, and some pearl estaz for the “body.”
I tie the same pattern, but add some olive Polar Fiber for going “outside” after Spanish, Kings, and bonito. It’s merely a spin-fishing adaptation of the flies I tie.
Anyway, we caught a few more fish and the phone rang again. Kate.
“This is weather-central with an update,” she said. “You’re gonna get dumped on within 30 minutes.”
OK. “Let’s fish one more drift,” I said. Then the raindrops started falling on our heads and I pulled the plug.
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Venice - Snook Alley - April 10th, 2007 |
RECORDED: 
66 °
FISHING: Great
APRIL 10, 2007
I had a great time yesterday!
Dean Morton, his dad Chuck, and HIS brother-in-law, Ray Larned spent the day with me and we had a ball. Laughed all day.
Ironically, I grew up in Niles, Ohio. They grew up in Niles, Michigan. The same small town only in different states. Know what I mean?
Dean lives in Boulder now, working in the computer biz. Chuck, who’s been coming down to Venice with his family for nearly 40 years, still lives in Niles. “Never been anyplace else,” he said, “except for my time in service.”
Ray, who dabbled as an outfielder and pitcher at Western Michigan for a couple of years, eventually got a degree in education and just retired from the Saline (MI) School District.
OK. So much for the background bios.
Bottom line: We went outside and didn’t find any mackerel that wanted to play. And I mean to tell you I marked HUNDREDS of fish on the Garmin 172C!
Feeling somewhat miffed, we motored back inside the Venice Jetty and went looking for redfish. Nope.
OK. I can take a hint.
Off we went toward Little Sarasota Bay.
No, it did not disappoint us.
Dean caught the first fish. And the second. Maybe even the third. Yeah, I’m pretty positive he caught the third one, too, because about that time he started jabbing Old Dad pretty good. And I helped.
Ray caught a couple of fish about that time, and he and Dean really started unloading on Old Dad. And I helped.
Actually, it got to the point where I kept changing Chuck’s jig in the hope he’d finally land a fish. He did. A lizardfish. About 4 inches long.
It flopped back into the water before I could get a photo, but I DID snap one when Chuck was unhooking another “lizard” maybe 5 inches long.
“Did you catch that fish or snag it?” Dean yelled. Ray laughed. I took pictures. Chuck swore at me. He was just kidding, though. I think.
Actually, the fellas did a pretty good job of catching some decent spotted sea trout and a few hefty ladyfish before the phone rang. It was Capt. Mark.
He’d finished his morning trip and was back home watching the weather channel. and called to tell me there was a band of heavy weather moving through Sarasota.
Thanks, Mark!
We fished a bit longer and got a few more fish on the jigs I’d tied. They have a white head, two white hackle feathers on each side, and some pearl estaz for the “body.”
I tie the same pattern, but add some olive Polar Fiber for going “outside” after Spanish, Kings, and bonito. It’s merely a spin-fishing adaptation of the flies I tie.
Anyway, we caught a few more fish and the phone rang again. Kate.
“This is weather-central with an update,” she said. “You’re gonna get dumped on within 30 minutes.”
OK. “Let’s fish one more drift,” I said. Then the raindrops started falling on our heads and I pulled the plug.
Dang iff’n it hain’t been a-rainin’ ever since! In fact, I called Buck Levy—who was supposed to fish night-snook with me this evening—and told him to forget driving up from Captiva. Good thing. It’s 5:15 and still raining. And a couple of hours ago it was as black as night outside, and the rain was coming down summertime-hard.
Next time, Buck. Next time!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Lemon Bay - April 3rd, 2007 |
RECORDED: 
80 °
FISHING: Good
APRIL 2, 2007
FLORIDA
The Bernhard Family—Ted, Judy, and Bob—are safely ensconced once again in Chicago (Ted and Judy) and Fort Lauderdale (Bob) after three days of crashing around the nearshore and backcountry of southwest Florida.
Ted was the raffle winner of a fishing package I had worked out two years ago with the DuPage River Fly Tyers (DRIFT), and we made it a truly memorable three days.
We hit Gasparilla Sound last Wednesday (March 28) and after some casting instruction both Ted and Judy promptly got into ladyfish and trout. Quite a few ladyfish and trout!
Finally, Judy pointed to her watch and made it abundantly clear that it was time for chow. That meant a run south through Charlotte Harbor to the restaurant on Cabbage Key.
This place is a dark and always crowded, with walls and ceilings covered by an estimated 70,000 US dollar bills. Yep. Complete with names and sentiments written all over them in black magic-marker. But you also can eat your burgers or mahi sandwiches on the patio that overlooks the dockage. Which we did.
There’s a small gift shop down at the dock, plus motel rooms and cottages for rent (two night minimum) beginning at $99. Naturally, Judy wandered off to the gift shop while we waited for lunch. She came back empty-handed, though, proclaiming “nothing I can’t live without.”
Judy slept in Thursday morning, allowing Ted’s old business partner, Skip Shaffer, to drive up from North Fort Myers and join us for a morning in the Gulf outside Stump Pass.
The guys had lots of laughs hooking small snapper, lizardfish, and a Sea Robin—which is a fish with legs and wings. Honest. You could look it up!
Skip finally caught several Spanish mackerel before we headed back to for a siesta before taking Ted, Judy and son Bob night snooking.
I’ve gotta tell you, this season’s night snook action is a far, far cry from what I wrote about for Fly Fisherman magazine. It’s been TOUGH!
Last year, we couldn’t keep the fish from jumping into the boat. This year it’s been a great night if we boated a half-dozen. At least Bob hooked, played, and landed a 24-incher that went about four pounds.
Friday found us looking for baby tarpon in the Myakka River. Yes, we found them. No, we couldn’t hook up. Plenty of 25-pounders rolling, but always just thatmuch out of shooting range!
I put the Hewes Redfisher back onto the trailer and we headed for Stump Pass and the Gulf once again. After a pleasant lunch at Marker 17 Restaurant and Grille, I’m happy to report that everyone caught Spanish mackerel and had a wonderful time on the water.
After two days of R&R I was back at it this morning—except the Spaniards refused to participate. Don Gasch did have a pretty good morning, though. He boated a hefty redfish in Dona Bay, and some ladyfish and bluefish in Little Sarasota Bay.
I’ve got trips the next several days with Bob Bowman, then Jim Rohrbacher, Dean Morton. Chryss Harrington, and Brad Hardin.
I’ll keep you posted on developments. Now it’s time to get up to Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters for our free fly tying class.
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
Ps—there’s a storm advisory calling for heavy snow in Deward the next couple of days. Good thing it’s a couple weeks till trout opener!
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Venice - Snook Alley - March 24th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
80 °
FISHING: Great
MARCH 24, 2007
Where, oh, WHERE are the baitfish?
That, my friends is the million-dollar question! Once it’s answered, holy hell is going to break loose on the nearshore Gulf of Mexico.
You see, we are absolutely loaded up with Spanish mackerel out there in 25 to 30 feet of water. They’re hugging the bottom, and thrashing around, and generally in a bad frame of mind.
Why?
Because the huge schools of baitfish that will (soon, I hope) turn the water off Casey Key, Manasota Key, and Venice Beach into a churning mass of body parts are still somewhere out in the Gulf.
Consorting with foreign senoritas? Maybe down ole’ Meyhico way? Perhaps, senor! Because they’re not around here. Yet. Which is driving all of us absolutely CRAZY with anticipation.
Every morning just after dawn several of my compadres and I blast out of the Venice Jetty and fan out north to Grassy Point or south to Casperson Rocks. Our eyes are lifted skyward, praying for the telltale giveaway of gulls and terns and pelicans smashing the water in a frenzied feast.
With but few exceptions—like the day I took the Brothers Ragone, Dominic and John, to The Rocks—we just haven’t had a full-blown Mac Attack.
For those of you who don’t catch the lingo, allow me to explain. Have you ever been on the bad end of a mortar attack? How ‘bout just a boyhood snowball fight when you were “It” and half the known world was “Them?”
Maybe something as simple as getting caught between the Sno-Cone truck and 79 third-graders from PS 122 on the last day of school.
Understand what I’m saying here? A Mac Attack is to be taken seriously. Verrrrrry seriously.
You guys from Up East know what I mean. The Bluefish Blitz? Sure, that’s it. That’s what we’ve been waiting for.
In other words, all-out war. Baitfish being slaughtered by the thousands by Spanish and King mackerel and Little Tunny while the birds gorge on the remains and anglers revel in the hookups.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about” John Ragone said that morning two weeks ago. I was trying to keep the brand new Redfisher 18 from nudging The Rocks just off the beach when John hooked up.
Then he hooked up again. And again. “Dom! Still wanna keep usin’ that fly rod? I’m already up on ya three-zip.” Dominic grunted and made a longer case.
“Make that four-zip, brother!”
Dominic finally got on the board, though, and then we headed inside for a looksee at reds and trout and ladyfish.
By the way. I haven’t Snope-d this, but I heard the fast-food joints now are using ladyfish for their fish sandwiches. A guy told me somebody found a way to pressure-cook the meat away from the bones. Then they shape it into a fish-stick and serve it up with tartar sauce and a side of pickle.
Anybody else heard that?
Geeze. I hope they don’t decimate the population of A Guide’s Best Friend. Lord knows, those Leapin’ Lenas saved my bacon a couple times just in the past week!
The Brothers Elsener (George and Jim) were down from Chicago and that certainly was the case. Ditto for Rod Hamilton and his wife, Kim Kompetitive.
In each case, we were zip-for-the-morning on Spanish, but look-out-brother on ladyfish. Kim was a real hoot.
“Got another one! Oh, god^%#@ it got away. Am I allowed to say that? It’s not very ladylike, is it?”
Well, it’s certainly “ladyfish-like.”
John Courtemanche and his son, Rod, fared a little better. Rod, at least, managed to dredge up a couple of Spanish before we tucked back inside and nailed some trout and ladies.
Jamie Lynch and his dad, Jack, had a non-stop morning in Little Sarasota Bay. Too bad Jamie’s 9-year-old daughter, Katie, decided to sleep in.
Especially when Our Favorite Dolphin—Freddie The Freeloader—came calling when we were idling near the Albee Bridge. “I’ve gotta get some pictures,” Jamie yelped. “She’ll really be upset that she didn’t see THIS.”
Jamie and Jack are both engineers from Pennsylvania. At least Jack WAS before retiring and moving to Gettysburg because of his infatuation with the American Civil War.
“After the second time my wife asked me what I was going to do the rest of the day and it was only 9:30 in the morning,” Jack said, “I went down and became a guide. I absolutely LOVE it.”
Jamie was still taking calls for pending construction projects, even as we were tooling our way home. “Sorry,” he said. “That’s OK, I replied. YOU keep working so then down the road I’LL keep working!”
Don Peterson was down—also from Pennsylvania—visiting his longtime pal Jim Cranos, who lives on Casey Key, and we headed off the beach last Friday.
They caught a rather mixed back of snapper and blue runners but no Spanish before we went inside and Don absolutely wore out his arm landing fish.
I was teasing them about the Report I was formulating in my head. “Yep, I can see it now,” I told them. “I’ll write about how two CFOs from a couple of huge Fortune 500 companies had this $100,000 bet on the first fish.
“And Jim won with a four-inch Lane snapper!”
I THINK they thought it was funny! Eh, guys?
Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers (FFF) banquet is tonight so I’d better scoot to get there on time.
BTW—my Hewes Bayfisher 16 is for sale. It’s in GREAT shape—looks darn-near like new, and does have a new steering linkage that just was installed last week.
Lots of extras like poling platform, stainless prop, windscreen/grab-rail, and more. An absolute steal at $9,750. Call me for a test drive!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Charlotte Harbor Area - March 11th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
76 °
FISHING: Great
MARCH 11, 2007
OHBOY, OHBOY, OHBOY! The water temperature in Gasparilla Bay was back up to 70 yesterday and some large trout and Leaping Lena (ladyfish) were anxious to take a fly I dubbed Petrella’s Whitebait.
Very immodest, I know. But isn’t that what EVERY fly tier does when he “invents” a new pattern that catches fish? Sure it is. YOU’VE done it—be honest, now!
Anyway, Jay Eubanks and his wife, Mary Lou, chased night snook with me the past two evenings and saw a lot of fish. Caught a few, too.
Unfortunately, last night all of the big pigglies we saw thrashing the water weren’t interested in anything artificial. I know that because as I was using the trolling motor to position us, a guy cut us off, tossed in a live minnow, and boated a four-pounder.
“He won’t measure (meaning it wasn’t in the slot and therefore killable)” so y’all can have this spot. I’m goin’ home.”
Fortunately, the previous night was better in terms of “catching.”
And that P. whitebait (that’s the way we’d write it if it was a Michigan mayfly) turned the trick for Jay on some nice trout and ladyfish in the hour before our pigglies refused to play.
Earlier in the week, that pattern and P. glass minnow (these patterns and recipes are on the web site dropdowns) scored a mixed bag of fish for Steve Sherman, who was down from upstate New York on his annual trip with me.
“You don’t KNOW how much I’ve been looking forward to this after all the snow that got dumped on us,” Steve said. “I don’t care if we’ve got a light breeze today. Two days ago I was clearing our apartment complex parking lots while it was minus-19.”
Dan Lewinski, from Chicago, was in Gasparilla the following day. We spent a lot of time working out a few casting kinks, then did the trout/Lena thing. Many were boated and, as Kate’s mom would say, “a fine time was had by all.”
Same for Ron Boem and Bob Henricks the day after that. They’re headed to the Carib for bonefish in about six weeks, so the first half of our day went to casting (I’m an FFF Certified Instructor). Bob went from throwing 35 feet of fly line to consistently hitting the 60-foot mark.
They also then proceeded to wear out some very respectable trout and Large Lenas.
On Wednesday, Charles Shelby and his son, Chuck, finally finished their night snook trip that I had postponed because of wind, rain, and cold air temps the previous Saturday.
This time, they were rewarded with several respectable snook and ladyfish, and the photographs to prove it! Same for Anne McCarthy and her son Jason Friday morning.
Jason had been looking forward to “catching some really big fish” and I’d heard that Spanish mackerel were right off the beach at Casperson Park the previous day.
So, we launched at Casey Key, ran out of the Venice Jetty, and headed south in search of tattletale birds dive-bombing the water. No luck. Not on birds, not on mackerel.
Jason finally was rewarded with a couple of large ladyfish that put a smile on his face!
Oh, yeah. I’ve gotta tell you about an excursion I took with Ben Engler and his buddy Dan O’Connell.
Ben has given me and Ghost permission to chase grouse and woodcock on his property in Frederic, about 15 miles from our house in Michigan. That means I take extra-special care of Ben.
So there’s this spot I know that holds baby tarpon. I told Ben about it, and they decided that was where they wanted to fish.
It was wonderfully overcast, and not very cold that morning. The guys enjoyed the scenery on the ride out, and then got a very jolting surprise. Tarpon, tarpon, tarpon everywhere.
We were surrounded by so many baby tarpon that I felt like George Armstrong Custer on his worst day. Good thing those 25-pounders weren’t slinging arrows at us.
Ben and Dan did their best, slinging myriad flies at the poons, but as Ben said, “we’re so rattled by the sight of all these tarpon we’re not getting the fly anywhere CLOSE to their mouths!”
“Tarpon Fever?” Yep! Ah, well. Consider it a warmup drill, Ben. Next time you’ll fling a P. estazcrab right smack into one’s mouth and then Katie bar the door!
Speaking of Kate, she had fun celebrating her birthday on the 4th (no, I will NOT tell you which birthday!) with several folks from the FAOL web site who were in town for a fish-in.
We ate like pigs, drank cold beverages, and lied like only fishermen can lie about all the places we’ve been and fish we’ve caught. In other words, a typical gathering of fly anglers!
Well, we’re doing a free casting clinic at Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters this afternoon and I’ve got a million things left to do before next week’s onslaught of trips. Better get some flies tied!
Until next time…
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Charlotte Harbor Area - February 26th, 2007 |
RECORDED: 
77 °
FISHING: Excellent
FEBRUARY 26, 2007
Spring has come back to southwest Florida!
After nearly two weeks of frigid (well, by southwest Florida standards) weather that drove the water temperature down to 58 degrees, air temps at pushing 80 and the water in Gasparilla Bay was 67 on Sunday!
And it apparently is bringing the recently-departed Spanish mackerel and Little Tunny (Bonito) with it.
I guided Andy Houck and his good friend Mike Reid, both from Cincinnati, in Lemon Bay Saturday, and they told me they had watched gulls and terns dive-bombing the Gulf earlier in the morning.
Hmmm. Sounds like a Mack-Attack to me!
Jeff Saal and his son, Jeremy, along with his pal, Mike Kull, opted for Gasparilla instead of a nearshore “maybe the Spanish will be here” Sunday morning and weren’t disappointed.
“I don’t have any idea of how many fish I’ve caught,” Jeff said at one point. Jeremy and Mike didn’t have the success Dad experienced, but everybody caught fish and were pretty exhausted by the time we headed for the Placida ramp.
Let’s see. What else has been going on lately?
Larry Warszalek was down for a couple of days and we chased Bonito (nope, didn’t get any to eat a fly—although we graphed THOUSANDS in 40 feet of water off the Venice Jetty). Also went looking for the Usual Suspects and Larry boated his Personal Best ladyfish.
That was in Little Sarasota Bay, and that ladyfish ate the fly the instant it touched the water. It was darn near like brown trout back in Michigan slurping a dry fly when the hatch is on.
And I mean to TELL you that ladyfish took off like a bonefish. In fact, when the reel started screeching Larry and I looked at each other in disbelief. “Cobia?” I wondered aloud. It bulldogged around the boat for quite a few minutes before Larry slammed on the brakes and we got it into the net.
Nice fish!
I had an aborted night trip with Carol and Ed Ervin, when the snook seemed to have vanished from the ICW. In fact, I pulled the plug after two very uneventful hours. We still have to finish that trip.
Charlotte Harbor was holding a BUNCH of redfish while Larry was here, so I went in search of them a few days ago with two of The Delaney Brothers—Bill and Mike.
Bill has hunted with me (grouse and woodcock in Michigan, and quail down here) but this was our first time fishing together. Brother Number Three—Kevin—hunted quail with us a few weeks ago, but I still haven’t me the “Baby Huey” of the family, Brother Vinny, who weighs in about 350.
Kate still can’t roll that one off her tongue. “Michael, William Patrick, Kevin, and VINNY? Somehow that just doesn’t sound right,” she told them. “I guess Bill cheated when he doubled-up with William Patrick!”
Mike nailed several fish, but Bill didn’t hook up. So, we’re going to Terra Ciea tomorrow to remedy that.
Ray Feher and Ron Landham, of Chattanooga, went night snooking with me and we had a bundle of fish to look at. They caught some, lost some and boated a few. In fact, Rob brought in a 3-pound bluefish on his second cast and I really thought we were off to the races.
Water was 62 in one spot, then we buzzed north to a pair of lights that held about 30 fish and the water was 65. The fish weren’t crazy about taking either a fly or jib, but the guys nailed a few and had a good time.
Ray wants to give it another try before heading home next month. Fish. You just can’t count on them to do the right thing! As my old Chilean friend Oscar Feliu once said, “Damn fish are just like women. One night yes, next night no!”
Dave Reid had a great time this afternoon. It was blowing pretty hard when they met me at the Manasota Beach Road ramp, so I elected to run back into Forked Creek, where I’ve been finding baby tarpon. No luck on them, but Dave boated a small snook and a 4-pound jack crevalle that took him all over the water before we did the Kodak Thing.
He later boated a nice pompano when we were out in the Bay. “My first-ever jack and my first pompano,” he said. “That was great.”
A group of folks who regularly share information on the Fly Anglers On Line (FAOL) web site are coming down for a Fish-In. We’re kicking it off with a BBQ at my house on March 4—which happens to be Kate’s birthday. Can’t tell you which one. That’s a highly classified secret.
But y’all are welcome to join us for buffalo burgers and Italian sausage. And cold beer. YUM! You can help us sing “Happy Birthday.”
Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters on Albee Road in Nokomis is Fish-In HQ. Give Kevin a call at 941-483-1115 for details—‘cause I’m booked solid for the next couple of weeks and can’t answer the phone!
I’ll keep you posted with updates—even if they’re short and sweet!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Lemon Bay - February 24th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
74 °
FISHING: Good
FEBRUARY 23, 2007
After nearly two weeks of frigid (well, by southwest Florida standards) weather that drove the water temperature down to 58 degrees, Spring has come to Venice.
And it apparently is bringing the recently-departed Spanish mackerel and Little Tunny (Bonito) with it.
I guided Andy Houck and his good friend Mike Reid, both from Cincinnati, in Lemon Bay today, and they told me they had watched gulls and terns dive-bombing the Gulf earlier in the morning.
Hmmm. Sounds like a Mack-Attack to me! Maybe Jeff Saal and his son will want to investigate that action tomorrow morning. (I’ll fill you in next time on how it goes.)
Let’s see. Larry Warszalek was down for a couple of days and we chased Bonito (nope, didn’t get any to eat a fly—although we graphed THOUSANDS in 40 feet of water off the Venice Jetty). Also went looking for the Usual Suspects and Larry boated his Personal Best ladyfish.
That was in Little Sarasota Bay, and that ladyfish ate the fly the instant it touched the water. It was darn near like brown trout back in Michigan slurping a dry fly when the hatch is on.
And I mean to TELL you that ladyfish took off like a bonefish. In fact, when the reel started screeching Larry and I looked at each other in disbelief. “Cobia?” I wondered aloud. It bulldogged around the boat for quite a few minutes before Larry slammed on the brakes and we got it into the net.
Nice fish!
I had an aborted night trip with Carol and Ed Ervin, when the snook seemed to have vanished from the ICW. In fact, I pulled the plug after two very uneventful hours. We still have to finish that trip.
Charlotte Harbor was holding a BUNCH of redfish while Larry was here, so I went in search of them a few days ago with two of The Delaney Brothers—Bill and Mike.
Bill has hunted with me (grouse and woodcock in Michigan, and quail down here) but this was our first time fishing together. Brother Number Three—Kevin—hunted quail with us a few weeks ago, but I still haven’t me the “Baby Huey” of the family, Brother Vinny, who weighs in about 350.
Kate still can’t roll that one off her tongue. “Michael, William Patrick, Kevin, and VINNY? Somehow that just doesn’t sound right,” she told them. “I guess Bill cheated when he doubled-up with William Patrick!”
Mike nailed several fish, but Bill didn’t hook up. So, we’re going to Terra Ciea next week to remedy that.
Ray Feher and Ron Landham, of Chattanooga, went night snooking with me and we had a bundle of fish to look at. They caught some, lost some and boated a few. In fact, Rob brought in a 3-pound bluefish on his second cast and I really thought we were off to the races.
Water was 62 in one spot, then we buzzed north to a pair of lights that held about 30 fish and the water was 65. The fish weren’t crazy about taking either a fly or jib, but the guys nailed a few and had a good time.
Ray wants to give it another try before heading home next month. Fish. You just can’t count on them to do the right thing! As my old Chilean friend Oscar Feliu once said, “Damn fish are just like women. One night yes, next night no!”
Dave Reid had a great time this afternoon. It was blowing pretty hard when they met me at the Manasota Beach Road ramp, so I elected to run back into Forked Creek, where I’ve been finding baby tarpon. No luck on them, but Dave boated a small snook and a 4-pound jack crevalle that took him all over the water before we did the Kodak Thing.
He later boated a nice pompano when we were out in the Bay. “My first-ever jack and my first pompano,” he said. “That was great.”
A group of folks who regularly share information on the Fly Anglers On Line (FAOL) web site are coming down for a Fish-In. We’re kicking it off with a BBQ at my house on March 4—which happens to be Kate’s birthday. Can’t tell you which one. That’s a highly classified secret.
But y’all are welcome to join us for buffalo burgers and Italian sausage. And cold beer. YUM! You can help us sing “Happy Birthday.”
Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters on Albee Road in Nokomis is Fish-In HQ. Give Kevin a call at 941-483-1115 for details—‘cause I’m booked solid for the next couple of weeks and can’t answer the phone!
I’ll keep you posted with updates—even if they’re short and sweet!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Lemon Bay - February 4th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
66 °
FISHING: Excellent
February 4, 2007
This certainly has been a most unusual winter in Venice—which has been a blessing to frozen northern anglers looking for balmy temperatures and co-operative fish!
Take yesterday, for example.
I literally walked into Herb Schutt, Dick Kuzminsky, and Dave Karpenske when I stopped at Big Bite Fishing Tackle in Nokomis to pick up an old door last Thursday. Yes, you read that right. Door.
See, we’ve been getting upwards of 15 men, women and boys at the free fly tying classes we do from 6-8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters. The little table we were using is totally inadequate to handle the crowd and Stacey Adams wasn’t using this door anymore and…well, you get the idea.
Anyway, I walked into her store and she immediately said, “please talk with these three men about a fishing charter.” Great!
“When would you like to go out?” I asked. “Tomorrow!” was the instant reply. “Any place in particular you want to fish?” I asked. Stupid question. I should have anticipated the immediate response from Herb: “wherever the fish are biting.” Right.
So, I checked the tides and told them to meet me at the boat ramp on Manasota Key at 10 am. I hedged my bet, though, and also said I’d keep an eye on the weather and call them at 8 that night.
As it turned out, Friday’s forecast was for cool temps and the possibility of thunderstorms. For once, the weather-guessers were absolutely correct.
After delaying our launch twice by phone, I finally told Herb to forget it. “Meet me at the ramp tomorrow morning at 10.” He said he’d be there early. I told him I would, too.
Turned out only one of us was right.
I had the new Hewes Redfisher 18 in the water and purring like a contented puppy when my cell phone rang. It was Kate.
“Your guys are somewhere south of Englewood. Placida Road, I think they said. Somebody told them they missed their turn by about eight miles. They’re on their way north as we speak.” Hmmm.
I spent some time meeting Bill Brant, who’s down from Pittsburgh for a couple months and hasn’t had any luck finding fish. I expect to remedy THAT when I take him and Don Gresch fishing on Tuesday. Then the guys pulled into the parking lot looking mighty sheepish and we headed south into Lemon Bay.
Herb’s a retired Marine Corps chopper driver, and Dick (Kuz) and Dave are retired high school teachers. They’d all been on the wrestling team together in college, and have stayed in touch even though Herb moved back to his hometown of Ithaca, NY, and Kuz and Dave are still in Wisconsin.
Herb’s staying in Venice for a couple months, so his pals naturally finagled a brief visit. “Hey,” Kuz said as I mentioned the 60something air temp. “We’re headin’ back to Wisconsin Monday, and it’s minus-11 up there right now. This feels GREAT!”
We cruised to the spot where Steve Nelson and Gene Kahn had shots at so many redfish last week, but school was out. They must have gone on a field trip somewhere, because those reds certainly weren’t busting baby mullet around the oyster bar.
Heading south, we pulled up onto a grass flat that’s been good to me the past few years and it didn’t let me down. I should say, it didn’t let Herb down. He hooked and lost three fish before a two-foot ladyfish finally came to the boat for a Kodak Moment.
When Herb boated his second and then his third fish, the razzing commenced. Dave was still fishless when Kuz stood helpless as line ziiiiiiiiiiinged off his reel. He hit the brakes too hard and suddenly was holding a line devoid of both fish and “food.”
We drifted a couple more grass flats, where Herb kept hooking up, and Dave finally got on the board with a trout, and Kuz remained fishless.
Finally, as the deadline approached to meet their wives for dinner, Herb nailed a very fat Jack crevalle that circled the boat several times, and Kuz got a broken heart.
We’d gone up into the same residential canal where Steve Gibson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune jumped his baby tarpon last week, and darn if that fish or his twin brother didn’t come a’callin.
“I GOT ONE AND IT’S BIG” Kuz yelled. Then the 25-pounder jumped and I said “TARPON!” Regaining my guid-ly composure, I quietly instructed Kuz to drop the rod tip when the fish jumped—which it obligingly did three more times.
Unfortunately, Kuz only lowered the rod tip twice. PING! Goodbye tarpon.
Kuz, of course, was pretty hard on himself. His pals were surprisingly restrained. Pity will do that sometimes.
Their pity didn’t extend quite so far when Kuz lost ANOTHER big fish just moments after I’d gotten him re-rigged. “I’m snake-bit,” he moaned. Herb and Dave hooted. It was time to go home.
Kate just checked the temps in Deward. Two below. Same for Chicago, where The Intern (Larry Warszalek) is champing at the bit as he waits for our two days of fishing next week.
“I can’t WAIT to get out of this cold weather,” he wailed last week. And it was still eight ABOVE when he croaked out his desire to “shake this miserable cold someplace warm.”
Thank heaven, he’s going to get his wish!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Charlotte Harbor Area - January 28th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
64 °
FISHING: Great
January 28, 2007
It’s blowing 25 knots outside right now, with seas 5-to-8 feet. But the sun’s shining again and the weather-guessers are saying that I’ll be able to fish again by Tuesday.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is that I NEVER believe anything that the weather-guessers say. Never. If I can’t see it with my own eyes, pffffffffft!
The best news is that they’re wrong such a large percentage of the time that it’s possible we’ll be back on the water most of this week. I certainly hope so, because the tides all week are especially good.
And despite the cold snap, I just checked the NOAA site and water temps are still holding at 66 degrees, which is very good for this time of year.
And that, my friends, explains why the fishing this winter has been pretty darn good.
I took Sarasota Herald-Tribune outdoors writer Steve Gibson to Lemon Bay last Monday and we had a mixed bag of fish.
Steve jumped a baby tarpon that was about 20 pounds in one deep pool where a couple of canals come into confluence, but the hook pulled free after just one pretty leap.
He also boated some smallish snook and a couple of trout. One strong fish that we suspect was a jac crevalle put a healthy bend in Steve’s fly rod, but the hook pulled free.
Two days later, Gene Kahn and Steve Nelson joined me for an enjoyable afternoon of learning and catching in Lemon Bay.
After spending their careers in the retail business—mostly with the May Company and its subsidiaries—they each recently retired and decided to take up fishing.
“We’ll be happy just to learn a little bit,” Gene had said. “We really don’t expect to actually catch anything. That would be a bonus.”
Well, they each got their bonus! In spades.
Gene caught a smallish trout and I thought we would nail a bunch of schoolies on that flat. Since that was not the case, I moved to the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Nothing.
Then I noticed some interesting activity along an oyster bar to our north. I idled up, then jumped onto the poling platform.
As I shoved us closer and closer, I could see a bunch of fat redfish slashing into a huge ball of mullet. It reminded me of a wolfpack circling a herd, waiting for a chance to cull out the easiest prey.
I set up the drift and we launched our attack. Sort of.
Since neither Gene nor Steve had ever spent much time fishing, it took a while for them to get the hang of the spinning gear they were using. Finally Gene yelled “Got One!” Alas, some slack line gave that redfish the opportunity to toss the jig.
We spent a while working that pod of fish without success, so I decided that it was time to change tactics.
A 5-foot-deep grass flat was our next target, and this time everything fell into place. They each started catching trout, and pretty much took turns bringing a fish to the boat every fifth cast, or so.
Then a school of pompano came to play and the guys really had a blast with those tough, scrappy battlers. Gene and Steve nailed a bunch which really put a bend in their rods.
When Steve finished off the day with an extremely acrobatic ladyfish, Gene decided that “when I come back down next month we’re coming fishing again. Same thing in March. This is great.”
Ghost has been having a grand time lately, too. We’ve been up at Dream Lakes of Florida each of the past two Fridays to guide quail hunters, and yesterday was another shoot-to-retrieve event sponsored by the North American Dog Sports and Registry (NADSR).
Once again, she finished first in her class.
It’s amazing that in May she’ll be 10 years old! She still runs hard—way harder than most hunting dogs I’ve been around—but the fact is she simply wears herself out.
So, I’m planning to have her pick out a “Little Brother” when I get back to Michigan in June. I’d appreciate any input from those of you who have introduced a puppy into a household that already has a dominant older dog.
Anyway, back to the fishing!
Capt. Mark Phelps and Capt. Thom Smith—who both guide with me out of Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters—report seeing and hooking a lot of redfish and some large trout up in Terra Ceia Bay.
And Charlotte Harbor continues to produce a mixed bag from baby tarpon in the backcountry creeks to large trout on the grass flats, plus redfish and snook along the mangroves.
Speaking of snook, take a look at the current issue of Fly Fisherman magazine. There’s a pretty large spread that starts on page 46, written by Yours Truly, that covers night fishing for snook around the lighted docks in “Snook Alley” here in Venice/Nokomis.
If it doesn’t get your blood boiling, I’ll give you Ray O’Connell’s
e-dress and he’ll regale you for two hours with details of the big snook he caught when we went out earlier this month.
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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Charlotte Harbor Area - January 17th, 2007 |
RECORDED:
77 °
FISHING: Excellent
January 17, 2007
WOW! The water temperatures are 70 degrees and the fishing is superb!
I was near Gasparilla Pass in upper Charlotte Harbor two days ago with Pete Taylor and Lou Palm, and there were fish all over the place.
To be a hundred percent truthful, I’ve gotta admit that the dozens of redfish we saw did have a severe case of lockjaw. Several other guides who were out at the same time reported the same condition. But those big reds were lazily cruising the mangroves, and tailing in the skinny water.
The trout bite was excellent, however. We were doubled up repeatedly, and Lou lost one fish that we never saw except for the enormous bend in his eight-weight TFO Professional Series rod. We probably should have tried some small foam-body crabs. Next time!
The day before I was fishing Ray O’Connell, from upstate New York, in the very same area and he nailed his first-ever Spanish mackerel, his largest ladyfish (among the several of that species that he boated), and some trout. The Spanish was a real surprise, because we all thought they had boogied on in their migration.
This unseasonably warm weather has got everything bollixed up, I guess. But in a GOOD way!
Then we were off to one of my favorite spots for large snook under the lights. We’d been waiting more than a month for the right mix of water temp, tide flow, and wind conditions, because Ray was only interested in biiiiiig snook.
Ray’s a buddy of Ron Pisani and Jack Thorpe, who had fished with me about this time last year and had a mega-fish day. “Ron raved about all the fish he caught with you,” Ray said, “and I’ve never caught snook under the lights.”
Well, we changed THAT in a hurry.
I had warned Ray that the spot I was taking him to was probably good for three, maybe four fish. But they’d be LARGE fish. “That’s what I want,” he confirmed. “I’m not really interested in catching 15 or 20 fish that are 18 to 22 inches. I want some heft.”
The biggest surprise for Ray wasn’t the fish, however. “I can’t believe how different it is casting at night,” he marveled. “I never realized how much I relied on daylight to judge where my line is. This is totally different!” His first snook was totally different from anything else he’d ever experienced, too. “I GOT one,” he yelled. “Boy, is he strong! Aggggh, he got off!”
We checked the leader for abrasions and examined the fly. Good to go. So, I suggested that he wait until the fish started feeding on the glass minnows and small shrimp that were occasionally being washed into the feeding zone by the current.
Sure enough, when the fish were feeding and Ray’s cast dropped the artificial in the “zone,” he hooked up. His first snook was 24 inches and 4 pounds. Then he hooked one “with shoulders” that turned out to be 28 inches and 7 pounds. His final fish was 24 inches and 5 pounds, and Ray considered it “a career day” so we went home.
“I really have to work on my casting, though,” he said as we were leaving the boat ramp. “I just couldn’t reach that really big double-digit snook that was feeding way in the back. But next time I’ll have more skill.”
I found out last night that Ray still hasn’t stopped sending e-mails to Ron, who’s stuck in New York with an ailing mother and a new job. Turns out Jack came to the seminar Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters sponsored. Appropriately enough, it was “Fly Fishing Strategies for Snook Day and Night.”
“Ronnie forwarded Ray’s e-mail to me with all the details,” Jack said, grinning. “But I didn’t get any photos in that one. If you sent them this afternoon, I’ll probably have them on my machine when I get home.
“We just got down here on Sunday and I’m still getting organized. But maybe next week somebody might want to split a trip for night snook?”
You bet, Jack. In fact, I know a guy who’s raring to get back at ‘em!
Tight Loops,
Capt. Tony
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