7/22 FL Panhandle

Went out this morning with the fly shop manager Jason Stacy for some much needed fun fishing. Had spent the whole week on charters watching fish swim up in the shallow water with their backs exposed, so I decided to take advantage of a morning off and the neap tides and wade around for some of these hungry reds. Jason and I hopped out of the skiff and found a handfull of slot fish right off the bat. We took turns switching out with the fly rod and the video camera and started off the morning with 3 casts and 3 fish. Ended up going about 5 for 8 on the fish before we had to head back.

FL Panhandle - late June 25-29

This week has been good up on the flats, with lots of tailing fish around up in the flooded grass. Stealthy approaches and accurate casts were in order for the week, but we were able to bring some nice fish to the boat. Tarpon out on the beaches and reds up in the bay, plenty of summer still to come.

Nice fish we got out of a small group cruising the early morning flats.

This fish was feeding aggressively in some flooded grass with half of its back sticking out of the water. Mark from Atlanta put a great cast out in front of the fish and made the perfect twitch as it fed its way across the line of the cast. A quick quiver of the tail and the fish was on.

6/11 Slick

Had a textbook day on the water today with Blake Hearnsberger from TX. We arrived at the ramp and were greeted by a dead slick calm covering the bay. The tide was high outgoing, and we were able to see many fish along the grassline as we poled down the flat at first light. The first fish came at a perfect head-on shot, and we were able to see the fish turn, follow, and eat the fluke all right before our eyes in the glassy water. The second fish was in a group of fish and was much bigger - about size to head offshore for its adulthood. Enjoyed the morning Blake !

6/8 FL Panhandle

Fished with my good friend Bucky today out along the beach looking for some tarpon. Before today most of the fish I had been seeing were "wrong way fish" headed East, but today most of them were coming from the East. We saw about 30 tarpon throughout the morning, but got no good shots. Also saw a big bull shark probably 8 feet in length that swam up to the boat and circled a couple of times.

Once the winds picked up from the South we ran into the bay and did some redfishing while we kept our fingers crossed that the wind on the beach would die down before we lost all of our sunlight. We found some reds up in the skinny water along the lee shoreline and Bucky poled me onto a nice tailing fish that I caught on a new fly pattern I was testing out. Unfortunately the winds didn't die down and we eventually ran back to the launch after a long 12 hr day on the water.

The red and its release:

6/4 FL Panhandle

High winds and gray skies didn't keep us off the water today. It did keep us throwing topwater, though. We had some great blowups from reds and trout up on the grass flats. Once the winds give us a break we should get some good tailing sightfishing going on again.

6/1 FL Panhandle

Had a great week out on the bay this week. Lots of tailing reds up in the skinny water. The higher tides allowed the fish to get up in the grass as well. Fished with Rick and Manny from Texas this morning, and had a good time as they brought 6 reds to the boat - including one double between the two of them. Looking forward to the winds giving us a little break and the beaches clearing up so we can get after some tarpon in the surf.

Memorial Day week

Despite high winds and muddied water, the fishing has been exciting over the last week or so. Reds are showing in the bay - some still schooled up in big wads and others spread out providing individual shots. We've seen a handful of big trout in the 30" range as well, including a recent catch of a 29" speck.



Along the beaches the tarpon are moving around - mostly what I've been seeing are "wrong way" fish that will soon turn around and head West with the other migratory swimmers. It won't be long for the Silver Kings...

5/24 FL Panhandle

Fished with Frank Whitaker from Athens last Thursday and had some great shots at redfish, despite the wind. Frank got his first red, a nice 26" fish, sightfished to in about a foot of water.

5/21 FL Panhandle

Travis Volion from Louisiana joined me today for a day on the bay. After the morning wind settled down we had some good sunlight for sightfishing on the flats. We worked around for a while before finding a good group of fish. Travis pulled a nice red out of the group, measured 29" and 9 lbs on the boga.

5/16 FL Panhandle

Had a bay trip this morning with Brad and Jayson from Texas. Started out a little slow as we only found a few fish tailing on the bank. As the light shifted more overhead, we were able to see some fish over the sand holes and get some better shots. We eventually found a good sized school of fish and made a couple of passes at it, hooking up each time. Jason was able to get a multispot 24" and a nice 29" red, while Brad followed up with an impressive 29" gator trout.

4/19/07 farewell Charleston

Got my first day off in a long time and headed out on the water by myself this morning with hopes of finding tailers in the grass. It was windy, so I went to a flat on the other side of the river where it was a little more protected. Water depth was good up on the flooded grass flat, but there were no fish to be found. Figured it'd be about time for the tailers to start up, but must still be a bit early. Started poling the outside edge of the flat along the grass line and quickly found where the fish were. They were just sitting in the grass not moving. In groups of 6-8. It was cloudy, but in between passing clouds I had enough sunlight to spot them. Got one decent shot at a small group and pulled one off to the boat. Was about 26 inches long. Healthy, released. Turned out to be a nice morning on the water, and a good last trip out in Charleston waters. Next, I'll be down on the FL panhandle to do some guiding this coming season.

3/24/07 Charleston

Woke up this morning and was on the flat as the sun rose. It was slick calm and the fish were pushing water and even tailing on the flat we were fishing. We had a few schools working around us, and even a few very big singles pushing in water that barely covered their backs. At one point after the sun had gained a little height we saw a lone cruiser that was close to 40" long, a rare sight on the flats around here. We ended the day with two reds, a slot fish on the fly rod and a 28" 7lb red that fell for a gulp crab.

3/11/07 Sunday School

After a three week hiatus, I finally got a chance to slip out on the water this morning. I've been busy with work and taking classes for my captain's license, and missed out on the past three weekends. This one was a good one to come back on. Woke up this morning at 5:45 to warmer air temps. The Charleston Harbor was blanketed with a thick fog, and the water was dead slick. I put in about 30 minutes before sunrise and made my way through the fog to a mud flat I know holds a very large school of fish. I was already on the platform by the time the sun started to show. As the sunrise burned off the morning fog, the flat slowly came to life and it wasnt long before I found the school, easily 100 or more fish. With still a very low light, it was hard to see into the water, so I staked out hoping the fish would give themselves away and provide for a better shot at them rather than bumping them up with the boat. Since I was fishing solo (daylight savings, Hungerford) I had a spinning rod up on the platform with me. I cast it out to where I thought the school would travel and then realized that I had also brought my 4 lb ultralight rod with me too. I cast it out as well, both with artifical crabs and circle hooks. As expected, the school turned around and headed back at me. The rod I was holding soon went off with a hungry little redfish on. As I was fighting it, the little tiny rod started bending with a fish on as well. Here I was, solo with two fish. I alternated between the two rods and the rod holder until I was able to land each fish. They were practically identical, about 22-23 inches long. Not a bad way to start the morning.

After releasing both of those fish, I began poling down the flat and soon came upon a group of fish that had broken off from the main school. These fish were a little bigger, and there were about 20 of them. The fish were as happy as they could be, finning and rolling and riding high in the water. Since they were moving in the same direction as I was, I lobbed a cast well in front of them and let the crab settle to the bottom. As the fish moved over, one of them grabbed the crab. This fish put up a great fight, probably as good as any of the South Carolina reds have given me over the last year. After about 5 minutes, I had this nice 28" red in the boat.
By this time, the sun was high and the fog was gone. I had perfect visibility into the water. I decided to try out a new area that I had explored about a month ago during the bitter cold and suspected would be a good spot once it warmed up a little. It was my guess that as the bigger fish broke out of the schools, they would perhaps be hanging around the many oyster beds in the area I was now poling. Sure enough, I see 6 over slot reds crusing the bank ahead of me. I watch them for a little while and let them lead me to a new school of fish that I had never seen before. There were 100-150 more fish in this tiny little area, and they were literally just swimming circles. I made a few passes on the edge of this school and was able to pick up 3 more fish, all little ones. There were some much bigger fish mixed in with the group, but they didnt seem too cooperative.

2/11 Carolyn's first red

6 A.M. - 30 degrees. Scraped the frost of the windshield and was on the road to the boat ramp. 5-10 mph turned out to be about 10-15. Headed back to an area that's been holding a bunch of fish and found them all grouped up, and of course spooky. Had to scare off a few dolphins from their morning feeding, then tried to give the reds time to calm down. Despite the cold and wind, we did have good light today, which helped in seeing the schools on the mud flat. Chased a couple of schools for the last of the outgoing and the first hour or two of the incoming to no avail. Lots of fish, but they were lethargic and hardly moving at all. Finally decided to head to a different area that I found a big school at last weekend. Sure enough, they were there. Poled over them the first time and bumped them a little bit, so I swung wide around them and went upwind of school. Drifted down back to the fish, that had now regrouped, and staked out. I was fishing with my girlfriend this morning and got her to put a cast downwind and into the fish. She had a gulp crab rigged with a circle hook, and she just let it sit there as we watched some of the fish milling around in the general vicinity of where her cast landed. The bulk of the school was to the right a little ways, as indicated by frequent hints of pink in the water as the fish turned broadside in the sun. A few moments later and her line came taught with a willing red. It actually put up a good fight, contrary to the others we've been catching lately in the cold, and gave her a few quality runs. Shortly, she had her first ever redfish to the boat. 28" and 8lbs, a healthy multi-spotter. Im not sure which of us was more excited.

Among the dolphins and hundreds of redfish, we also saw an otter and a whitetail deer today. The otter was swimming around on the mud flat and followed the boat for a little while with curious glances. The deer appeared out of the Spartina grass and swam over to a small oyster bar. I don't know what it was doing out there, but appeared to be eating or licking something. Never seen a deer that liked oysters ! Tide got too high for sightfishing about 11:30 and we headed back to the ramp.

2/3 Charleston report

Had to work today, so I made sure to go in early enough to make it out of the office with time to fish the afternoon low. After last weekend, I was looking forward to the low tide being in the afternoon - hoping that the sun would warm the mud flats up a little and get the fish a bit more active. Much to the contrary, it was cold, windy, and overcast. Nevertheless, I had the boat ready and my mind had been made up about mid-week that I was going to go fishing today. So I came home around noon, changed into some long johns, hooked the trailer up to the car and hit the road. Got onto the flat about 1:30 just in time to see some dolphins heading out before it got too skinny. We quickly noticed that one dolphin had a large white thing in its mouth. Upon closer inspection we realized that it was the white belly of a redfish that was nearly 30 inches long ! The dolphins left us alone for a little bit while they shared their feast and waited for the water to come back in. It was a negative tide today, so it was just us and the redfish for a solid 2 hrs.

We found the school, which was still just as spooky as last weekend. On the first pass, I was able to hook into a fish on a spinning rod from the platform while poling the boat. It turned out to be about 27" or so and 8-9 lbs.

My friend on the bow had multiple casts with the fly rod into the group of fish, but no takes. They were stirred up pretty good between the dolphins, the boat, and the fact that we had just caught one out of the bunch. We worked a few other groups of fish before returning to the main school which had at least around 100-150 fish in it. On this pass, my other friend I was with hooked a nice fish, again on spinning rod. Turned out to be a nice 30" red that weighed 11 lbs.

Eventually the water came back in and so did the dolphins. We watched as they cruised in and began working the area again. One of them caught a whiff of the redfish scent and made a bee-line through 2 feet of water to where a bunch of fish was holding by an oyster bar. He came in at full speed, made one swirl, and then headed back out to deeper water again at full speed - with another redfish in its mouth. Quite an awesome sight to see.