6/21 afternoon reds

Fished with Fred and Larry today from Tallahassee for some afternoon redfish up in the bay. Once the wind died a little we were able to work a few flats and find some nice fish. They were cruising tight along the bank while the water was still up, providing us with some great visual shots.

End of the Road, FL Keys 5/13-5/16

Spent a few days last week down south in the Florida Keys chasing tarpon. Day one was out of Islamorada, and the trip officially began the night before at the Lorelei with a blackened fish sandwhich and some cold Kaliks. 

In the first hour of the first morning of my trip I found myself and my 11wt fly rod tight on a tarpon of about 80 lbs. Got a bunch of great jumps right at the boat, and landed her after close to 30 minutes of pulling. That afternoon the wind quit and everything slicked off. It made feeding the fish quite difficult (and at least for me, impossible), but the calm waters took the magic out of spotting some big laid up residents in the back country. 100+ lb fish on a 2-3 ft grass flat is quite a sight to see, as they look like 6-7 ft sections of submerged tree trunks.

 

Day two was a blow out, on my own around Big Pine Key. Day three I enjoyed sharing bow time with Glenn Pittard on Marshall Cutchin's skiff around the waters of Key West. Both of them run the show for the fly fishing media site, MidCurrent. It was such a treat to learn from and listen to the stories that Marshall has to tell from his years guiding those waters.

 

Finally, Day 4 things turned back on for us. I was fishing with my friend Dave Dalu - the first time we'd shared a day on the water since I moved from Charleston about a year ago. Back in the Big Pine area and Dave's playground, we found some happy fish both on the ocean as well as some back country basins. We fed 9 that day, and I got to watch 7 of them from the poling platform. I fed two fish and jumped them both off after the hook set. No fish to the boat that day, but it was a wonderful way to end the trip.

Dave's trip, however, was just beginning - as he stayed down there to fish in the prestigious Golden Fly Invitational Tarpon Tournament. After 3 days of competition, Dave came out on top - an impressive follow up to his 2007 win in the Hawley. Congrats, my friend.

April Hybrids

Been fishing some still water around Nashville the last few weeks for hybrids and stripers. Early mornings and late evenings have been hot, with fish feeding on baitfish patterns fished under sink tip lines.

Also got to see the spawning carp do their thing up in the shallows at the lake. 

4/5 East TN Smallmouth

Went to Knoxville this weekend to visit a good friend of mine from home. While there, we took his canoe out for a float on the Holston River just outside of town in search of smallmouth bass. It was overcast and the water was a little off-color from the recent rain showers, but we were able to find about a half dozen or so smallies throughout the afternoon. Most of them were in the deeper stretches around structure, but some fish were actually rising to the surface on some tiny aquatic insects.

3/27 Panhandle

Back on the flats for some more schooling fish with Mel and Lucas Bailey from Cullman, AL. Despite the wind, the fish were very active - pushing large wakes as they moved around in the shallow water. We found small schools on just about every flat we fished, including a large school of big fish on our last flat of the day. Mel connected early with a 24" red, and Lucas followed up later with a very nice 28" fish that surprisingly had no spot.

3/25 Panhandle redfish

Fished the Brodericks from Indiana today for some spring time redfishing on the bay. The reds were schooled up and became active as the sun warmed the flats throughout the day. We saw plenty of fish pushing, tailing, and rolling - and three nice reds were brought to boat.

Mountain Film

The Mountain Film Festival was also hosted at Watercolor this past weekend and Ben, Travis, and Frank from Felt Soul Media* were down to help host the event and show their film, "Running Down the Man". If you havent seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to check it out as well as the trailer for their current project on Bristol Bay and the proposed Pebble Mine that has the potential to ruin the salmon fishery there. I had a good time hanging out with you guys and look forward to keeping in touch as you progress towards the final release of "Red Gold". Their account of the trip to the FL Panhandle can be read at The Wire.

The Felt Soul guys were out on the beach 'running down the bonita' as well this past weekend and ran into some of the same tarpon we saw on Kyle's boat. With a better lens and far superior photography skills, Ben was able to snap this remarkable photo of the migrating fish. Thanks for sharing, Ben.

Bobo's on the Beach

Was down at the coast over the last week and got into some bonita on the beach. There was an IFA redfish tourny screwing up the bay fishing so Jason, Kyle, and I decided to head out on the beach instead in Kyle's tower boat. We were greeted by pods of glass minnows and blood minnows that were being busted up by schools of bonita, chicken dolphin, and sharks. We had a great time drifting into these schools and doubling up on fish with topwater flies. Every one that we brought aboard was coughing up glass minnows all over the deck.

Jason and I with a double:Capt. Kyle Pitts showing off a bonita and his new wedding ring:

Just as we were about to run back in, we saw another pod of fish busting on the surface. We ran over to investigate and quickly identified the fish as big pods of tarpon. They were traveling quite fast and not focused on eating, but it was neat to see them this time of year.

Middle TN - Relocation

Well, I've found myself in middle Tennessee away from all hopes of salt air and tailing fish. The closest thing I've found to a tide, however, is the effect of power generation on water flows of the the Caney Fork, a short 45 minute drive away. I visited that tailwater with my friend Wes Jones the other day and experienced a "flood tide" typical of that found on the coast during a full or new moon phase. It was nice getting out and being humbled by a few wily trout as they gorged on midges I couldn't identify. The fog hardly ever left the river bed all morning as we waited for the water levels to drop to an acceptable - and wadable - level. I suspect next time I'll go more prepared with a step-down in fly size, to match up with the step-down in rod size that we were throwing. Here's Wes patiently stalking a group of fish we found in a side channel:

Wyoming

Spent the last few days out in Jackson Hole, WY with my girlfriend and her family - enjoying the cooler weather, mountains, and trout streams that the region had to offer. Quite a nice break from the 100+ temps of Florida, and a good way to end the summer season. Following are a bunch of photos from our trip.

The first day we took two boats out of Jack Dennis Sports for a float down the Snake River at the base of the Tetons. Everyone caught fish and had a good time catching cutthroat after cutthroat on big dries.


left: Carolyn
right: Angie







left: Carolyn's dad - and the Spotted Tail photo gallery's #1 visitor



Day Two: Carolyn and I went hiking and had some interesting animal encounters. A chipmunk joined us for lunch, without being invited. It probably had rabies, so we eventually left him alone. And after lunch, we found two bull moose browsing in the trail.


But the highlight of the trip came Friday afternoon when Carolyn thought we were going fishing on Flat Creek and we ended up getting engaged instead.

The disguise:

8/3 season wrap-up

Went out on my own with the intentions of doing some more filming on the bay. The reds have been very camera friendly lately on the lower tides, but yesterday they were acting a little different. They were still up on the flats, but not sticking their backs and tails up in the air too much. I was contemplating whether to fish or run back in, and I noticed a wake coming right at my boat, which I had staked out for a minute. I was on the poling platform watching the wake come at me and could tell that it was not bait, but rather a small scholl of reds. As they approached the boat I hopped down and pulled my 6 wt fly rod out from under the gunnels and unhooked the fly. By this time the fish were right at my port side so I literally threw the fly with my hand at the fish. Before I knew it I had a boil and felt my line go tight. A few minutes later I had the fish at the boat. The self timer photos aren't the best this time around.

After I had my rod out, I decided to hop out of the skiff and wade to another fish that was tailing and pushing around as it fed on some minnows. I put a shrimp fly in its face and came tight on him as well.

LA Marsh trip

All the guides for Shallow Water Expeditions took a trip over to the Louisiana marsh for a couple of days to mark the end of the summer season. It was hot and muddy water, but we still all had a great time. 9 of us altogether and 3 skiffs, making a big parade through the marsh creeks and ponds.

A redfish of almost 15 lbs I caught on the cast after I pulled the hook on a 20+ lb fish

7/25 FL Panhandle

Had a rough start today with some car trouble, but somehow managed to make it to the boat ramp and slide the boat in. Had to drive the whole way to the boat ramp without taking a foot off the gas or else it would stall out and require jumper cables to get going again. Big thanks to David for caravaning over to the launch with me. Mark Powell from Arkansas joined me on board today for a bay trip for reds. Found some good fish up shallow in some areas flooded by the high tide. Found one laid up fish that was waiting in ambush for a morning meal. Mark made a good cast in front of the fish and it produced 4 eats before the fly finally stuck. After a nice fight and photo op, we released the fish back to the water.

Poons

In the spirit of one of my clients this season from Norway, who had come to fish for 'tarpoons', I headed out today on the beach with a guide friend for some tarpon fishing. Found some fish swimming and we were able to feed about 5 between the two of us. Three of those came unbuttoned, but we were able to jump one a few times and land another. Shot some video on one fish.

Also got the clip uploaded to the videos page.

7/23 FL Panhandle

My parents came down from Alabama to visit me for a couple of days and I took them out on the bay first thing this morning. Its been an ongoing project to get my Dad his first red on fly and though we've come close in the past, it finally happened today. We had a few fish up skinny just cruising around looking for food. Dad's cast was in front of the fish and he let it sit till the fish moved onto it. A couple short strips and the fish blew up on the crab fly and headed out for deep water. After a good run into the backing he finally landed it and I was able to snap a few photos as proof of our mission accomplished. One more species to the list of fish my Dad and I have caught together over the years.