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.

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.