More reds...

Went back out to the bay this morning with Carolyn, but we were met with unfriendly wind gusts when we got to the ramp. We went on anyway, figuring we could blind cast some grass flats for reds and trout. Not too long into our first flat, Carolyn hooked a nice little trout. Fortunately, the wind died and the white caps disappeared about the same time the sun came out, and we were then able to sight cast to a few reds. They were mostly just laid up on top of the submerged grass, but the sun lit them up so well they were almost neon orange in color. Most of the fish were solo, with the biggest group being 4-wide. We ended the day with a trout and 3 reds ranging from 17"-30".

August reds

Got to slip out for a quick morning trip today with my good friend Jason Stacy, manager of the Old Florida Outfitters shop where SWE is based. Its always a treat fishing with someone who can see and throw to fish as well as Jason can, and then will hop up on the pushpole and switch ends of the boat. We were dragging bottom all morning trying to find some crawling redfish. We saw some with their backs out of the water and a few tipping their tails up. Though we didn't see a ton of fish, we still managed 2 to the boat - both on a 6wt with a little shrimp fly that has been working well all summer.

 Jason with a healthy panhandle red

My fish had some crazy spots going on...

TARPON

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking Tom Wilbanks and his son-in law out on their first search for panhandle tarpon. The fishing gods were certainly smiling on us that day as hoards of fish swam by out boat throughout the morning and afternoon. We experienced several pushes of big pods of tarpon all day long. They were just pouring by the boat, usually in groups of at least 6 fish. We were able to feed two fish, one of which never came tight. Tommy did come tight on his fish though, then he proceeded to bring the fish to the boat after a couple jumps and about 30 minutes of pulling. Big congrats on his first tarpon. Here are some photos Capt. Christian Yergens got of us as he idled past during the fight.

Variety day 7/14

Woke up today to thundering clouds and gloomy skies, but as soon as the sun burned the cloud cover off the horizon, we had some pretty good weather. Light winds, good sunlight, and a pretty high tide on the bay.  We first found a group of about 30 redfish, but they were pretty spooky. So we moved on to an area that I knew the fish would be feeding in. Sure enough, the fish were there but they were chasing minnows rather than tailing up on crabs - making it harder to target individual fish. We finally found a fish so shallow his eyeball was above the surface, and I waded over to it and caught it on a little small shrimp fly I have been using a lot lately. Nice little fish with unique spots.

Just when I thought the day was over, I got an invite to fish some local bass ponds with my good friend Jason Stacy. I quickly obliged and loaded up the 6wt and a topwater deer hair diver. We proceeded to catch as many 2-3 lb bass as we could handle - and my bonus fish was a decent size catfish that also ate my topwater fly.

Never before have I caught a redfish, a largemouth bass, and a catfish in the same day.

Skinny water tailers - 7/6

Had some great weather over the holiday weekend, low winds and good sunlight. The tides were high this week and the fish were taking advantage of the increased water flow. I fished Sunday with a friend from Birmingham for a much needed day off. Travis and I found a bunch of fish tailing very shallow, mostly in groups of 2-3 fish at a time. Though they weren't the biggest reds in the world, we had a great time picking them off with the fly rod as we inched our way along the grass flat and took turns with poling duties. 

Travis with a healthy 24" red

Me with another victim of the little shrimp pattern we were throwing

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: