During the past two weeks, our temperatures have been pleasant and the bait is continuing to return to the Lagoons. Water levels have risen considerably giving the fish plenty of places to explore that they have been unable to access for quite some time.
Last week, I took a fishing holiday down to Biscayne Bay near Miami with friend and fellow guide, Capt. Keith Kalbfleisch. We had one day of nice weather but saw very few bonefish and only one permit. The next two days, we battled high winds and clouds. The bonefish were nowhere to be found but we did have some excellent action with the sharks catching them on fly and spin gear from 20 to over 100 pounds. We sight fished them in clear shallow water and they provided us with some spectacular drag creaming runs and jumps.
The day after returning from the trip, it was back to Mosquito Lagoon with Jim and Mick from Britain. The father and son team began the day with a double hookup on redfish.
They caught several trout with the DOA Deadly Combo and landed two more redfish during our half day excursion.
Last Saturday, New Jersey residents John and Mike took their first trip to Mosquito Lagoon. We encountered multiple schools of spooky redfish and Mike was able to land one using a DOA CAL in watermelon seed color.
Mike used the same lure later in the day to fool a nice trout in an area with a mixture of sand and grass.
This Monday, British anglers Russell and David wanted to fly fish for reds. Our first stop was holding 8-10 schools. Russell landed his first redfish with a green and gold bendback fly.
Throughout the day, both anglers had shots at redfish but visibility was less than ideal. We had a few more follows and bites but landed none.
Tuesday, I fished Mosquito Lagoon with Brian and Ben. We began the day fishing schools of both redfish and black drum. In several hours, Brain had a redfish, trout, drum slam and Ben had caught both redfish and drum. They had consistent shots at tailing redfish and large trout throughout the day. Several fish came unhooked before reaching the boat with the final tally reading nine drum, four redfish and two trout.
Thursday, fly anglers Jim and Jack battled high winds and clouds throughout the day. We had a couple shots at schools of redfish but most of the day we encountered singles that were nearly under the boat before we saw them. The guys stuck with the fly despite the tough conditions but never got connected to a fish.
Friday, local angler Kevin and his twelve year old son Bradley joined me on another cloudy and windy day. We had a slow start, but Bradley was finally able to land his first redfish.
Dad landed a second red and the two also caught several trout during the day.
This Saturday, Steve and Rob had an excellent start to the day. We began by throwing melonback DOA CAL's in an area that has been holding fish. Steve connect with a redfish and a few minutes later they had a double hookup with a 28 inch trout and another redfish.
A few more trout and another redfish were caught before the action slowed including this one at 24 inches.
As had been the case much of the week, clouds and high winds made sight fishing conditions tough. No more fish were landed but the pair had fun trying and learned some new fishing techniques to take home with them.
The Sound Advantage Game fish locate food by sight, smell, and sound. When presenting artificial lures to fish, we are usually relying on the sight of the lure to attract their attention. Adding the element of sound to your soft plastics can help attract fish that may not have seen your lure. This could be due to low light, murky water, or an errant cast. Whatever the case, sound help the fish locate, and then see, your offering. The trout pictured above, were all caught on 5.5 inch DOA CAL lures with a Woodies Rattle inserted near the tail. I have found that a soft plastic with a rattle will usually draw more strikes than one without. On numerous occasions, I have watched fish turn around and eat a lure that was cast behind them that they would never had seen if the rattle had not drawn their attention. Try adding some to your soft plastics next time you fish.
FishStock 2008
The annual event will be held Memorial Day Weekend May 24 &25 at Riverside Park in New Smyrna Beach. In addition to vendors, boats, and a tournament, there will be seminars from various local guides. I will be speaking about how to catch tarpon in east central Florida at 1 pm both Saturday and Sunday. Visit the FishStock website for more information.
Wind Knots
Not using braided line for flats fishing is like not having the Internet, you can get by without it but you don't know what you're missing. Braid has superior casting ability, resists twisting, and is much more abrasion resistant than monofilament. A common complaint is that braided line gets "wind knots". These frustrating tangles can get expensive and often cause anglers to dislike braided line. Some anglers get knots constantly while others rarely do. For example, young angler Bradley, pictured above, cast continuously the entire day in a 15-20 mph wind. He did not get one knot the entire day. Other anglers, however, have problems with knots on calm days. While we would like to blame the knots on the wind or bad line, the simple facts are the knots are all caused by angler error.
There are two simple things you can do that will eliminate nearly all knots in braided line. First, learn to close the bail with your hand. Flipping it closed by turning the handle will lead to problems before the day is through. Second, always reel in the line under tension. Reeling up slack line can cause it to jump off the spool all at once on the next cast. Windy conditions can make slack line more difficult to control especially when casting directly into the wind thus the term, "wind knot". The lighter the lure you use the more careful you need to be.
Capt. Chris Myers
Central Florida Sight Fishing Charters
http://www.floridafishinglessons.com
321-229-2848
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