quick report from Florida

[jaybird]

Hey guys. Excuse the new user name, I had to make a new profile to get on from here.

The weather has been nothing less than gnarly! sustained 30mph wind with tree uprooting gusts. There hasnt been too much rain, but the wind has kept the flyrods in their socks. My guided day for tomorrow was postponed for a day or two till things calm down. I hooked two tarpon briefly off the dock this evening on bait. It was wierd, they wouldnt even look at my live bait, but when i put on a cut squid they ate it up. It was pretty cool to see a big shark come cruising under the dock under the halogens!!

Today I saw tarpon, manatees, dolphins, very large, jumping rays, a frighteningly large barracuda that ate a small fish my mom hooked, and a 6' shark. pretty cool place!

Before we came down here, I stayed a day at my moms place up in palm beach. There is a large pond in her community that I fished. I really did well and had a blast!! It was really funny cause nobody who lives there knew there were any fish in the pond. I had a pretty big audience after several bass landed. Most of the bass were 10-12" with a couple dandies thrown in. These african cichlid things were beasts! Think of an over grown, turbo charged bluegill! By far the best producing fly was my floating draganfly nymph.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay008.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay011.jpg

Heres a picture from where I'm staying in the keys.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay015.jpg

Hopefully the weather improves and I can get out on the water!!!

Jay

[Hairstacker]

Hey Jay, I was wondering about the new username so close to yours. :lol:

Nice bass! Between those and the cichlids, sounds like a really fun pond. Hope the weather breaks for you real soon, good luck!

[Adam Grace]

Too bad about the weather Jay!

At least you got to play around with some bass and those cool looking cichlids.

I hope that the weather improves so that you can post some pictures and stories about tarpon and other saltwater beasties.

[jaybird]

Carl

I dont think I'm even going to bring the GPS anyway. I realize that its not something to "sneak" onboard as someone mentioned, I fully intend to talk to the guide about it if I want to take it. I have a pretty reliable "built in compace" So i should be able to find my way around, at least a little. My main thing with the GPS is that the keys can really get confusing to look at from a boat if you have zigzagged around through them. The Gps will make it tons easier to get home.

The wind is blowing harder than ever thismorning. Heavy cloudcover too.

Jay

[jaybird]

well I am thuroughly humbled....I havnt got out on the water yet due to a couple reasons (more on that in a minute).
I really got into the tarpon tonight. I havnt been able to use flies because of strong wind and dirty water. I have been catching live bait on a sabiki rig and floating it under a bobber. tonight, in about a 1 hour span just before sunset, I hooked and lost 6 tarpon!!! I was thuroughly humbled. the first 4 threw the hook and the last 2 broke off. I really need to change the line on my moms rod. She bought the whole rig at kmart for $22. I have been using 60#shock but its been breaking above the shock in the mainline. Tarpon have been about 25-50#. Tonight I will pull all the line off and put some better line on.

My guided day keeps getting pushed. Now that the winds are supposed to settle a bit, my guides wife just had a baby which nixed are plan to go out tommorow. Good on them! No problemo for me, thats sometimes the way it goes. At this point were shooting for thurs. If thats a bust, its over. I am pretty stoked about the tarpon right out front here tho. I have already had such a blast with them, I wouldnt be too dissapointed if things dont work out. I am pretty confident I'll be able to catch somemore of them. I dont know about taking the boat out without knowing where to go so I'm not sure yet if we'll get a boat tomorrow.

Hopefully next time I report in, I'll have a photo or two. :D

Jay

[Hairstacker]

Six tarpon off a dock in one hour? Man, that is too cool, as I didn't even know it was possible. 8) 8) 8)

Jay, it sounds like you need to help mom get some better equipment. :lol:

[jaybird]

A very different day. beautiful, hot and calm. I am a little worried about how well I have been mingling with the retired community down here :D We all know eachothers names and laugh on the little pier all day long. Some really neat people here.
A few "firsts" for me today. I watched my mom hook something huge and yank the rod right out of her hands and into the atlantic ocean :lol: :lol: I had a case of uncontrolled giggles for at least 45 minutes. Then, An osprey swooped down and picked up my live bait. The line wrapped his foot and I had to land the bugger!! :shock: My new buddy kevin grabbed a towel from the pool and covered him wile we quickly got the line off. We were amazed as it almost looked like we'd done this before...it worked perfect. The osprey was a little embarrssed but was totally unharmed Whew!!!!

I am set to meet my guide tomorrow morning for our day of flyfishing. I'm really excited, I hope the weather is like today.

Tonight the tarpon were rolling way past casting distance. I tried several different plans. I casted my bobber/live bait rig over toward the next dock down where a big boat sits hoisted above the water. The bobber hit the water and never came back up. The only fish I hooked tonight and I managed to get my hands on this one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/005.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/007.jpg

Jay

[Matt Frey]

Very cool. I cant imagine catching an osprey. Sounds like you guys handled it well. Makes for a great story. Good luck with the guide tomorrow and keep posting those reports!

[aaron]

Indicator fishing for tarpon?! :wink: Just kidding ya, nice fish Jay. Looking forward to tomorrows report!
-aaron

[Adam Grace]

Nice pictures Jay.

I'm glad that you get a chance to fling a fly for dem tarpon, Good luck tomorrow!

[sculpin]

Hey Jay
Nice picture and I'm glad the weather is starting to give you a break. Knock them dead tomorrow.

Mark

PS. I almost sprayed my computer screen with wine when I read aaron's post

[jaybird]

Well to say it was worth the wait would be the understatement of the year. Scott picked me up at my place at 7 and we headed down the keys a ways to put in. As he was backing in, I noticed tarpon rolling about 100 yards off the boat ramp. Within 10 minutes I had 2 eats and a 35# tarpon to leader. Scott considers that a landed fish so I agreed :D One more missed grab and that school went down and we were off to the backcountry. There were pods of fish rolling as far as the eye could see. They were very "happy" fish. Every pod I got my fly into resulted in a "eat". By 11 oclock it was time to go look for permit at which point I had hooked 9 tarpon and landed 5. There was a terrible squall hammerring Scotts favorite flat, so we waited for 45 minutes with our fingers crossed. We spent this time getting to know eachother a little and just enjoying the amazing backcountry scenery.
Scott finally decided to head for another spot. i got on the bow and he started poling and we saw a beutiful site, a 30+# permit in less than 2' of water and "happy" (for permit standards) Scott got me in position and I made a perfect delivery. Scott whispers "perfect. strip, strip, pause. Okay strip again." I gently move the fly and the fish blew out!!! Dad blast it!!! We didnt see another permit.

We went in search of bones the last 2-3 hours and they were SCARCE! We finally set up on a flat, we are now in overtime as Scott really wants to get me a bonefish. I decided to blind cast and just work on my casting as we just BS'd and had a good time. My gotcha fly would periodically hang in the turtle grass and It would give me a little shot of adrenaline from the little tug. It is now 4:15 (1hr 15minutes past Scotts normal day) And I am literlly 1 cast away from saying "Wow Scott, thanks for the great day..."etc. Strip strip...turtle grass...THWACK! The line jumps out of my hand and I am watching line and backing disapear faster than I have EVER seen, as I watch a monster bonefish streak across the flat with my line roostertail behind. Yeehaw!!!! A bonefish while blind casting!!

I had some camera troubles I'm afraid. My water proof housing kept fogging over from the humidity and Scott didnt know it. A LOT of shots came out blurry. Also it is now illegal to lift a tarpon from the water for a photo without a harvest tag..of which you can only obtain 1 per year.

There is actually a Florida fish and wildlife team that spends their days serching the internet for photos on fishing forums, tracking down the subject and citing them with a hefty fine. Its really silly to me but I'm not taking any chances. So here are a few "water shots"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay028.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay011-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay022.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay032.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v283/jbird35/jay016.jpg

[i


My newfound confidence in tarpon eting a fly got me casting down in front of our condo tonight. I was shocked to get a massive strike by the biggest fish of the day. The fish jumped and I suffered a knot failure. After not having a single equipment failure all day on my own stuff including my own knots, I tie a bad knot and loose a trophy fish. I love this place!!!

Jay

[sculpin]

Hey Jay
I'm glad you finally had the day you were looking for. I'm glad.

Mark

[David Lee]

YEAHHHHHH !!!!!

Do ya think you could have possibly found a BIGGER Bone to catch :shock: ?!?

I am so happy for you :D :D !!!

David =D> =D> =D>

[PaulC]

Hey Jay,
That looks like an awesome day on the water. Shoot landing two of the three and having a shot at a permit is spectacular.
Glad the weather cooperated for you finally!
Love that underwater shot of the tarpon.
-Paul

[Adam Grace]

Sounds like a GREAT day!. Nice Bonefish, that's a big'n!

[jhaquett]

That's an awesome day of fishing congrats Jay! So do you have to remove that picture you had on here earlier with the tarpon you caught off of the dock (because you were holding it all the way out of the water?

That's so cool catching that huge bonefish on a blind cast! When I was on Grand Bahama Island we were on this great secluded beach and I saw a school of bonefish and I swear the "leader" was at least that big! I was with my girlfriend and her family though...not a fishing trip, I was bummed to not even get a chance at them... :cry:

I'm dying to do some tropical fly fishing :mrgreen:

[Hairstacker]

Jay, congratulations on a great day! That bonefish is something else -- that picture needs to go into the photo archive on this site. :D

[bubzilla]

Nice job, Jay! Who'd have thunk bonefish like Dick Nites?

[mems]

Aloha Jay, nice job. There are bonefish and then there are big bonefish. That one looks about 7lbs. Congrats on the tarpon also. It does help to get a guide. I think blind casting is good fun, because you don't get the shakes when you see a big fish cruise up to your fly. Then again that is half the fun of sight casting, the stalk. But when blind casting you just strip set and hang on. They are so much fun and so fast, and so beautiful. Did the bonefish do the banana curl when you brought it in? I hope you get some more time on the water before you head home. Good luck and maybe you will get a slam, Mems.

[jaybird]

jh

What picture :D 8)

Thismorning the wind is back up badly so we bagged the boat rental. They wouldnt even let us take it as there was a waterspout spotted close by.

Mems. You are so right about blind casting. The first three tarpon shots I had my knees were knockin pretty good, but I settled down with them. When I made the cast to the permit, I was shaking so bad I think the boat was putting off a ripple like a struggling salmonfly :lol: The fact that I made a perfect cast was a gift from above. My guide guessed the bone to be in the 9# class. I am cursed with a huge body. I am 6'5" and my shoulders are about 2' across :oops: All that means I make big fish look small. I'm always saying "No! it was bigger than that...really!" :lol:

Jay

[jhaquett]

9 pounder! Wow...that's around half the weight of the world record, very impressive. Has Scott your guide seen/caught bigger?

You're right you do make fish look smaller, I don't think the fish I saw in the Bahamas were 9 pounders.

[jaybird]

Has Scott your guide seen/caught bigger?

Oh yeah. Guys get fish like this here all the time. Scott said the average keys bone is 6#. Mine was big, but theres a lot bigger ones here. Bones in the teens are caught by experienced and/or lucky anglers every year.

Jay

[jhaquett]

Wow, that's awesome. I think I saw that the world record is only like 17 pounds right? Did I see something outdated?