feast or famine

Its been a strange month, cold windy, one nice day, cold windy,coldddddddddd, windy, cold windyyyy no days nice then one day nice.

The problem this month is cold water, sunday the 20th in the park it was 58 degrees and on saturday in the bay it was 64-65. When you find fish on the flats they are not eating, parked in the mud or on the grass they simply swim away from your flys. I found one 60 lb tarpon laid up and Paul an angler from PA made several casts that were perfect but it simply swam away in cold and overcast. He did catch eight smaller tarpon that day in a warmer area in the park (flamingo) but that was it for the day hence the title above. Same for the bay, tarpon in the morning with Carl and John one for ten and then in the north bay only sighting one permit and maybe one bone and seeing many cuda's that ran from our flies.

Fly fishing in salt is a tough deal, in fact the toughest on the planet especially here. Flies have no smell and movement is minimal compared to lures and bait on spin. I can cover an area much faster than a flyrod with spin and wind has little effect on it and lures are vast.

But that's the challenge and when the line comes tight in your hand, its worth the hassle and wait.

Big doings will occur soon, watch the water temps to average 75 and its off to the races.

March is here but........

Ok March is here, but fishing is slow except for a few bright spots. The last fly tournament in the keys was horrible, the winner caught a few reds and a snook with the majority of anglers catching nothing. Murray key water temp yesterday was 59 DEGREE's!

The water is freezing..... the fish are cold and we need warmth...

Having said that the tarpon fishing has been good on fly and bass fishing has been excellent.

Soon the water will warm and with a bluebird sky tarpon fishing will go crazy along with everything else. Cindy my wife and I went bass fishing a week ago and fishing was incredible. She caught bass after bass on streamer flys and I did the same with Steve Kanters poppers that use big rubber legs with flash and squirrel tail hair for the tail.

the cold wont let go...

Another week of cold water temps and wind. Soon it will abate and the fishing will improve. Having said that bass fishing is excellent right now along with cuda's and tarpon. There is allways fish to found somewhere.
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Permit and bonefishing is slow right now compared to warmer times. Watch the water temps they tell the story. Angle for fish that are not effected as much by the cold like trout, ladyfish, macks etc.

tarpon an bass

Today we have a west wind as another front approaches. Bass are on in the glades with catches of 100 fish possible. Throw poppers on the edges and if that doesnt work try a sinking fly.

Last week my clients went 3 for 25 (or more) on fly for tarpon in two trips. On friday the wind was "gale force" with rain but we had to go and it was excellent tarpon fishing. I wanted to go since I knew I would have the water to myself and I did. The biggest problem I have on the water is cloud cover, wind and rain can be dealt with but no sun kills my sight fishing.

For tarpon pick a good tide early morning with wind in your favor and your in.

I took my wife Cindy to the glades yesterday, she hammered the bass and then I took her to a super secret tarpon spot as the sun set. She had double digit sized fish rolling all around the boat. As these huge female fish rolled she noted that it would be near impossible to land one! Some went 120lb's or bigger. I was happy she had the rod in her hand and not in mine!

cold and more cold

Its mid feb and its still cold. We had a serious snook kill in the park and lost lots of small tarpon. This spring will be the barometer of the snook kill as they emerge on to the flats.
Water temps have been in the sixties most areas, however if you check out a sat photo of water temps you will see that the gulf stream has temps in the seventies which helps keep the bay warmer which it has.
Tarpon fishing there has been excellent and will continue into April, also baracudas, sharks and bonefish are still on the flats and are a good bet.
Pick you tides/days. Water temps in the seventies will add the odds in your favor.

My tip: Believe what you see and 10% of the dock talk that you hear. Slant and outright untruths about catches by fisherman are as common as saltwater. Create a plan and STICK TO IT. Never let dock talk sway a plan or you will be sorry.......... I personally dont care what others are doing on forums or elsewhere, rely on your experience and judgement and you cant go wrong.