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Newest Fish Tale
 Bonefish: There's A Lot That Goes On In The Crazy Minds Of BoneFishermen
Posted by flyfshrmn82 on February 20, 2010 (693 reads)
My fingers lead the way with my hand and arm close behind in the attempt to hit the snooze button. It’s 4:45am. As I felt my way across the bed, my hand hurdled the gap between the bed and the night stand, but it falls a little short and jams one of my fingers into the nightstand. There’s nothing like a good case of expletives early in the morning to get the day off on the right foot. I begin to drift off again, until the sudden shrill of the hotel phone starts to ring (I love wake up calls). “They put these damn things right next to the head of the bed. Why do they have the ringer turned up so loud?” I ask myself as I reach over to answer it. I am awake now. Today is my last day, I have to get a bone on fly. I pack up all my gear, food, beer, and clothes and fire up the Yota. The humidity is up, the heat has already started, and the skeeters never sleep. Today is going to be a hot one for sure. I check out of the hotel, crack my first beer (5:30a), and make my way to Bob’s casa. I pull up to Bob’s house and find that he has already backed the trailer up to the boat, and is milling around the garage. Yep you guessed it, it was hot, humid, and skeeter abundant over there too. The game plan is discussed and we load up our gear, food and water and hit the road(6:00a).
We pull up to Don’s bait shop only to
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Florida Fly Fishing: One Day, One Fly & Six Species Of Fish
Posted by marshalld on August 08, 2009 (833 reads)
This was one of those rare days when it was all about the fly. I'm one of the guys who thinks that more often it's not so much about the fly, it's more about the presentation or the finickyness of the fish, or the tide, or the place, or something else that has to do with our hookup success (or failure). Not this day.
Tom Shadley of Mangrove Outfitters here in Naples, invited me to take an early morning trip around the bay and we were set up near the dock lights before sunrise. On this last day of July '09 it was already 80 degrees as I tied on a Bead Chain Eyed "Lightbulb" and cast under the dock. Soon, a small Snook ate, then another, then a Ladyfish, then more Snook. Tom hooked a Snook and it broke off....rare for Tom, but he was also fishing a Lightbulb.
We moved on to Dollar Bay, slowly riding South, staring at shorelines, looking for early morning rolling Tarpon. Tom reversed the skiff and pointed to a small cove. "There. See them?" I saw several rolling silvery forms and kept my eyes focused on them as Tom poled closer. One rolled within casting distance and I laid the Lightbulb within a foot of the ring, waited for it to sink, stripped twice and then it was like I was stuck to a log that pulled back, the Tarpon was in the air. The young Tarpon made two high jumps and gave up a strong fight. We grabbed the DNA Kit and Tom took a sample, scraping the jaw and bottling the sponge. I snapped a pic and retied the Lightbulb a third time.
We rode farther south to a beautiful shoreline where again, the brightness and flash of the fly drove several fish wild. A few more Snook, a hefty Jack Cravalle, even a small Grouper were fooled by
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Alberta, Canada Fly Fishing: Bruiser Bull Trout At Dusk
Posted by BigBear on May 11, 2008 (2669 reads)
Tonight was like any other spring night in Alberta, Canada. Scattered showers and a cool breeze barrelling off the foothills. I pulled my vest over my shoulder and headed out the door. Five minutes later I was standing on a sand bar rigging up my eight weight with 8 lb leader material and a large brown spun deer hair bugger. The river was still off colour but was on the mend. My plan was to wake my fly in the shallows near the current break where the silt was not as thick. I was sure a brown or maybe a bull trout was using this as an ambush location for wayward suckers and sculpins. Several casts in I had a boil behind my fly and I quickly flicked the rod tip to get the fly back in the zone. Wham a 17 inch bull raced off with my fly and a short while later I did a quick flip with the pliers and he was on his way.
The clean water from a spring was mixing with dirty water and a definite seam was forming downstream of me. I made a long cast and began my retrieve giving it some rod tip action and all of a sudden the line was ripping between my fingers. I was in to a big fish and quick minor adjustments to the drag on my real as he made time for the current. Pulling the rod low and the right I turned his head back into the back water. I thought for a second he
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Alaska: Big Rainbow Trout, Giant Char & Tons Of Grizzly Bears
Posted by kodiakcommando on August 06, 2007 (2124 reads)
Another day off in the 49th state gives me the choice of hopping on a plane and going fly fishing or staying at the lodge and doing laundry, I think I will go fly fishing! One of the cool things I can do here is if weight and weather allow I can hop on a plane already Taking a guide and clients out and fish on my own for my day off. Obviously clients come first and get the good water first but There is plenty of water and most clients are average fly fisherman at best leaving plenty of fish behind them! Today I am heading to the American river in Katmai National park, More specifically the Upper middle part as it is a long river and only parts can be coverd in a day. The first thing you will notice about this part of the river is it is classic pocket water fishing. For the most part it is shallow and fast so you must pick apart the river to find holding trout. I hop of the plane and hike 30 minutes to the river. I was really hoping for good weather so I could throw dries as the american in my opinion is the best dry fly fishing in alaska hands down and can rival anywhere in the west. Anyone who says alaska doesn't have good dry fly fishing has never fished here. There can be huge caddis hatches and big fish will crash them. I had one client this year use a size 12 elk hair caddis all day and catch 10, yes 10, rainbows between 23 and 26 inches. However the weather was pretty poor for dry fly fishing and when I got to the river the sockeye salmon were pairing up which was a first for this year. I knew from the number of pairs and trout sitting behind pairs that it was time for a bead. I was somewhat exited as when the fish get on eggs the fishing turns absolutely stupid however nothing beats getting big fish on the surface. I rig up my setup and cast in a big slick and
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Bonefish Paradise: French West Indies, Tailing Bones At Sunset
Posted by alexismt555 on January 27, 2007 (1777 reads)
On Friday January 19th I got on the flats from 16 H to 18 H 30 and the
tide was just starting to "downstream." The sun was already low making it fairly difficult to spot the Bonefish. I started walking to a part of the flats that often holds Permit. The wind was very calm. As I arrived at the spot, I spotted a permit cruising opposite of me with very low profile, no tail or V on the surface. I tried my luck with a first cast but was unsuccessful. As I was preparing to make a second cast the Permit disappeared into a depression on the flat and I never saw the fish again. I decided to stay on the flat for a bit, waiting for another fish to show. A Half an hour pass and nothing. No tailing, no nervous water and no tell tale V wakes on the surface. I headed to shallower water. This would enable me to reveal some tailing bones or any suspect activity in the water. Now, it was 17h30, the tide had only dropped a little and the visibility declined again. My last hope was that one of those Gray Ghosts would do me a favor and show a tail. There, Nervous water! I cast, strip, strip he missed. I only saw the tail of the bone as reached deeper water and he was gone!.
Now it is 18 H and my luck had really gone away and time had passed without me even knowing. In half an hour it would really be night time. I took off my polarized lenses as it was too dark for being useful. I walked down the flat following the tide for a last time before getting in the
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