Nov 16, 2009

Went out this morning to do some fishing on my own. As a guide I tend to get in a rut every now and then by fishing the same areas that tend to produce fish more often than not. As a guide that is what we have to do, so many time we overlook areas that we haven't fished in a while because we don't want to test it out with a paying customer, so today was my day to fish some places that I don't get the opportunity to explore enough. unfourtunatly the water was very high and milky from a storm that was producing a big swell and pushed a large amount of water into the Indian River, so conditions where not prime but we went anyway. The day produced lots of Ladyfish and Jacks and a few Snook out of the mangroves from areas I haven't fished in a while.

Sailfish!!!

Great day of live chumming! We had a couple suprise visitors. Landed one of two we hooked. A Sailfish eating a bait a couple feet behind the boat really gets the blood pumping. If it dosn't your not alive or really don't like fishing. Thanks to my buddy Capt. John Meskauskas for shooting the photos while he was next to us, he ended up hooking and landing one as well.

Overdue Report

This report is long overdue...Sorry! Fishing this Summer has been great to say the least. The Snook bite in July has been great on Fly and spin, I have tried a few different things this year with the flyrod and all have been successful. I wish I was better at always taking pictures of every fish that my charters have caught but I am still guilty of not always having my camera with me, but here are a few.

Early Morning inlet Snook on Fly.

and another.

Coming at ya!

Beach Tarpon on Spin.

Another inlet Snook.

My wife Amy with a False Albacore on Fly.

This is a picture of a Tarpon in the North Fork of the St. Lucie river that my client hooked on a soft plastic bait called a B.F.L. made by D.O.A. lures here in Stuart Florida. B.F.L. stands for big fish lure, or something else, just use your imagination. Well it worked on this big Tarpon, the pic was taken by my good friend Capt. John Meskauskas, he stepped on my boat to get this amazing shot as you can see the B.F.L. is sliding up the line and still in frame. We had the fish on for a few more jumps before it wore through the 60# leader. Click on the image to get a better look.

Thanks for reading I'll try to post more often.

Tarpon

Conditions on the beach this June have been amazing to say the least, and the Tarpon are here in good numbers. I have been fishing four to five days a week and the fish have cooperated on most days, the weekends have been tuff because of boat traffic...which is is a nice way to put it. Here are a few pics from today. For daily reports check the side bar on the right for my Twitter updates, Thanks for reading.

Tarpon season is upon us!

June is just days away and with that comes the feeling of Tarpon in the air. The morning air is thick and humid and the ocean is a sheet of glass. It's the one time of year that really gets me jazzed to fish. After four or five days in a row guiding if the Tarpon are around you'll still find me getting up to fish on my days off. Whether it's with my wife Amy or my dad you will usually find me out looking for the Silver King. Today even though we didn't catch a Tarpon we did see what I consider my first migrating school of Tarpon moving up the beach. After looking for another hour or so to no avail I decided to go Permit fishing and hit the jackpot of silver. I pulled up to the spot to see black sickle tails protruding above the glassy surface. I called my good bud John Meskauskas who was also on a charter up the beach looking for Tarpon and told him to get here ASAP the Permit are thick. We each hooked quite a few and landed a couple a piece, if we had more Crabs we could have both had a banner Permit day.

Phil Beranato and his 25 pound permit.

For everyone who comes to fish here in the winter and gets blown out. This is what the Ocean looks like in the summer.

Fishing with the Southern Angler

It's been a long time since my last report, so I at least want to post some pictures of charters from the last month or so. Here are a few!

Glenn Dell with a nice Redfish!

Peter Mandeville with a big Fat Snook at a early morning dock light

John Chamberlin with a late morning Snook near the inlet.

Mark Eustis hooked up with a April beach Jack.

The outcome.

The wind is not my friend

JD Delmonico with a Beach Jack on a less than nice day on the beach.
A true 30 pounder on a perfect beach day in April.

The fishing this time of year is so good, but the wind can be a real pain in the butt in March and April. The days we can sneak outside the inlet during these months are sometimes few and far between it seems, but when it all comes together the fishing can be awesome. It's real cool to pull up to a school of Giant Jacks with all their tails poking through the glassy surface as they daisy chain in a circle. I have seen it thousands of times but it still makes me want to drop a popper fly in the middle of them every time, and it gives most first timers what I call jack fever. We have been fortunate enough as of late to be able to make it out and fish the beach a hand full of times and it never seems to disappoint.

A small school of big Jacks Daisy chaining on the surface.

Summer is in our sights

Bud Scheie with a nice beach Cobia on fly

We have seen some hints of summer in the past few weeks, and the fishing is showing it. I was training my 3 labs at a ranch west of Stuart this past weekend and the thermometer on my truck read 88 degrees. The ocean has flattened out for us a few times and luckily I had charters scheduled and was able to take advantage of the great conditions. Local resident Bud Scheie has been trying to get out with me to fish the Giant jacks on fly but the conditions in the ocean never cooperated with us. Last week though it all came together and we were able to make it out. The weather was perfect, flat seas, no wind, warm water, and a full tank of gas so we could track the Jacks down. Unfortunately the Jacks had other plans on this day and didn't want to show up and play our game. We covered many miles up and down the beach to no avail, but the fish Gods didn't leave us empty handed they bestowed upon us a couple nice schools of Cobia. Bud made some great casts with his 12 wt rod and was rewarded with a nice cobia on the fly and a great dinner that night. We'll get those jacks next time Bud! On a side note my charter the next day yielded a dozen Giant Jack hookups on fly and we landed probably six of them the biggest being 27 pounds the smallest around 20. My clients that day where Mark Denigris and his buddy Marc Brock from New York. It just goes to show that things can change on the water very fast, for the good or bad. To bad for Bud he was a day early.

Dock Lights

As promised here are a few shots from charter last night. Chris Oliver... what a great guy, I could tell he is very passionate about fly fishing. We had to work hard for the fish we caught last night (which is not typical of Snook fishing on the dock lights). We are still dealing with some wind and cool water temps, but the great thing is we live in south Florida where we can always find something to bend a rod. Chris is from the coast of Maine where they have been up to their neck in snow for months with nothing to do but watch fishing shows on TV. He luckily decided to drive south for a month to get his fishing fix.

Stuart Fly Fishing in Springtime

With the given economy. I've got to say people are still down this year and willing to fish. I have stayed fairly busy so far this year, not as busy as some, but better than most. Spring is in the air and I really get jazzed up to fish and guide this time of year. The big Jacks and Cobia start showing on the beach, soon after that the Tarpon and permit and then you move into full blown Summer and the Snook fishing is off the hook, not to mention the Little Tunny and the rest of the offshore species that us inshore guides catch in the Summer...It's a great time of year to fish Stuart Florida. Yesterday I fished with Jerry Nergo from Boston Mass. Jerry was just looking to get out and bend a fly rod which is what we tried for, unfortunately we had one of those super windy late February days and the fishing was tough. We did manage some Ladyfish and Jerry managed to hook a big Snook in the south Fork of the St Lucie but the fish didn't stay hooked long. After checking a few spots that baby Tarpon tend to hold in the winter with no luck we called it a day and headed to the dock, again thank goodness for Ladyfish on windy days. Tonight I have a night fly fishing trip which should go well the Snook fishing at night has been great this winter. I will report back tomorrow.