Mark’s Bluefin Tuna

Mark’s Bluefin Tuna

Mark’s Bluefin Tuna

Well Mark sure is happy with this one, a tuna of abut fifty pounds on light spin gear. What a war that must have been! Freshwater, saltwater, it doesn’t matter. Mark is one hell of an angler. Thumbs up dude.

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Sight-Fishing for Big Redfish

Sight-Fishing for Big Redfish

In my experience, sight-fishing for redfish typically involves reds from 22″- 28″. Why? These are the red most often found in shallow water were sight-fishing is done. But there are exceptions, such as a redfish recently caught by my friend Dave. This chunk is 35″ long; that’s beast.

Dave tells me that he saw a group of reds traveling in a sand tough, a narrow trench-like structure often found running along the inside edge of a sand bar. In fact, I can see the bar in the background. He cast a fly ahead of the reds, allowing it to sink before retrieving it along the bottom. The largest red in the group shot out and nailed the fly. That bad boy torn off 50 yards into the backing more than once before Dave could land it. What a war and his biggest red in two years.

So what fly did the honors? It was Dave’s favorite shrimp pattern, seen above. Dave’s ties it on a number 2 Gamakatsu hook, with a long orange craft fur tail, orange crystal flash chenille and grizzle hackle. The fly is weighted, as you can see, and trimmed to ride hookup. Great job Dave!

 

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Diablo

Diablo Paddlesports Adios

In my Florida flats fishing days, I depended on an Adios. Made by Diablo Paddlesports, it is a hybrid craft, a cross between a paddleboard and a SOT kayak. It served me well, taking me to tarpon, redfish, pompano, snook and spotted seatrout. Not sure it is still in production? But if you’re looking for a shallow water, stealthy, stable, sight-fishing flats machine, this baby shines.

 

 

 

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Check Your Kayak Straps in the Morning

Check Your Kayak Straps in the Morning

If you relatively new to securing a kayak on your car’s roof, allow me to offer a tip. Years ago, while living in Florida, I used my kayak nearly each single day for years.  Naturally I wanted to get to the water as early as possible. Hey fishing is fishing. To avoid a rush in the morning, typically I secured the board on the car’s roof the night before. It was a great time saver. And since I lived in a gated community theft was unlikely.

In the process, however, I quickly learned something very important. The drop in air temperature overnight, while not huge, was enough to cause my kayak to shrink a smidge. And in turn the straps were no longer real tight. Now I was lucky. The ramp was less than a mile away on a 25 mile per hour side street. But if I had to go out on the main road, loose straps could cause a real problem.

Always check your kayak straps in the morning. Make it standard procedure. Believe me. And the same goes for mounting a canoe on top of the car as well. Check it.  And if I was planning on going out on the main road, where the speed limit was 55, I also did something else. In the photo there are no lines off the bow or the transom. Those lines became standard procedure too.

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Tying Some Caddis Pupae

Tying Some Caddis Pupae

My first post on the importance of caddis pupae goes back some  14 years ago. True. And I still feel they are one of the most valuable flies in your bag of trout tricks. Okay, I’ll even take it a step farther – I’m referring to bead-head caddis pupae.

Getting the materials Ready

Why caddis pupae? They are the majority of hatches you see on most streams. And they span the entire year. Now your collection of caddis pupae should come in wide range of  sizes. Likely from size 10# on down to size 24#. So you’ll need a range of hooks and beads to match.

A Wide Range of Sizes

 

 

 

 

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