Cold Front on the Flats

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Ed Mitchell

For the last several days our weather pattern has been unsettled. Northeast winds, northwest winds, dropping temperatures, clouds, and gusty winds. As you might imagine, a cold front on the flats is the kiss of death. Yeah, flats fishing went to hell in a hand basket. Damn.

December Redfish

December Redfish

I did get out for five hours on Sunday. We had a low tide around midday. I launched around 8:30AM, but I saw zero “tails” in the last hours of the ebb, or the first hours of the flood.  Not good.

Switching gears, I began blind-casting along the sandbar with an 8-weight rod and a weighted fly. A northwest wind was breaking waves along the bar’s outside edge. Looked fishy enough. Working my way down the surf line I eventually found one lone, cooperative redfish. So it wasn’t a total bust. But I sure would like some calm stable weather.

 

 

 

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Fished the Flats with Dave

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Ed Mitchell

On Friday, I fished the flats with Dave. I’ve spoke of him in the past; he is the most knowledgeable fly angler in this area. No kidding, this dude is a flats guru. So, an opportunity to fish with him is a opportunity to learn. I’m down with that.

We left the ramp at 6:15 in his john-boat. With a low scheduled around 9, we hoped to find a few “tailing” reds in the ebbing tide. It was a high dawn, quite a bit of cloud cover, and a light northeast breeze. Not perfect conditions, but not bad.

Fishing the Flats with Dave

Fishing the Flats with Dave

At the flat, Dave and I climbed out and waded a mile of water, without seeing much at all. Disappointing. At that point I turned back to try fishing the outer edge of the sandbar. Dave continued wading. Eventually Dave caught two “tailers” roughly another mile to the south. His long trek had paid off.

Later we saw the smoke trail from Cape Canaveral, as project Orion rocketed skyward. Yeah, the journey to Mars has begun. An amazing sight.

By now, the sun was up and the clouds were breaking. Dave said he knew of a spot where we could sight-fish for cruising reds. Fine by me. We took a ride. When we arrived, the tide was flooding, and we had some sunlight to work with. We jumped out and began slowly moving in unison about forty feet apart. Immediate Dave spotted reds. Things were looking up. Within a few minutes, he hooked and landed a nice 28 “incher” on a crab fly. Dave is a force on these flats, believe me. My turn was next. I spied two reds traveling parallel to me. I cast ahead of them and, with luck, landed the lead fish. Yes, I’m learning a little day by day.

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The Flats were Dead Today

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Ed Mitchell

On my home flat, some spots are better than others. No surprise there. Where the habitat is best, the fishing is best. Right? That said, on any given day you still can’t predict with 100 percent reliability where the bite will happen. It might be a 150 yards to the north of you. Or it might be 450 yards, or two miles, to the south. Yes, fish swim. And because of it, anglers must be ready to move too.

The Flats were Dead Today

The Flats were Dead Today

There are also days when an entire area lights up. You bail fish in your spot. Figure you have solved today’s puzzle, only to learn back at the boat ramp that other anglers in other locations did equally well. These widespread bites often occur either just before a front; or when environmental conditions suddenly improve after a long spell of bad weather.

Lastly, there are times when the flats go dead for miles. Today I poled about two miles to the north, hoping to see “tailing” reds. Conditions were fair and the tide was right. Zero “tails”. Disappointed, I turned around and slowly worked back south. Still nothing. In fact, during today’s 4 mile journey I never saw a single fish of any kind. Wow.

Back at the ramp, as I was taking out the Adios, a commercial mullet man pulled up. Immediately, he inquired how the fishing was. I said “terrible”. He shook his head. He then told me he had traveled 7 miles to the south, and saw only one small fish the entire distance. The flats were dead today. And I have no idea why.

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Fishing an Unfamiliar Flat

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Ed Mitchell

I started saltwater fly-fishing in the Northeast, over thirty years ago. My focus during much of the time was shore fishing for striped bass. It became quickly apparent that finding the fish was the first, and ultimately the biggest, challenge. Compared to a trout stream, coastal waters are vast, and ever changing. So to be successful you had to learn how to read beaches.

One thing I discovered to be very helpful back then was this: start by learning your home waters well. Pick a beach, and then work hard to unravel its secrets. Once you do, you can use that information to fish unfamiliar locations.

Fishing an Unfamiliar Flat

Fishing an Unfamiliar Flat

Here in Florida I spent the last two seasons mainly on my local flats. Figuring them out has been a slow process and I’m still learning. But now I feel more confident in my angling ability. And I’m ready to branch out.

Yesterday I did just that, fished a new spot. As you can see in the photo, I have a chart with me. I’m studying the shape of the shoreline, looking for creek mouths, watching the varying depths, and varying types of bottom habitat. It was exciting to exploring, fun to be fishing an unfamiliar flat.

Posted in Diablo Adios & Chupacabra, Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Looking Downward | Leave a comment

Fog and Wind on the Flats

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Ed Mitchell
Fog on the Flats

Fog and Wind on the Flats

A few mornings back, there was both fog and wind on the flats. Unusual. The fog eliminated any chance of sight-fishing, at least in the usual sense. But reds “tail” better in a fog, so there is a trade off. Although the wind was no help in that department.

This was advection fog, arriving on a south-southeast breeze. A wind from this direction brought the necessary warmth and moisture to create the situation in the first place. But that south-southeast wind did something else that took me by surprise.

A north wind in Charlotte Harbor speeds up an ebbing tide, and can produce extremely shallow conditions. This is a common occurrence during the winter months. And greatly increases the likelihood of boaters running aground. But I now know that a strong south wind can do the reverse, stalling an ebbing tide in its tracks. On the morning in question the tide never dropped very far. And that reduced my chances at finding “tailing” reds. Oh well.

 

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