Kayaking for the Silver King

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Right now tarpon are scarce in front of my marina, although jumbos hangout there regularly in early spring. Ten miles down the road in Matlacha, however, there are plenty of silver kings. Its a very cool location for many reasons. So I launched the Adios there yesterday.

At one point I had a couple dozen tarpon rolling within 100 feet of me. These are youngsters, mind you, not the real big boys. Turned out to be very tough. Lotsa casts, lotsa fly changes. Nothing. And then…. bingo hookup!  Got a couple of jumps from a fish or 15-20 pounds. Didn’t last long, but hey, kayaking for kings is muy caliente, amigo!

 

 

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Reeling in Reds, Fly Fishing for Redfish

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Right now I’m seeing more snook than anything else. Believe me that’s fine by me, but I’m enjoying other species as well. Spotted Seatrout are eager biters, tend to fight on top, and look a bit like their northern cousin the Weakfish. Mangrove Snapper take a fly, and fight surprisingly well for their size. I run into Jack Crevalles as well; they are eager biters too, and exceedingly tough customers. Hats off to those hardy hombres.

Redfish on the flats

The other customer I see on the flats is the Redfish. Besides being an attractive quarry, they are excellent fighters. Super on a fly rod. They run hard and bore deep like a striped bass. I’m impressed by the Reds. Would love to meet more of them.

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Jumping a Tarpon at First Light

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Yesterday I got down to the ramp at first light. As I’m dropping the Adios into the drink I spy a fin glide by, 20 feet away. Tarpon. Damn, I pick up the rod and fire a fly. Wham, the tarpon rolls on the it but misses! The next cast is right on his snout and he gulps big time. The rod bucks and off the tarpon roars, crashing through the marina night. A moment later he is free.  Jumping a tarpon at first light? Its already a great day.

Later out on the flats, the snook bite is on. Not as good as the day before, but plenty of action. And one is near 30 inches. He stages a long, sweet slug-fest of runs and aerial action. I’m in heaven; my biggest snook yet on the 6-weight.

6-Weight Snook Morning

That fine fish took a slider. And the surface strike was a thing of beauty. Turns out surface flies work wonderfully down here. In this case I was using a small silver Farnsworth Slider. A slow retrieve and a floating fly line round out the presentation. Next I going to try bigger sliders and poppers. Yes, going to have to dig out the 10-weight for those flies.

Farnsworth Slider

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Kayak / SUP Fishing | 2 Comments

Snook on a Fly

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Snook on a 6-weight fly rod

After 30 years chasing striped bass in the New England suds, these southern flats felt a might foreign, my friend. But I’m getting dialed in!

Had a very good morning. Hooked 12 snook, landed 11, all on a 6-weight fly rod. The largest couple of fish were around 27inches. What a major blast! Snook remind me very much of striped bass.  And that is muy cool amigo. Both are ambush predators, that prefer low light, structure, and current. Stripers are more powerfully built; still snook fight very hard and can jump. Standard striper flies work fine on snook – just scaled them down a couple sizes – although it seems to me snook like a slightly different retrieve. Looking to learn more, tide by tide.

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Bought a Diablo Adios

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Ed Mitchell

Bought a Diablo Adios

 Bought a Diablo Adios today.  http://www.diablopaddlesports.com/ Crazy craft. A hybrid critter, half SOT kayak, half SUP.  Stability, you ask? In spades my brother. A yard wide. You can stand right up, drift with the wind and fly cast all day long. Gotta love that. Finally I’m fishing the Florida flats for real.

Sure flats boats are way cool. So why a “yak”. Well you’re talking with a guy that rowed a McKenzie boat for over a decade. At heart I’m a small craft dude, bigger boats have never called to me. I love the physical nature of rowing and paddling. Muscle, sinew, and bone against the elements.  It feels so very right, so very real. Its also clean, cost effective, sleathly, sight-fishing capable, and you can get out an wade! Ecologically friendly? Yup. Doing my part to keep things green too. Screw those deep-vee hull and their tripower outboards. May they find a home in Hades.

Hit the flats around 7 Am this morning.  Light SE winds. Took 5 minutes to paddle from the marina to the promised land. Caught a few fish, saw thousands more. Fun

 

Posted in Diablo Adios & Chupacabra, Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Gear, Kayak / SUP Fishing | 4 Comments