Finally Back on the Water

Posted on July 4, 2018 by Ed Mitchell

Finally Back on the Water:

After many weeks in dry dock, Monday I got my butt back on the water. Left the ramp around 7:30 Am, and paddled out into a sunny, calm morning. Felt good.

When I reached the sandbar I noticed that the water was a bit tannic from all the rain. Sight-fishing would be difficult. But that is to be expected at this time of year. The water temperature was 81 degrees (high tide) and the air temperature the same.

Many snook live where the sandbar meets the island

On my first cast I got a small snook. Not a bad way to begin the morning. And others came to the fly in short order. These guys are pretty much resident fish where the bar connects to the island. The best fishing for them is usually during the early hours of the incoming. Still some where still there at the upper stages of the tide. Saw no spotted sea trout or redfish, however.

As the sun approached the zenith, it bored down like a laser. Honestly it was more than I cared to deal with. I headed back home.

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water | Leave a comment

Red Tide in the Gulf fed by the Saharan Desert?

Posted on July 2, 2018 by Ed Mitchell

Red Tide in the Gulf fed by the Saharan Desert?

Recently an angler friend sent me a link to a study funded in part by NASA. This study looked at the effect the Saharan Desert has on red tide in the Gulf of Mexico. The Saharan and the Gulf are connected? Sounds mighty wild, no? Not only is the Saharan Desert is tens of thousands of miles to east, it is barren territory devoid of much life. How on earth could it encourage red tide here in Florida? How?

Well its a fascinating connection that shows just how interdependent our planet’s ecosystems are.  To learn more read this.

 

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Lake Okeechobee is an Enormous Problem

Posted on June 23, 2018 by Ed Mitchell

Lake Okeechobee is an Enormous Problem:

Lake Okeechobee is enormous. Covering over 720 square miles, it’s no wonder Okeechobee is called Florida’s inland sea. My god there is over a trillion gallons of water there. But Okeechobee is also an enormous problem.

The water’s of the lake are held back by earthen dam know as the Herbert Hoover dike. While the lake is a shallow body of water of about 9 feet, each year the rains of spring and summer push the lake higher, reaching 15, 16 feet or more. At present due to the record rain falls of May 2018, the lake is 17 feet, something not seen in 50 years. And we are in hurricane season too, a time when torrential rain events can happen at any time.

Given the poor condition of the dike ( It will take another 5 years to repair it) the Army Corp of Engineers has to be proactive release lake water in an effort to avoid a dike break that would threaten thousands of lives in the surrounding towns as well as the sugar cane industry nearby.

Some of the release goes eastward into the St. Lucie Estuary and some flows southward toward the Everglades, but most goes westward down the Caloosahatchee Rivers, exiting out onto Florida’s fabulously Treasure Coast. ( There it turns the the beautiful crystal water of the Gulf of Mexico around Sanibel and Captiva into a disgusting brown soup. Worse yet the lake water is loaded with pollutants, most notably agricultural runoff from local farming and the sugar industry. And along with these pollutants the lake releases its  enormous algae blooms, at present estimated to cover 102 square miles! All of it arriving on the coast poisoning the ecosystem, killing marine live and tourism. What a disaster!

The time is long over due for the state of Florida government to truly face the problem. Yes as we speak some political efforts are being made both in Tallahassee and Washington DC, but only after a huge outcry from the population. And it is also high time for the Florida legislature to realize that the sugar industry has become too powerful in Tallahassee. The industries pervasive lobbying efforts coupled with their generous offers of campaign cash has corrupted the system from the governor’s office on down. In turn the industry has prevented any serious Okeechobee water release reform that might effect their business. These companies are U.S. Sugar, the Sugar Growers of Florida Cooperative, and the Fanjul Corporation, collective referred to as “Big Sugar”, and behind closed doors as “the sugar racket”.

Post Script: Unfortunately more bad news. Red tide continues along our coast. Remember it arrived in late November and and should have been gone in a matter of weeks? But here we are six months later and the problem remains. Where the freak is this all headed? Is red tide poised to become a year-round phenomena?

Please check this out this link!!!!!  https://www.facebook.com/442147722805791/posts/634229996930895/

 

 

 

 

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Drinking a Pint on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Ed Mitchell

Drinking a Pint on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way:

Yesterday I came across a picture I hadn’t seen in 8 long years. It was one of many I took on my last visit to Ireland. It is a simple shot showing the interior of a pub where I spent a restful moment. It brought back many pleasant memories.

Back then I was fortunate enough to stay with old friends who lived on the Ring of Beara. They rent a home perched on a cliff with an unobstructed view of Kenmare Bay. The Ring of Beara is one of the most remote regions in the country. In fact some will tell you it is last vestiges of “old” Ireland, a place that time itself has passed by.

Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

During my three week stay I walked approximately 70 miles of the coast. In the mornings my friend would drive me in their Land Rover to a trail head. And then with backpack loaded with rain gear, camera, food and water I would strike off on my own. The areas I hiked each day are now part of what’s call Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. It is rugged and beautiful country indeed. Unequaled and unforgettable, many times it forced me to drop my pack and simply stare.

The Urhan Inn

Several days prior to this photograph, while riding around with my friends I noticed a long trail on a mountainside. With a little research I determined that the trail was actually the remnants of an old dirt road, that ended in Ahillies up by the famous copper mine. Based on that I made my plans.

Days later my friends dropped me off in Ahillies and I hiked up to the old copper mine and found the trail’s entrance. At first it was closed in on both sides with rock walls, but soon it opened. To my left the trail dropped away about 400 feet into a valley that ran westward to the sea. While to my right the mountain rose upwards another 300 feet or more. Given the narrowness of this old road and steep drop off to one side, it was hard to imagine than even a donkey cart could have made this journey, much less a car. In either event it would have been a hair raising ride.

After two hour’s of stunning views, I found a path, allowing me to descend the mountainside into a farmer’s field. From there I followed a path out to a small roadside pub, called the Urhan Inn. And there I drank a pint on the Wild Atlantic Way.

ps: if you wish to read more about my time on the emerald isle open the category “Ireland” and you’ll see additional posts.

Want to see more images of Ireland? Follow this link.

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June means Sand Eels

Posted on June 8, 2018 by Ed Mitchell

June means Sand Eels:

The first fly fishing article I ever sold was about sand eels. (here) The year was 1988. The magazine was Fly Fisherman. Seems like a long time ago my friend.

Why on earth did I pick that subject? I had been fishing the New England salt long enough at that point to know that sand eels were an extremely import forge base for striped bass, as well as many other marine critters. And I also realized that if you understood how sand eels conducted their lives your angling success would rise accordingly.

YOY June Sand eels

That article was not only my first, I believe it to be the first fly-fishing story ever written about the life cycle of a marine forage fish. Just as freshwater anglers benefit from their knowledge of mayflies and caddis, a salt angler benefit from knowing what their quarry eats. Hence you must be ready to “match” the marine.

School of June sand eels

One of the best ways to find sand eel, and therefore to find striped bass, is to locate sandy beaches that nesting terns call home. Terns love to feast on sand eels. Small oily and abundant and often in shallow water, sand eels are the perfect food for terns seeking to raise their young. In fact terns travel thousands of miles from their tropical winter grounds each spring to greet the sand eels.

Typically the best bass fishing usually occurs at dusk and false dawn, the hour before sunrise. Night fishing can be productive too, especially on a dropping tide that arrives in the wee hours. In all cases, a slow retrieves is the right deal. In areas of current, the rips on the Cape Cod come mind,  a sinking fly and even a sink tip line may be required but along most beaches a floating or intermediate fly line an unweighted fly is fine.

PS Many years later I did a second story on sand eels. Perhaps I’ll get around to posting that one too.

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Wild Things | Leave a comment