Ed Mitchell Outdoors

Dave Beall is an Extraordinary Angler

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Ed Mitchell

If you fish long enough in an area, you’ll likely come across a special person, someone who always seems to find and catch fish regardless of the situation. On my home waters, Dave is that special person, no question about it. Dave Beall is an extraordinary angler.

Dave Beall is an Extraordinary Angler

Despite heavy winds, small craft warnings and a dose of red tide, yesterday Dave landed 9 redfish on a fly. Folks that’s simply unheard of in this neck of the woods, even in good conditions. To do it under poor conditions, however, is flat out amazing. No wonder people call him “The Fish Whisperer”.

Dave Beall is an Extraordinary Angler

As luck would have it, I met Dave early on after moving to Florida. And it didn’t take long for me to see he was a highly-skilled fly fisherman. Yeah, I was impressed and eventually wrote a story centered on Dave for the 2016, April/ March issue of American Angler.

Dave Beall is an Extraordinary Angler

Now get this: Dave is willing to share his knowledge. How cool is that? No that doesn’t mean I’ll rise to his level, but it does ensure I’ll improve. And there is nothing wrong with that!

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water | 2 Comments

Red Tide in Charlotte Harbor?

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Ed Mitchell

Red Tide in Charlotte Harbor? I was back on the water this morning and noticed a large number of dead fish floating in the tide, including nice reds. Not good. Not good at all. It sure looked like Red Tide. Hopefully I’m wrong. (See Update)

Red Tide in Charlotte Harbor?

Red Tide is a naturally occurring toxic algae bloom, noted as far back as the Spanish Explorers. But it can also be a sign of coastal eutrophication What is that? The term comes from the Greek meaning “highly-enriched”. In short polluted, typically with excess nitrogen and phosphorus,which greatly accelerate algae growth. They also cause hypoxia – low dissolved oxygen. Shallow bodies of water such Charlotte Harbors are particularly prone, especially when heavily developed. They receive nutrients off the land from both point and non-point source runoff.

Red Tide in Charlotte Harbor?

The dirty water we had to swallow all summer from Lake Okeechobee is not helping things one little bit. And it could even be the source of most of the problem. That water is loaded with agricultural pollutants, and we had a huge amount of that crap coming down the Chattahoochee River. It’s an enormous environmental problem without easy solution.

Is it safe to eat fish in a red tide bloom? Scientist tells us it is okay, but not to eat shellfish or a dead fish or distressed fish. And one should not touch dead or distressed fish, swim in a red tide area, or breath the air. In short steer clear.

Sargassum

I also have notice a marked increase in sargassum. It is piling up big time. Is there a connection? Frankly I don’t know. Might be just a coincidence. But it could be that the same currents and tides that brought the sargassum into the Harbor also carried the red tide algae.

Posted in Environment | 2 Comments

Yesterday Morning’s “Tailing” Red

Posted on November 14, 2016 by Ed Mitchell

Yesterday morning I caught a boat ride with my friend Dave. We left the ramp at 6AM in the dark and headed up to a productive flat. The tide was scheduled to hit dead low around 7Am. So we had a decent water levels to search for “tailing” redfish, the last of the ebb and the first of the flood Weather conditions were in our favor too. After weeks of high wind, the air was still.

Yesterday Morning’s “Tailing” Redfish

As usual things didn’t work exactly as planned. The first couple hours were a total bust. Not a single “tailer” showed. Disappointing. But later when the tide began to fill in the flat, things improved. At that point I got lucky and spied a red feeding along the inside edge of the bar. Back lit by the low sun, it’s tail glowed electric red. What a sight! And this fish was aggressive, swirling and chewing on something in the weeds. Likely a blue crab. By the time I got in place the tail disappeared, but a moment later it popped back up. I dropped a fly near its head and the red slammed it. Hallelujha !!!

Unweighted Crab Fly

This chunky dude run twice into the backing, putting a big bend in my 6-weight fly rod. Strong red. It measured 29″ and likely weighted about 9 pounds. Now that’s a good morning! What was the fly? An unweighted crab fly, similar to the one above.

Posted in Fly Fishing in Salt Water | Leave a comment

The Half & Half is a Great Fly

Posted on November 8, 2016 by Ed Mitchell

No question, the Half & Half is a great fly. Not familiar with the Half & Half? You should be. Its two of the finest flies ever devised melded together. It is half Lefty’s Deceiver and half Clouser Deep Minnow. That’s right an unabashed attempt to get the best of both worlds.

The Half & Half is a Great Fly

The Half & Half is an easy fly to tie. Basically you have a Deceiver wing in the back and a Clouser wing in the front. Nothing complicated there, right? Its a very effective mix, and can be tied a wide range of sizes and color combinations. I especially like this fly in small sizes for shallow water work. There its has proven successful for striped bass, bluefish, fluke, redfish, snook, and speckled seatrout.

My shallow water version is seen in the photo above. It rides a size 2 hook, carrying a 1/36 ounces lead eye. A good generally purpose size and weight for skinny waters, one that can be cast even on a 6 or 7-weight fly rod. On very thin flats, I may go even smaller. A size 4 or 6 hook and a 1/50 ounces lead eye. The fly in the picture has a rear wing comprised of two “Cree” hackles; I keep this fly sparse so it sinks fast. The front wing is brown bucktail. In an effort to add a little flash, I wrapped the shank with Bill’s Bodi braid. Yes, of course, I just had to tie in rubber legs too. They are killer.

In stained water locations I tie this fly entirely in chartreuse. In clear water, chartreuse can be quite good as well, but typically I rely on subtler colors as you see above. Other proven color schemes I recommend are green over white. This is a good mix especially where you have slim bait fish such as sand eel. (See photo below), or black over white, and all black (night work). That said, I’m sure bright “attracter” colors such as orange over yellow can be useful at times.

Green over White Half & Half

Right retrieve you ask? In the shallow stuff, I tend to hop this fly back, with a stop-and-go retrieve. Hey, experiment and see what works for you. Give this fly a try. I know you’ll be glad you did. More on this fly

Posted in Flies and Fly Tying | Leave a comment

Pine Island Fly Fishers October 2016

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Ed Mitchell

Last night at the Matlacha Community Center Park, The Pine Island Fly Fishers held their first meeting of the season. It was advertised as a general fly-fishing “Tune-up” with demonstrations on fly tying, fly casting, knots, and leaders. And it went off well. In fact the parking lot was full.

Captain Joe Harley tying a tarpon toad

Captain Joe Harley whipped up a few Tarpon Toads in small sizes that he recommends for redfish. The fly is tied entirely with EP fibers. Meanwhile, nearby Dan Ferraris tied up his good looking Maribou Marauder, and Forrest Bolebruch showed us his intricate little Redfish Giblet. All of them great flies.

Dan Ferraris working on a Marabou Marauder

Gulfside Marine came by too, and displayed two full tricked out Nucanoe kayaks. These puppies had it all from soup to nuts – casting braces, electric trolling motor, outboards, power poles, you name it. The sky is the limit with kayaks these days. What’s next. A head perhaps? Ask and you shall receive!

Gulfside Marine Nucanoe

Gulfside Marine Nucanoe

Also in attendance was Captain Scott Swartz, a Federation of Fly Fishers Master Certified Casting Instructor. Scott talked a bit about his Florida Fly Fishing School. If you’re new to fly-fishing or simply wanted to improve your skills, check out his school.