Fishin the "Glades"

 

 
Gary and I flew to Fort Meyers, then drove to Naples on Tuesday for three days of fishing with Capt. Jon Sebold.  Gary had fished with Capt. Jon several years ago and has been talking about going back ever since. A cold front, actually two, and strong winds prevented us from fishing in the gulf, so Capt. Jon got his flats boat and we headed to the Everglades. Each day, we dressed a little warmer and put in at Chokoloskee Island in the northwest part of Everglades National Park


  I have always pictured the Everglades as very narrow creeks flowing through the mangroves. The amount of open water, large rivers and bays really surprised me. The first morning after passing over several bodies of open water, traveling up wide and fairly wide rivers at nearly open throttle, we were going up a narrower creek at the required "no wake" speed and came up to two park rangers.  Capt. Jon showed them the required license, life preservers and throw cushion and then we were on our way to the next bay and some tarpon fishing.  If you are only interested in fly fishing, let me say right away that I left my fly tackle at home and was using spinning outfits.  After the three days, I've probably redeveloped all of my bad habits, not that I was ever a good caster.

The first day proved fun and eye opening, but was very slow. I think of it as a day of ones.  I saw one dolphin, one shark, one alligator and Gary had one very good hook-up. A very nice tarpon that unfortunately took one great leap and shook loose from the hook.  He left Gary with a souvenir, a scale that a half dollar would not cover up, perhaps not even a silver dollar. Both the captain and Gary guessed that the tarpon would have been in the hundred pound class.  Gary caught one that large last time he was down. That was the only hook-up on the first day. A few more tarpon were seen, a few takes, but no hook-ups.

Thursday morning was colder and windier than Wednesday.  We decided to target redfish and snook on this day. The Lady fish had a different idea.  It seems like every place we cast they were present. When the ladies took your lure they started shaking and dancing all over the water.  Although they are fun to catch, we were looking for snook and redfish. We also got into some sea trout and that is when I got lucky.  The Audubon book says the sea trout get up to 28 inches and this one that I caught and Capt. Jon is holding for me is very close to that size, if not larger.

 Thursday gave us many more fish than the previous day, but no redfish and no snook. We did catch lots of ladyfish and sea trout.  Lots of fun, but not what we were looking for.  We saw more alligators, pictures follow, and a couple of sharks.  The captain said he hit a bull shark twice on the nose with his pole when the shark came up to investigate.  Later we saw another large shark that was swimming on his side and not showing his dorsal fin.  Sick or injured, or just acting strange?

 

 The gator shown here followed us up this creek and kept cruising past us.  He was there when we were fishing and came to look at us when we were having lunch. In the last of these three pictures you can see him between the captain and Gary. He's not too far from the boat. Its possible he thought our bottles of water were fish and that's why he stuck around.

 Wednesday we were dressed even warmer.  I believe Gary and I each had two long sleeve shirts, a fleece vest and a rain jacket, we were also wearing rain pants to act as a wind breaker.  It was a very cold, for Florida, morning so we had decided to start a little later than the previous two days.

As on the previous day, we went after snook and redfish, but started with ladyfish and a couple of trout.  Then we finally found some snook.  They are definitely fun to catch; good, strong fighters and, yes, I speak from experience as I managed to catch a few nice size ones.  I believe it was some time after lunch when we finally found a couple of redfish and a few more snook. Wish I could describe what it was like to catch a redfish, but I still haven't experienced that yet. Gary landed one or two, but all I managed on Friday were snook, sea trout and, of course, a couple of ladyfish.

I really enjoyed the trip.  Gary is always fun to fish with even if he doesn't fly fish.  Capt. Jon was helpful and you could tell he enjoyed what he was doing. Good time, I'm sure I'd do it again, but perhaps when its a little warmer.

Now a few more pictures.

What I thought all of the Everglades looked like.
 

A Favorite Fly?

 

When asked if I have a favorite fly, I usually reply that it depends upon what I’m fishing for. That’s probably not true since I find that I’m usually fishing for trout and I tie one fly or should I say type of fly more than any other.

When I first discovered the joys of fly fishing, back in the 90”s, I predominately used wooley buggers and prince nymphs. Then I moved down here, found River Runners on the internet and started fishing midges under an indicator.  I also started going to Bass Pro Shop on Tuesdays where Steve Fritz teaching fly tying.  It seemed like every week River Runners was telling what the new hot midge was and I had to tie them and fish them.  I usually did okay

 But I never really did enjoy watching an indicator.  There is nothing wrong with that type of fishing, I just never mastered it.

 

Then one night at Fritz’s class we tied soft hackles and Steve described how he liked to fish this particular fly.  The next time I went to Taneycomo, I tried soft hackles and I’ve been hooked since then. I tie mine light so they swing just under the surface of the water in the film.  Its fun to watch the fish rise to take one, almost as much fun as fishing a dry, but with a soft hackle the fish often hooks itself.  That eliminates the hesitation needed when you see a trout rising to the dry.
 

Do I match the hatch? No.  Try to duplicate the size? No. I almost always use a #15 or 16 hook, depending upon the hook I’m using. I do like black, barbless (or pinched down barb) dry fly hook.  Color? I’ve tried several different colors and body materials.  I don’t believe I ever tied a soft hackle that didn’t catch fish ( but every time).  I seldom try a new fly that doesn’t work; probably because the fly doesn’t look like anything the trout has seen recently.

The last couple of years, I’ve used two patterns with good results.  One is the classic “purple  and starling”; the other has a caddis green body and a dark hackle.  Before the sun hits the water or on overcast days I seem to have better luck on the purple and on bright days the caddis green.  Often I’ll fish two flies, one of each color.  Recently I’ve replaced the second soft hackle with what I believe is called a g-bug.  When I fish the two fly combinations I catch fish on both flies but so far I’ve never caught a fish on each at the same time.

So I guess that I don't have a favorite fly, but rather a favorite style of fly...a soft hackle, almost any soft hackle.

Tom T. Hall has a song, "I Like Beer" in which announces he doesn't just like beer, but he loves it.  That's kind of the way I feel about fishing soft hackles.

Fish Tales

Late start to fishing this year.  But the weather was beautiful and they were not scheduled to run water all day, so off to Taneycomo. I packed all of my equipment, then decided I better check to be sure the water was off. Called and the recording said zero generation, just what I was expecting! Then the lake level followed by the tailwater level.  Tail water was over 705 feet which means they had been running water and just turned it off. This level would have meant just the top of my head above water, but hopefully it would be near normal when I arrived so off I went.

When I got to the parking lot the level looked just right for fishing and not many cars! Waders on, I headed for the water.  There must have been 3 or 4 fishermen in each car; the lake was crowded. The spot I normally fish had 8 or 9 people in it.  Usually I feel crowded if I'm the 4th. Oh well, I head a little further downstream and start casting.  Wham! I've got a fish and I mean a really nice one.  He runs this way and that but I'm making progress.  When I spot him, my heart starts beating faster, this will be the largest rainbow I've caught.  Well, it would have been.  My line suddenly goes limp and I'm thinking I've tied a defective knot.  But when I retrieve my line here is what I have.

You'll notice that all the dressing is still there, but the business end, the point is missing.  the hook was broken off at the bend.  Not a cheap hook, its a TMC.

The rest of the morning was slow, I caught a few more, all between 12 and 14 inches.  Fish were caught on the purple soft hackle and the tan g-bug.  All in all, a good morning, slow, but never too long without a fish.  So, a few days late, but I got my first fish of the year.  The one below was about the 3rd or 4th fish caught.

Finished the morning, early afternoon actually, with a trip to Dana's.  Still one of the best burgers around, but I skipped the onion rings this time.

Montauk in December

MTFA has a statewide meeting the first Saturday in December each year.  This marks the second time I've been able to attend.  The meeting is noon Saturday, so we had booked a cabin for Friday and Saturday, that leaves lots of time for fishing and eating. The main courses were quail Friday night, Fish Fry Saturday, eggs in a hole, I'll let you wonder about that, for breakfast.  Good food and plenty of it. Also good company in fishing friends Warren, Rod and Kim

Last year was my first visit to Montauk since the mid seventies, so I had lots of exploring to do. This is the beginning of the Current River and a beautiful place to fish. I'm getting over a bad urinary tract infection and most of my get up and go has got up and went, so I stayed where the was no wading required and very easy wading.  That meant I fished by the spring  or by what I call the "spring creek" area. 

The area near the spring fished well, nothing large, but very colorful fish.  I did not feel comfortable crossing the stream, but made it back and forth both times without getting wet. Th spring creek area is strictly catch and release all year, no wading is allowed.  Its one of those places where I kneel down and cast from that position.  It is so full of fish, some very nice, that it doesn't look possible to bring a fly through without snagging one...it is.  In the couple of hours I fished there, I saw 2 fish brought to hand and one was mine.  So I felt pretty good about that.  I moved out of this area to the other side of the road and started some of my best fishing of the day.


Bringing the trout to hand.
 

Finally fishing

After too long without fishing, I finally made it down to Taneycomo this morning.  When I called to check on water conditions, it was no generation until 9 PM.  That sounded great, so even with a front moving in and a drop in temperature, Wayne and I headed for the water. It was cloudy with the sun breaking through occasionally and strong wind gusts.  I caught several more maple leaves than fish, but I did manage to catch and release three that were between 14 and 16 inches.  All but one, a smaller trout, were colorful.

I had just hooked this small, 10-12 inch, trout and was bringing it in when I was reminded of the tee shirt that says, sorry I missed your call, but I was busy on my other line.  The shirt's picture implies there is a fish on the his fly line. That was me, my cell phone ringing and me ignoring it until I landed the fish.  My niece is eight months pregnant and I'm her backup baby sitter if when she needs to go to the hospital, so I brought my phone down to the water with me. It wasn't her though, but a fishing buddy from Pevely.  He wanted to give me the possible dates for a fishing trip to Florida that we are planning.  Trout released, fly dangling in the water and talking to my buddy when I feel a tug on my rod.  Yes, a fish had grabbed my soft hackle.  I tried to keep him busy while listening to my friend, but he finally broke off the fly, never did see this one.

A little later I caught my last fish, it was particularly colorful, so I took out my camera to take his picture.  The camera wouldn't come on and I had charged the battery last night.  My thoughts were did the battery completely die, is something wrong with the camera, or did I do something really dumb like leave the battery in the charger? About this time the sky was really getting dark with rain clouds, so I headed for the shore and called to Wayne that I was going to get out to beat the approaching rain.  As we made it to the shore, the horn went off about 9 hours before they were supposed to start running water. By the time we were changed and leaving the park the horn had sounded three times.  We headed to Dana's for the best burgers around.

Forgot to report, I had put my camera battery in  backwards and now it works fine.  So maybe there will be pictures next time.

Two mornings on Taneycomo

Morning mist on Taneycomo

Marty was down from Festus, so we tried our luck on Taney Wednesday morning.  It started cloudy, with a spotty fog. We both fished purple and starling soft hackles with varied success.  This proved to be one of my better days at not missing hits and landing what I hooked. When the fog lifted and the bright sun came out, I switched to a caddis green soft hackle and had fish on three of my first four casts.  We fished for a little less than two hours and I netted about 12 fish, none of great size, but lots of to catch. Marty was fishing the same fly, but had little success.

Dean came down Wednesday evening and the three of us met Friday for a few more hours of fishing. The picture above shows Marty and Dean shortly after we started fishing.  Same misty conditions to begin with, but the sun never shown bright while we were there.  Dean loves to fish a white thread jig under an indicator and, as usual for him, was catching fish.  I started with my purple and starling with a little, very little, success and later added the green caddis when a nice fish broke off my fly.  All of the fish I caught were on the purple.

When I caught my 4th or 5th fish, I gave Marty a rough time since he hadn't had a take yet.  I asked if he wanted to take my rod and see what it feels like to play a fish.  Even though I fished hard for a long time afterwards, that fish was my last landed of the day.

Dean was almost as bad.  Shortly after my last fish, he landed a trout, held it up toward Marty and said "hey Marty, want to see what a trout looks like?"

A little later Marty caught his only trout of the day, but it was probably the nicest one caught.


Marty landing his fish



Look what I got

I shouldn't be so hard on Marty.  It was him and his family that got me started fly fishing in the mid nineties.  That start has led to many great times on the water, my interest in fly tying and because of this hobby, many new and good friends.  So thanks, Marty, I owe you big.
  
As I was leaving the water, I heard a loud splash and turned around just in time to see Dean coming up out of the water.  All of those rocks weren't here when he last fished this area.  So Marty had the last laugh!!!

Distant Waters/Home Waters

Recently returned from a two week trip with out west...Grand Canyon and Pagosa Springs areas with Pat and Wayne.  Mainly went for sightseeing, but was able to do a little fishing when we were at Pagosa. Thanks to a recommendation from MTFA member Kerry, I located Hatcher Lake near the condo we were staying in.  We fished this beautiful lake three mornings and two evenings, with the late mornings proving best. We had no boat and most fishing available was from the shore or a large dock.  We chose the dock.  The water was very clear; and the dock was located above a nice, but costly, grass/weed bed. When the fish got anywhere near the dock they dove and tried, usually successfully, to twist our lines and leaders around the vegetation. Unfortunately I can be a slow learner and I never changed to heavier tackle...I was using a 4 wt with 5x tippet.  But it was definitely fun.  We caught trout, largemouth bass and pan fish.

Wayne and the nicest bass either of us landed.



Me with the largest trout

We also had what I believe is a western Grebe with us most of the time.  It was fun to watch this bird swim under water for what seemed like ages only to resurface yards from where he first went under. One thing I learned is that I am a more accurate caster than I thought. When the trout were cruising, I was usually able to gently place my fly within 18-20 inches of him, usually with good results. I had good results with one of Ralph Cutter's emerging midge patterns.

Today I went back to more familiar waters, Taneycomo. Marty, Jim and I met at the old "rocking chair" area. This was my first time in this spot in at least a year and like most of Taney it was changed from what I was used to. I don't believe I could wade across here like I used to and to reach the area that I used to like to fish I probably needed to enter from the other side of the lake. There was easy access though and after a short time, that seemed like forever, they trout turned on to what I was offering.  I had lots of takes and fish on a combo...a purple and starling soft hackle followed by a tan G-bug. This rig has proven to be good at Taney the last times I've fished here and I had fish on each fly. We all caught fish once we had both or one of these flies on.

Now I'm eager to get out some more.  This weekend I may take Randy's foster child out for some fishing.  He's told Randy he likes to fish so we'll try a nice farm pond near Linn Saturday or Sunday.