Well our first group of clients flew out Sunday afternoon after five great days of fishing and we have taken a couple days to regroup, watch the Super Bowl, do laundry and tie more flies. It feels like tarpon season in Key West with the amount of flies that we go through here, these fish have a healthy appetite.
Days one and two last week were stellar, with a fairly low tide in the morning producing lots of shots at legit trophies. Daily catch numbers were in the mid-teens with some cuda’s thrown in, too. Things changed a bit for days three, four, and five with clouds and south winds that pushed a lot of water onto the flats and really spread the fish out and brought more sharks and cuda’s onto the flats, making the bigger, smarter fish harder to come by. Still the fishing was pretty damn good, although a tad more difficult.
If you are new to saltwater flyfishing, adverse conditions are something that you need to be prepared for. I know the fishing shows always make it look easy but this is not normally the case. Way too many people show up expecting perfect, cloudless skies, light winds, and optimum tides and are not ready for anything but. Take the time to learn to cast in the wind and it will pay huge dividends on the water. Also having the proper gear in good working order is a necessity! We saw some trophy fish lost to reel malfunction and bad line management this week. There is no excuse for the reel malfunction and the line management issues are something that you have to pay constant attention to. We, as guides, try to help with this as much as possible but we are also poling the boat and looking for your next shot so most of this is on you. Don’t strip off 110 feet of line when you can only cast 50 feet of it, recipe for disaster! Keep your line stretched, it should lay flat on the deck or in the cockpit and not look like and old telephone cord.
You spend a great deal of money on your gear and getting to the location and chartering the boat, pay attention to some simple details and you will go along way toward ensuring the best possible day on the water.
Ryan
