Archive for the ‘fly fishing reports’ Category
Apr
10
Posted under
fly fishing reports by Will Benson
Early April, 2008. Are the Permit playing a sick joke on us or are they really unaware that it’s April and they’re supposed to be offshore spawning? The Permit fishing Sucked this March! Despite some notable catches by Lawson Stiff, Frank Smith (with his first ever), Jane Garrick (also with her first ever) Mark Phillips and Mike O’brien with their 2 fish that took home 3rd place in the March Merkin, and Jim Schneider with several tarpon, the month of March was pretty slow. Plagued by bad weather and an early season spawn, the permit fishing has been way off from last year at this time. But wait…It’s now April…and what? The Permit have returned! The last week has been great. Washington Redskins quarterback Todd Collins caught his first ever Permit on fly. A hefty 25# fish. My buddy and long time client Gannon Dudlar had been telling me about his friend Todd for years and how he wanted the two of us to fish together. Gannon finally arranged it and we had a great 4 days, going 5 for 8. On day 2, Todd had a great shot at a stationary fish and sold him the fly perfectly; hooked him up and them somehow lost him. It was a bummer, but that’s permit fishing, and that’s why we do it. Congrats to Todd and all the others who got their fist this month!
Mike Allen and I fished together the last couple of days and had some great action. We finally exercised our demons from March with a chunky 23-25# fish. Mike also caught his 60th permit on a dry fly, which was really cool, and we had a couple of tarpon to go with that.
I know it’s a cruel joke that the fishing is playing but I hope it keeps up! I’m headed out tarpon fishing with the Captain this afternoon. He wants to try out his new camera that I told him he shouldn’t buy. Cheers.
Will Benson
Apr
03
Posted under
fly fishing reports by Dave Teper
Even though this has nothing to do with the salt, it does have everything to do with epic fishing. Dylan Vallino, a good friend of mine in Steamboat, has been guiding the Yampa river for longer than I have known him. When he called to tell me how pumped he was for this season, and how many quality fish were being caught as we speak, I figured I should share it with everyone.
This is what Dylan had to say:
With a record setting snow fall year the banks will be full on the best Rainbow Trout Fishery in the state of Colorado. Steamboat Springs has received 486 inches of snow this winter season. Keep in mind we average 350 inches. The run off will last well into August making the Yampa and Elk river confluence float able and phenomenal from Late June into September. The Drakes and Quills will start in early July along with a prolific caddis hatch every evening from July to September. The Tricos will be immaculate starting in August with the Blue Wings and Mahogany Dun’s to follow. Those of you who want to bring an 8 weight and test your skills for Pike be my guest. The sloughs and back eddies will be chalk full of Pike and enormous Browns and Rainbows looking forward to engulf your platter.
All I know is that Will and I will be there in September for sure!
Mar
19
Posted under
fly fishing reports by Dave Teper
Submitted by: Marshall Demott www.flyanglersguide.com
Sight fishing for Snook always seems to draw out the best of what I have going as a fly fisherman. Everglades Guide, Capt. Kevin Mihailoff ( www.snookin.com ) ran Roger Hall and I south from Chocoloskee deep into the bowels of Everglades National Park’s myriad islands and creeks on a flat surface as we saw the sunrise March 14. 40 minutes later we were on the bow and into the game. Silently, Capt. Kevin poled the shoreline perched aft. Silently, we looked for shadows as the sun slowly rose to illuminate the shoreline bottom. “Shit!, Damn it! and other curses between our teeth, we each hissed at blown chances at every sight opportunity as the coffee-colored water obscured more blown out fish. Being constantly poised and ready to deliver a fly takes energy and concentration for me to do for a long time. When I am on the front of the skiff with a fly rod I enjoy making maximum effort to be quiet. I try to keep moving though, to ease leg fatigue. At 62, I always try to build more leg and body strength and in turn I gain confidence as well, so I love being the front gunner, even if my mistakes are sometimes ragged at by the rest of the crew. I just want to be a slave to my job…. Both Roger and I had chances with missed casts, missed fish, blown opportunities,…. just BADASS luck til noon. Kevin moved around as the wind came up and sought out lees and coves with less wind and more current. Good things happened as we moved in a hurry to find fish. In my opinion, Kevin’s hunting pace marks him as an exceptional fishing guide. After picking up a few small Snook blind casting, we found a shoreline and were surprised by several fast-cruising Snook…turned out to be several schools of big Snook. Our luck began to change. We made some good casts, some good strips, had solid eats, solid hookups, excellent fights. Later on, Kevin took us up a creek, under branches to a small pond, 8″ deep where we had chances at several 30″-40″ Snook using small, light-weight dark colored, Ciclid flies. The Snook were super-spooky and just seeing the huge fish in such skinny water made this day one of the most memorable for all of us.
Mar
03
Posted under
fly fishing reports by Dave Teper
A few years ago, I met a good friend. He taught me what has taken him a lifetime on and off the water to learn. For this I am truly grateful. The wisdom he has given me goes far beyond fly fishing, but who cares about all that.
Last week, I got to spend some time with my friend, Bernard Bevans bonefishingbahamas.com, and we were lucky enough to have some great weather. Blue skies, light breezes, all the factors were in place for hunting some big Grand Bahama bones. The average bonefish in GB is around 5 pounds, but shots at bigger fish are a daily occurance. It is possible to target these fish both out of the boat and on foot, the latter being my preference. Something about sneaking through the water after a bonefish with his back out of the water really gets me going.
The winter is a great time to get at some quality bonefish. Plan a last minute trip post cold front and see what I mean.
Its an easy trip to Freeport from the states, and with accommodations to please almost everybody, its a great place to take the family….cough…cough…if you really have to.
Feb
14
Posted under
fly fishing news,
fly fishing reports by Will Benson
12hrs. That’s how long it takes to drive from New Orleans to Naples towing a flats skiff; and it’s not nearly enough time to remember all the great fish we caught in the marsh. Dave and I laughed and theorized about setting the hook, what color they liked best, where the next coolest spot is, and how awful the drive was at the end of the day back to Luling… Find that on the map. Travis, god bless him, has a reason to live an hour an a half from the dock. It’s because any number of docks can be reached within that drive. No shit! And being on the Redfish Tour means you have to know everything there is to know about Southern Louisiana from Slidell to Morgan City. I have to admit, the drive absolutely killed me, but I learned more about fishing and where the next level is in the last month, than I have in the last 2 years of guiding. In only a Cajun view of the world it all makes sense. And that’s the point I’m trying to get at. Louisiana is just different. It’s still a part of the United States as we depend on it heavily for oil, seafood and other goods, but the mindset is 1/2 American 1/2 French 1/2 Black and 1/2 Southern. Everything is on a different clock down here. You really have to let go in order to get by. And that’s typically un-American. Everywhere you look you see the absurd. Mardi Gras is the epitome of this. It’s the party to end all parties, and no one can escape it– excess in every direction. And we were all about it! Especially the freakishly enormous redfish that inhale Mardi Gras colored flies.
I believe it’s one of the coolest things in saltwater fly fishing. I tell people, ” if you want to experience what fishing would have been like 200 years ago, this is it.” It’s simply ridiculous! It’s redfishing to end all redfishing, it’s not just good, it’s a bite away from too much, stuffed, intoxicated. But the history of the redfish in this part of the world is an interesting one. Only years ago the redfish in this part of the world were almost wiped out by chef Paul Prudhomme’s blackened redfish recipe. The Pogie fisherman would net them by the hundreds of thousands. When the state finally put a size and bag limit on the fish and the federal government made it illegal to possess a redfish in federal waters the population made a resounding comeback and today they are thriving. Today the area is flush with schools of redfish of all sizes. In the summer when the fish come into certain bays as the larger schools move with the bait, it’s possible to see thousands of fish a day. There are many theories about the redfish’s population resurgence and what exactly is happening with this fishery, but from what I have seen over the years of fishing here and talking to the commercial fisherman and other local anglers, is that what we’re witnessing may be the cataclysmic collapse of the fishery as the marsh washes into the Gulf. Vital sediment is not making it way down the Mississippi River and the fresh water that the government does let flow down into the marsh is simply too little too late. The marsh is being eaten by the sea and in the process all the critters that live in it are being consumed by the redfish. The marsh’s erosion is creating an environment in which the redfish are perfectly suited. We’ve all herd the statistics about how much land is being lost but my favorite is “a football field every 38 minutes.” It’s really scary to think that it took 6,000 years to build the Louisiana peninsula and it’s taken 60 to destroy it. Damning the river, altering the delta’s natural flooding cycle and the open contracts the state of Louisiana gave the oil companies in 1938 to cut through the marsh to run pipelines are the reasons it’s eroding. And after Katrina when overnight destruction intensified the awareness of the loss we consider fishing spots in places like Port Sulfur and Empire that have been simply wiped off the map. The captains there are starting to see a decline in the fishing as the habitat disappears. There just aren’t as many places to fish as there used to be.
We know it’s coming. It’s just matter of time–last call. Unless we do something about the larger situation the marsh will eventually fall into the sea. For that reason I feel really lucky to have the opportunity to experience the marsh. It’s a wild and beautiful place. And as far as sight fishing with a fly rod… It’s Mardi Gras baby! Getch ya sum well ya cann! ‘Cause when the police come down Bourbon, it’s all over.
Louisiana Fishing contacts: Greg Arnold www.fishingthelandofgiants.com , Uptown Angler www.uptownangler.com .
We will be making an appearance for the second half of the Fly Fishing Film Tour with brand new footage from our trip. So check out dates at www.aegmedia.com and enjoy the show.