New found quest

I sent my buddy Rob all my photographs from yesterday and check out what he came up with! I told you the dude is creative.

Yesterday I set out on my charter like any other day. I was fishing with Alec Estes and his 10 year old son Thomas. We managed a few snook and jacks inside before we headed out of the inlet in search of giant jacks and whatever else might bless us with their presence. At first I must say I was a bit disappointed at the water clarity and the general color of the water. We have had a few days with some rough seas and that has a tendency to stir things up a bit but, other then the water clarity the beach was calm and I knew I should be able to find something. As I headed down the beach we did not see much of anything for the first few miles, then to add insult in injury a flats boat heading back to the inlet stopped and gave me the universal thumbs down sign and proceeded to tell me that nothing was on the surface and that everything was down deep. I didn't know who that was in the flats boat but it really didn't matter because I don't trust anyone's eyes but my own and after explaining that to my clients I pushed on. It could not have been more then a mile when I saw my first school of giant jacks, "you see what I mean?" I said to Alec. I had Thomas throw a topwater plug into the school and he instantly hooked up and after a few runs the jack had broke off, splitting my loop in half. So we relocated the school to give them another shot, this time we were denied and I had another boat sitting outside of me waiting their turn, I guess? Yeah right, let's get one thing straight, because I know some people that read this blog fish here, it is NOT okay to move into someone else's school unless you are invited in. It is just good etiquette. I should have a posting on just beach etiquette since we are getting into the season and every year it seems to be getting worse and worse. Okay, I am getting side tracked here, focus John.

Here is where the story get interesting, I know you were waiting for that. On my third attempt at the school I position the boat and wait for the school to come to me. This time I decide for whatever reason that I should get a pilchard ready, this is odd for me because I rarely throw bait at these guys but, I really wanted young Thomas to catch one. He was so excited to see the fish and had been a great sport all day. As the school got into range I saw a tarpon roll behind the school of jacks. I pitched the bait right in front of the jacks, handed Thomas the rod and explained to him that when I tell him to reel he needs to do so fast, we were using a circle hook. I saw the line jump so I knew the bait had been eaten but I could not tell by what? I told Thomas to start reeling and to be ready for the line to come tight. Once the line came tight the drag screamed and a 100 plus pound tarpon shot out of the water. Once again the fish gods were on my side. I must be living right, okay somewhat right! Thomas fought that tarpon very hard and did a great job before handing it off to his dad to end the fight. You see Thomas hooked it and fought it now he wanted to land it because his dad promised him a mount if they caught a tarpon. Alec, thinking it was early March probobly would have taken that bet anyday. If he had read my blog he would have seen that just last week we landed one, see it is good to actually read my blog not just look at the pictures. Either way they were both very excited, neither of them have ever even seen a tarpon before except on TV. Boy, if I had a dime for everytime I heard that.

During the fight I tried to do my best Pat Ford imaitation, in my opinion he has the best tarpon jumping shots around. As you can see by the pictures on this post I have a long way to go, however, considering the light I think I did okay. Here is where the new found quest comes in. I am now on a mission to get the perfect jumping tarpon picture. As I have written so many times before it is very hard to photograph while on a charter but, I think jumping tarpon shots are very doable. I have tried tarpon shots in years past but this is the first season that I have a camera with 6 frames per second and some more knowledge about photography. So stay posted and hopefully you will se the progress right here.

Oh yeah, we did land the tarpon. An estimated 125 pounds and yesterday afternoon I meet Alec and his son Thomas up at New Wave Taxidermy to order their new trophy. Check out the website for New Wave, they are by far the most talented artist around when it come to fiberglass fish mounts. How great is it that you can get a killer piece of art for your house or office and still let the fish swim free. As a matter of fact, I decided to order my 40 pound permit that I have been wanting for the last two years. I also went to Stuart Photo yesterday and bought an additional battery grip for my D300 and now I have 9 frames per second. Pat better watch out, yeah right, remember I am just a guide with a camera and a computer. I am fishing with Pat the morning of the film tour so you can bet I will be picking his brain on tarpon photography.

Between all these photos and now the mount being made this could be the most popular tarpon I have ever had a client catch.

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Tickets go on sale today!

Today at noon the tickets should be ready for purchase at the Lyric Theatre Box office 772-286-7827 or online at http://lyrictheatre.com/ The show is April 3rd, doors open at 6:00pm and the show starts at 7:00pm. Tickets are $22. There will also be a bar available at the Lyric Theatre, drinks are not included in the ticket price. However, giveaways are included, your ticket stub will act as a raffle ticket for many giveaways like; hats, shirts, fly lines, flies, fly boxes, artwork, and I know of at least one fly rod being given away by Crowder Rods. I will remind everyone that this venue is reserved seating so get your tickets now to assure the best seat. Myself and Mike Holiday are hosting this event and I know I can speak for both of us when I say, thanks for your support and we can't wait to meet everyone at the event. Sorry for the short post but I am on my way out the door for my charter and I just wanted to post it here first.
John
ps. It is damn cold here this morning!


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A taste of spring

Wow, I just realized that it has been 6 days since I posted something. Well the the last five days have truly been spring like. After the coldest week of this winter, we were blessed with five of the best days of this year. Temperatures were in the low 80's and the ocean was calm and this is a perfect recipe for fun. On Thursday I picked up a last minute charter with Joe Dibartolomeo and his buddy Bob. I don't think these guys knew what they signed up for. I broke them in easy with some spanish mackerel down at the mackerel hole, then it was off to hunt the big jacks. I didn't have to go far before I found the first school of jacks. Bob was the one who had the pleasure of catching the big jack and I think he gained a whole new respect for how hard those guys pull. After landing the first jack I had to relocate the school and in a matter of minutes we were on them again but, this time they were spooky and we could not get close enough to get a cast off. As I waited for them to pop up again I was panning the surface when out or the corner of my eye I saw some brown torpedoes on the surface. Cobia! I grabbed the rod from Joe and made a cast right in front of the fish, they jumped all over my topwater plug and after hooking the fish it was Joe's turn to get his workout. Joe had about a twenty minute fight ahead of him and I think if the fight was twenty one minutes Joe may have given up but he didn't and Joe was rewarded with a 43 pound cobia. Joe and Bob did a great job, I really enjoyed fishing with these guys.

I knew at that point that I had a few good days ahead of me. The next day I fished with Rob Crowder, we had a new prototype fly rod we wanted to test. After we caught a couple big jacks on the new fly rod we headed to King Neptune for lunch. No cobia on Friday.

Friday night I fished with long time client Ted Renna, we had one of those nights on the dock lights that reminded me of the old days, probably 20 snook on fly with a handful of jacks mixed in. Saturday I fished with good friend Capt. Scott Cormier and photographer David McCleaf. I told David how he was going to get photos of jacks and cobia and well that was the kiss of death. We had a fun day catching mackerel, bluefish, and a few smaller jacks but, no big jacks or cobia were found that day. It is still early in the spring so the schools are still hit or miss. I did get a couple jumps out of a tarpon that was probably close to the 100 pound mark before he straightened my hook. That was probably the highlight of the day. Sunday was back to charters, I had Jimmy Granbery from Nashville with his uncle Buddy in the boat and once again I wanted to take advantage of the spring like weather. We hunted jacks all the way north and only managed to find a few schools of smaller jacks 6 to 8 pounds along with huge schools of bluefish. We had a blast catching bluefish and jacks on topwater plugs most of the morning. We spent about an hour trying to get the tarpon to eat but, they wanted no parts of what we had so it was back down the beach. On the way back to the marina I kept passing the schools of jacks and bluefish occasionally stopping to catch one or two, then like Thursday we came across a nice group of cobia. The first one was small for cobia standards but ate a topwater plug and the second one was about 20 pounds and it ate a DOA terroreyez. I always preach that the terroreyez is a crab lure, even though it is shaped like a small baitfish, it's color (rootbeer) and the way it sinks makes it a great crab lure and once again the cobia proved my point. Last night a weak cold front moved through our area so the beach is better for surfing then fishing right now but, I am sure it won't be long and I will be back out there chasing big fish on light tackle and fly rods. Sorry for no cobia pictures but for those of you that have caught cobia you know how ballistic they go once in the boat.

Thanks again for reading and don't forget to sign on as a follower of this blog. I like to see who is reading. Keep posted for some exciting upcoming news from the Stuart Flyfishing home front.

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KISS "Keep it simple stupid"

KISS, I stole that phrase from my friend Mark Nichols he preaches that about his artificial lures, DOA, you may have heard of them. Anyway, the same thing applies to flies. Flies are designed for two things, catching fish and catching fisherman. The idea of this post came to mind as I was tying dock light flies for tonight's trip, as mentioned in the last post the lights have been my savior this week. The fly I have been using recently is a pattern that I stole from my friend Scott Cormier, he is the owner of the Southern Angler. Are you seeing a pattern here? Don't worry I only steal from friends and it is more of a trade off since I'm often the victim. Scott only ties a handful of flies a year, or at least that is our on going joke since he owns a fly shop. His newest creation is not much of a creation at all but man does it work. I know some of you guys reading this will say anything small on the lights will work and some nights that is true but I mean this critter has them crazy. Why? Because less is more in dock light flies. I think it is more about the material then the pattern. Synthetic materials are constantly evolving and the newest strategy by companies selling materials is to blend different materials so you do not have to. I love this concept. If I see a fly recipe and it starts, "take some of this, and a little of that, and mix it with this", I'm was not going to tie it! I have two kids and a very busy guide service, I need to tie a fly in minutes and there is nothing fast about blending materials. Problem solved, I can now tie killer flies fast with this preblended material. Here is my dock light fly, excuse me Scott's dock light fly. First, take a number 2 Gamakatsu glo-bug hook and put it in the vise. Take white thread or any color if you are lame enough to be out of white and high tie in a small clump of Steve Farrar's Flash blend natural. Follow that with another small clump of Steve Farrar's Flash Blend camo. Glue on the 3D eyes and epoxy it, done! I am obviously not revolutionizing the fly fishing world, but remember keep it simple stupid.

I think I should be sponsored by Corona?

As I was writing this post I got an email from one of the followers of this blog, RJ. It is so ironic how much his email related to this post. RJ had no problem with me sharing this email and after you read it you will see why, it is great stuff. Here is RJ's email:

Hey John,
I created this little fly that I thought you might be interested in checking out. I am not the best fly tyer, but since checking out your contest, I caught the bug, so to speak.

Anyway, like I said, it isn't that pretty, but it has other nice qualities. First, it is a true dry fly. I tied it on a really small hook. I think a #10. Then I tied some flash into the tail, and some hackle twisted around the hook to make legs. I then shaved off the top side of the hackle and covered it with this chartreuse foam. This was really helpful in seeing the fly floating in the water at night. I tied a few wraps around the green body, spaced out, to look like the joints in a shrimps back, and then tied in some mono eyes.

Well, it is a stupidly simple fly, but I thought what the heck. If I can get a snook to pop a dry fly, then fresh water trout fishing will officially have nothing over saltwater! I tied it in January, but waited until last night to test it out. It was the first "warmer" night in a while and the current was ripping with the almost full moon. I fished it exactly like a fresh water dry fly - no stripping, just drift in the current through the dock light.

I couldn't believe it, but it got nailed instantly! It was just like a trout rise - which in my mind is one of the best takes in all of fishing. His mouth nudged up to it and with a boil he sucked it in. The rod went heavy and it was game on! My first thought was how the heck will I land this saltwater beast with a #10 hook and a whole lot of structure. But with a little finesse and some nice boat handling by Jeremy Neff, we pulled it off. I snapped a picture of the 25 incher with the fly in its mouth and then got the signal from the camera "replace battery!" I have no idea yet whether the picture took. We landed about 4 or 5 more on this fly and then switched to a clouser after it got rocked by a beast, but the tiny hook didn't set.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested because you probably fish a lot of people from up north who are very proficient with a dry fly. They would probably get a huge kick out of this. Also, you get to fish a lot more than me, and might find a way to improve it or get one with a bigger hook to float. Its pretty easy to tie and fish, or if you want me to give you some I will, but then you have t let me take you fishing!

Keep up the good blogging!
RJ

Thanks for sharing RJ. It is guys like RJ that motivate me to write this blog, so please get involved and send me any ideas or comments you can. On a side note, I meet RJ last year when I was invited to fish in the Martin County Boys and Girls Club tournament. He volunteers a lot of his valuable time to the club and he should be commended for it. Thanks again RJ. I look forward to the next Boys and Girls Club tournament so I can defend my title as "top guide", just a little plug for myself.

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Time to knock the dust off!

It is time to start knocking the dust off those 12 weights, spring is knocking at the door and I am certainly going to let her in! Spring brings in the big jacks, permit, cobia, tarpon, and other critters that require heavy rods so get them ready.

Kathryn with her second big jack of the morning.


I just got my new Crowder Rods 10 weight and that rod is a rocket, I am extremely happy with the way Rob's new rods came out. I like to think I played a small role in helping him choose the taper and I think we hit it right on the money. He is also working on an 8 foot, 10/11 weight that is designed for fighting big fish and throwing big flies. I have a 12 weight being built right now and it looks like I might need it sooner then later. I will have a post dedicated to these new rods soon.

Here is her first one.


For many of you that have been fishing with me over the last ten years you have witnessed these big jacks before but, for those of you that have not fished with me there is no way pictures will ever justify what you see in person. I did my best to capture the excitment and the relentlessness of these fish. Yesterday and today I was on massive schools of the giant jacks and after wearing my clients out on these monsters they just wanted to throw the teaser plug, which gave me a chance to take pictures:) I have so many shots of these fish chasing the plug that I was not sure which ones to post so I picked about 10 of my favorites. I still have plenty of days open this spring, so book a day and experience this yourself!

Al with his monster, this was his first and the biggest 35 pounds on the boga!


Here are various shots of the jacks chasing the teaser.

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a final chapter and the start of a new one

The end of another good year!

Okay, the fly contest is obviously a success and I can't thank everyone enough for their participation, but I must post something about fishing every now and again. I thought I would share some stories and photographs from the last week of 2008 and the first week of 2009.

Life is good for Chuck

The fishing here in the winter is not glamorous but it is full of action and that is exactly what I had the final week of the year. Trout on the grass flats were as abundant as they get although not many large ones were caught, again loads of fun. It is amazing how hard a small trout can hit, they sure don't fight hard but the first punch sure is solid. On the sand flats, jigs and small flies produced ladyfish by the boat load and some pompano. Finally the beaches, where you can run over schools of mackerel and bluefish for miles, literally! The mackerel can be tough to get off the bottom some days but for the most part they are very cooperative, and the bluefish are always on the feed no matter what you throw in. I guess it would be unfair to say that we do not catch any quote, unquote glamorous fish because you can still catch plenty of snook in the winter and redfish. I apologize for the lack of ladyfish, mackerel, bluefish, etc. pictures but it is a messy job and there is no way I am going to grab my camera. Not to mention by the time I release one there usually is another one ready to be landed!

Doug Seaman and his son Will

I was fortunate enough to start 2009 with back to back redfish trips. One was with Gary Smith of Michigan, he has been fishing with me for the last 8 or 9 years and we have started the year together the last six. However, one thing was different this year, Gary did not have to rush back to see the University of Michigan football game. Sorry Gary I had to take that jab! On a serious note, Gary has fished all over the world and has fished for redfish all over the country so he is good at reading fish and making the right cast. This year Gary landed four redfish on fly, all on Borski sliders, and I believe we had six eat. Thanks Gary for another great start to the new year.

My blue tribute in honor of Gary's football team

Blue sky

redfish's blue tail

Borski slider and Gary's blue Tibor


My second day of redfishing was with Todd Austof. Todd is a very special client of mine, you see he is the guy that lets me use his Maverick HPX so I can do these trips. Todd is also from Michigan but his Michigan team did have a New Years game, I'll let you figure that one out. I could only think of one way to properly thank Todd for the use of his skiff and that was to put him on his first ever redfish! Mission was accomplished, Todd laid a nice cast into a school of about 20 redfish and one found his Borski slider a bit appetizing. Todd, thanks obviously for the use of the boat, but more for sharing that moment with me. I look forward to doing it again someday soon.

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An unforgettable day

Here are some pictures of my first Keys Bonefish on fly: Photos by Rick DePaiva

Well I accomplished something yesterday that I have wanted to do for a long time, land a keys bonefish on fly. It all started with a last minute invite to fish in Key Largo with Capt. Rick DePaiva. Rick as many of you know guides in Fort Myers but was on a busman's holiday with his good friend David Mcleaf and they had a couple great days with lots of shots at bonefish. David could not fish the third day and Rick was not done so I got to be the replacement player and man am I glad I got the call. I guess these guys weren't really on a holiday because they both are great photographers and they were working to get some good shots of bonefish. These fish are notoriously tough to catch on anything especially on fly, but I was up for the challenge. I have only fished for bonefish in Florida a few times with my good friend Capt. Jorge Valverde (954-822-0647) and we have always had great success but all the fish were landed on spinning rods. Not to take anything away from catching them on a spinning rod because no matter what tackle you catch them on they are an unforgettable fish. I have caught bonefish on fly in the Bahamas but it was not the same. The fish there are smaller and easier to catch, again not to take anything away from the Bahamas bonefish because I would go back quicker then a bonefish can get you in the backing!



Our first goal was to just catch one so we could photograph it, and then from there on it was fly rod all the way. Rick landed one on a spinning rod giving me a great opportunity to photograph a species I have yet to capture on film (disk space?) I was really pleased with my photos and I had to share a couple here. Rick and I are both bonefish rookies so we were like a couple of kids filled with excitement every time we saw a school.



All in all it was an unforgettable day with a good friend and perfect conditions. I also have to give a quick thank you to Capt. Honson Lau (786-298-1436) who gave me the fly the night before. Honson tied the fly and promised me they would eat it and he was right. To anyone who is reading this, if you have yet to accomplish the Florida bonefish give one of these guys a call. I can't say it enough it was unforgettable! Thanks guys.

I still have 3 more flies to post for the Cabin Fever Fly Tying contest, before we start the voting. Two of the flies I have and I am still waiting for one more in the mail. I think everyone will agree that the flies so far have been well tied and very creative. I will try to post the last 3 flies some time soon but, the holidays have been kind enough to bring me lots of charters so I will be working quite a bit over the next 10 days. Stay tuned for more fishing reports and more flies. Believe me I have lots of interesting posts coming up, and maybe I can get Honson to send me some more info on his bonefish fly. I know it works!

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If fish only ate with theire tails!

Here are some of Rick's shots of me with a nice trout at sunset and the new micro fiber shirt.

I had the absolute pleasure of getting another invite to fish with Capt. Rick DePaiva over in the Pine Island sound. I drove over the night before and was able to get there early enough that Rick took me to one of his favorite spots to photograph birds and other wildlife. David McCleaf joined us and we all captured the last hour of the day. Rick claims it was only a 2 on a scale of one to ten as far as the amount of birds, but I was perfectly happy getting the shots I got. It was very cloudy so the light was not the best and all of my shots were taken at an ISO of 640. It did make for a very orange skies at sunset and the wind was none existent. Here are a few of my shots that I captured that afternoon.

Egret in the grass

Blue Heron


Another egret


for you Gator fans


Ibis in orange sky

The next morning we were greeted to calm winds and clear skies, a recipe for a great day and a great day it was. Rick is not only an incredible photographer but one of the more knowledgeable guides you will find in the Fort Myers area. He is diligent in his game plan and knows how to follow it. Everywhere we went Rick call it before we got there, a sign of a true professional. We had shots at redfish all day long some cruising but most were tailing. Now I know I said in an earlier post that I planned on taking pictures of the tailers before fishing for them but, I did not have the will power to grab the camera. You see even though photography as a good hold of me, fishing has a bear hug on me and I still wanted to throw the fly before clicking the shutter. I would have been better off with the camera because one thing I learned is that redfish do eat with their tails! I did manage one redfish on fly but, in all honesty I am better then I performed because I blew shot after shot.

After getting a bit frustrated at them not eating my fly, even on some good casts, I switched to a DOA shrimp. Now most of you have seen me fish the DOA's and I am usually pretty efficient at it, well not this day. You see redfish in less then a foot of water do not like being hit on the head with a piece of plastic. At this point, since I was blowing most shots I took over the push pole and quickly poled Rick to the first tailer. Of course he proceeded to slap me in the face by catching one on the first fish we saw. I got a chance to take some pictures today and I really enjoyed that opportunity as much as the opportunity to fish with Rick again. I did redeem myself at the end of the day. Rick really wanted a big trout to photograph and I managed to catch his subject a nice 27 inch trout. Rick was able to take some incredible shots like the one at the top of this post and we both went home very happy. Rick has become a good friend and I am sure you will see some future posts with him mentioned. If you are ever visiting the west coast of Florida give Rick a call 239-246-8726 because not only will he give you a great day on the water but you will have pictures that are worth a million bucks. The pictures below are the shots that I managed to take yesterday of the redfish we caught.

I have 3 more flies to post so stay tuned they will be up as soon as I can photograph them, and the voting for the first cabin fever fly contest will begin.

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