big game beware!

Spring has arrived and summer is knocking at the proverbial door and I couldn't be more excited. I love this time of the year, giant jacks, cobia, permit, tarpon, need I say more? To make it even better, this is just the beginning of the excitement, there will be months worth of great fishing ahead. Even though Florida is not as cold and dreary as most parts of the country we still get the winter time blues. You have heard me report over the last few months that the fishing is fun and we are catching trout, ladyfish, pompano, some snook and redfish but, it is now time to take your medication. This time of the year is not for the faint of heart, big nasty flies, big rods and the need for a reel with a good drag system.

My new Hatch 12 plus and my tarpon fly.

A month or so ago I was invited to be part of the Hatch fly reels pro staff and without hesitation I jumped on board. I must admit my decision would have been different just a few months earlier. I thought I was "in the know" when it came to anything in the fly fishing industry but man was I wrong. Apparently I have been spending way to much time on the water. You see just a few months ago I had not even heard of a Hatch reel, until my good friend Rob brought one down with him in late January. He had explained to me that they are the newest, greatest thing since sliced bread, and like anyone that hears such high praise of something I was skeptical but yet very curious. At first glance I was very impressed but like so many things in life you can't judge a book by its cover. The next morning Rob and I went out and we had his Hatch reel mounted on a 12 weight ready to go. I thought, "hopefully I can find something that will put this reel to the test!", well it wasn't too long before we found a nice school of tarpon and Rob was hooked up. The reel worked flawlessly even though the fish threw the fly on the second jump. The next day a cold front blew in and that was the end of the fishing, so Rob left the reel behind for me to use. For the next few weeks we were hit with front after front and I had no real opportunity to put this reel to the test. I would fiddle with it in the house and every time I was amazed at how strong the drag could be set but again I thought, "a lot of reels can be set with a heavy drag in the living room, how will it react when it has been heated up by a fish after a 20 minute fight?". Finally, some nice weather hit and I had my morning to hook up with some giant jacks. Wow! this reel rocks was my first response after landing a 28 pound jack. Okay, I'm sold, I have to get my hands on some of these reels. My buddy Rob shared my response with the owner of Hatch and the rest is history. I am now the newest member of the Hatch prostaff and I could not be happier with my decision. Hatch has been making reels for 4 years now and I just wish I hadn't been living under a rock all this time. Take the time to check them out I know you too will be as impressed as I am.

Here is a quick side note. I did not get into the details of their enclosed drag system, which in my opinion make this such a superior reel. For details contact John at Hatch 877-634-4343 or check out their website at http://hatchoutdoors.com/ he can explain it for better then me. I just know I can kick a fish's ass with it.

If the link above does not work it is because you are trying to view it in Internet Explorer, and they are trying to fix the problem. Here is an alternative link that will get you in on another page. http://hatchoutdoors.com/2008/pages/9plus.html

This tarpon was landed, I had to put down the camera to grab the fish.

Thanks again for every one's support. The blog is getting almost 100 hits a day and the ticket sales for the fly fishing film tour are looking like we might be heading towards a sell out. I have not done a fishing report lately but I will keep it simple it has been good! I will let some of the photos speak for themselves.

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com/
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing

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.

my guide service website http://stuartflyfishing.com/
my photography website http://pbase.com/stuartflyfishing

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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