Fishing Report -- 11-23-12

Well, the weather truce referred to in my 11-01-12 report was definitely over. Steve was in town and  going to fish multiple days, fly only. As you can imagine using just fly gear in very windy conditions is extremely challenging, but Steve is an old salt when it comes to fly fishing and understands the game. He wasn’t phased by the challenging conditions and kept his enthusiasm high every day. I had to include the first picture below to show Steve’s mad skills in being able to catch a fish the same size as the fly, quite a feat. Thankfully the fish got a little bigger as the adventure progressed. The Jacks and Bluefish were pretty cooperative. We lost count on the number of Bluefish landed. Eventually we kept going down and down in rod size to keep things interesting. They remind me of Piranhas the way they mow through flies, just as well Bluefish haven’t developed a taste for human flesh. Our favorite was the popper, you can hear their jaws snapping as they come out of the water after the popper. Very cool to experience. The Jacks were out and about too, not quite in the numbers we were hoping for but Steve managed to get some nice Jacks to the boat. Of course the big one got away, Steve had a nice 25 lb Jack hooked up but it bit through the leader leaving us only with memories and some choice words for the fish. After a few days of grinding it out in the wind Steve’s positive attitude was rewarded big time. The wind subsided and we hit the ocean with great expectations. The day began with some large Blue Runners. I was hoping for the Amberjacks to have shown but still they were a no show (any day now, they are running a little late this year). Next were Spanish Mackerel, Ladyfish and some more Bluefish. Then we began to see something really cool. Large schools of minnows had pushed in near to the beach and the False Albacore (Bonitos) were on them pretty good. The water was frothing when the Bonitos charged the minnow schools. It doesn’t get much better than this for a fly fisherman and Steve took full advantage. Once we figured out the fly they wanted it was hammer time for Steve. We lost count but figured round about 20 Bonitos were landed. Only one was chomped by a Bull Shark, right next to the boat. I thought I was going to have to get the defibrillator out for Steve, the shark came out of nowhere and really surprised us. What a spectacular day, it was phenomenal to see that many Bonitos frothing up the water, even better was Steve catching that many. So here’s the lesson kids, you need to put in your time on the water to get to those epic days. Steve really deserved a fantastic day and that is exactly what he got. Fishing trips aren’t always fair so it was great to see someone who really put in the time being rewarded with such a special treat. Check out the little bit of video we took of the craziness.                 

For more info. on TKF Charters click this link to my website www.tkfcharters.com
To see Fishing Reports prior to 2012 click  www.tkfcharters.com/reports/reports.php