Fishing while on Vacation

So to truely get in some decent fishing, I had to really get away from work (I left the pager at home and everything).

I got out last week while on vacation with my family down in Sarasota FL. I know, who goes to Florida in early August? Well, I got a deal that was just too good to pass up. I went out with a local guide, Capt Rick Grassett.

We started before sunrise, fishing lighted piers for Snook. The first one I hooked up spooked badly when I got him close to the boat. One mighty shake of the head and he shredded the bite leader. So Rick tied on a heavier leader and the next one came all the way into the net. My first Snook ever and it was about 23", caught on a 6 wt fly rod with an intermediate sink tip line.

Once the sun came up, we fished grass flats and sand bars. I caught several nice Ladyfish and a juvenile grouper. The thrill of the day was seeing an 80 lb Tarpon (Rick's estimate, how would I know) jump out of the water while it was chasing Ladyfish. I shifted from the 6 wt to my own 8 wt rod and Rick tied on a bite leader and one of my own Clouser Minnows. Two inconsiderate guys in another boat slipped between us and the tarpon, so we never had a chance at it. They were throwing bait using spinning rods and were not even after the Tarpon. They were chasing the Ladyfish and Seatrout.

We did make a valiant attempt at a nice Tripletail. These fish float right next to marker bouys or the bouys on crab traps and look like just more stuff growing on the bouy. They hide there waiting for baitfish (aka. breakfast) to come along. My first two casts were not close enough and the third one hit the fish on the head. Apparently he did not think that was very friendly because he promptly left the bouy he had been hiding next to.

It was a great outing. I learned a couple new knots. I am more convinced then ever of the value of a quality pair of polarized sunglasses. This was my first experience with a sink tip line, and I know I am going to go out and get a spool set up with some for my own use here in Illinois. I also picked up a great book on Fly Fishing in Saltwater by Lefty Kreh.

After a very warm morning on the water, I drank Gatoraide, took a cool shower, and then took my son to a movie at a nicely air conditioned theater while my wife and daughter went shopping at an area outlet mall.

More later,Ken S.
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Ken Schumacher
Fishing Fermilab - "Where we smash atoms, so you don't have to"

Dynamic Duo...or just two guys with some free time.

OKay, so I have failed to update this very often. Well, last night was a really fun evening when my
buddy Jamie and I went fishing. I won't bother to write a report, when I can just link to his report (at CustomFish.com).

<*))))))<: Dynamic Duo...or just two guys with some free time. Whatever.

Rebuttal: It was a very good evening of fishing. And yes, I had borrowed Jamie's 5 wt rod. I admit that. But I am the one who caught the fish! (Make sure you check the captions on his photo slide show, then you might understand why I call this my rebuttal.)

That's Two

See the smile on my face. That's cuz I got two nice Smallies in one day. The previous post showed my 19" Smallie in a horrible picture that I took while fishing all by myself. It's hard to get a good angle on the fish so you can truely appreciate how pretty the coloring is on one of these. But after work, I got in 45 mins with a friend. We both enjoyed watching this one "do the tail dance". And then I had someone there to take a better picture of the fish. And Hey, I got to be in the picture too. Not just my fingers.

This was a 19.5" Smallmouth, again on soft plastics, in a small retention pond with some water flow through this area. Two 19" smallies in one day. Sure made up for everything else that happened in between the fishing outings.

Off to a good start

So it is the first of Feb and I got to work a little early today. I figured with the temp up to a suprisingly high 40 degrees, I would spend about 30 mins fishing before work. So I visited a warm water spot where I have found Smallmouth Bass before. And look what I found. This fish did "the tail dance" about 6 or 7 times. It came in at 19" and has some wonderful color to it. Now that is the way to start a new year (and a new Blog).