Just ordered this guy, gonna try my hand at fly tying. I can only imagine how disastrous the first ones will be.
Tropical storm stirred up the gulf so my trip out of Clearwater was postponed until sunday. Going 60 miles out so I might kill myself if I have nothing to report back to this thread with.
Amazon $154, I was between that one and the Atlas vise. I am terrible at tying flies, the only things that have looked decent are the wooly buggers. Definitely will need to get some sort of magnifier or something like reading glasses for the smaller ones. So far I have enjoyed trying though.
That's pretty damn close to what I'm hoping for. The captain told me he's been catching a good number of cobia lately too so any of those would be a bonus
Good thing is those fish wont move an inch. If you can get there, youll be fine... and eat like a king. Very jealous.
Yeah the captain said he thinks it should be good; they've had issues with the water being so clear that he's had to use light tackle the past few weeks and the gag grouper don't play that shit. He's hoping that the storm turns up the bite and lessens the water clarity so we can go heavy. Calling for 1-1.5 foot seas on Sunday so it should be great.
Best trip I've ever been on. If any of you are ever in Clearwater, hit up Captain Brandon Fraley with FishEye Sportfishing Charters and you'll have a kickass day. You'll slay fish and he's a blast to go with. Went 50 miles out, limited out on red snapper in like 40 minutes and then turned to target some red grouper, couple lane snapper and a mangrove snapper thrown in in the process.
Hell yeah. Those are some nice lanes... insanely pretty fish right out of the water. How deep were you 50 miles out?
I'll play second fiddle today proudly catching brim every other cast with kids. Eating aint as good though.
Now there are literally no red snapper left in the gulf. Thanks a lot. Why dont you go fishing for giant pandas or black rhinos next time.
Still can't believe we limited out on an endangered fish in less than an hour Gonna go play the Powerball
Key West charter was today. Caught yellowfin, mangrove snapper and grouper, but nothing to really write home about. The last hour we decided to try for a shark. Ended up reeling in an 8ft nurse shark. Was easier that I thought fighting her, only lasted 20-30 minutes. Crossed that off the bucket list. Amazing experience.
What do you guys use for wet wading shoes? I picked up a pair of Solomons last year but the soles dont have good grip. Was thinking about the Vibram five fingers despite how ridiculous they look.
I'm on my second pair of these, but I would shop around. my last pair i bought from East Rosebud Fly and Tackle for $60 https://hunterbanks.com/simms-strea...MIh_TTjpnj1AIVDwaGCh2SzwDtEAkYBCABEgK0gvD_BwE
One of my friend's family's has a house down on Dauphin Island and have a commercial license. I was there a couple weekeneds ago and they went out Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday morning. Caught about 500 lbs of snapper that weekend
Yeah the regulation is really shitty for the recreational fisherman. When they're off limits, they're almost impossible to avoid and it can make a bottom fishing trip very frustrating very quickly.
As someone who will not own a pair of boots without Vibram soles, I really want to try a pair of these. :gays:
Any of y'all do your fishing from a Kayak? I've been looking to buy one for some time, but damn they are expensive. Any suggestions? The one I really liked was this one. Field and stream Eagle run 12. It's $450 and I know that's pretty cheap compared to others.
We marked fish all over the lake and threw everything at them. They just weren't having it. A huge storm came through right after I called it a day. Between that and TVA not pulling any water, it must've been the perfect storm for not catching shit
they weren't drawing any from watauga or the holston dam. yesterday, which surprised me with all the rain.
Buddy has the sit on top version of this. Wait for a sale, but you're good to go with it. I've got a more expensive kayak and they're not that different.
Little bro down in Florida and on the ocean for the first time I know they are going out again on Thursday iirc
As I get older I have gotten super lazy about going offshore. It seems like every time I check the forecast see the wind is blowing good and say fuck it I don't want to get beat up on the ride out, Ill just cruise down the waterway and drink beer today.
I've been wearing my chaco's but after a Sunday in the North Georgia mountains where I took a few hard spills, I'm going to try wearing my wading boots. I'm interested in these guys but do you get a lot of rocks like in sandals with those openings? We hopped around Helen and Dahlonega Sunday looking for honey holes, hit both the Chestatee and Chattachoochee. Tube hatch was in full momentum down the river. Anyone ever fished Dukes Creek in Helen, GA?
Awesome fish but those things are the biggest pain in the ass. Went out once and we all threw $50 into a pot for a biggest fish contest. We slayed kingfish all day. Start reeling up a really nice one, then the the line became light so I figured it just chewed through the steel leader. Reeled it in and had nothing but the head of what used to be a 35-40lb king. Lost $300 because of a goddamn cuda They put on a fun fight though. I know down in south FL people catch them in the flats using flies and light tackle; I bet that's a really fun fight. Their teeth are absolutely ridiculous though.
Wading boots + simms neoprene socks. I wear long pants or shorts with some knee/shin abrasion guards. I mostly fish 1-2 hours from Denver (where I call home) or central Washington (where my gf's parents built a log cabin). I bought some Orvis screws to put into an old pair of chacos but decided against putting them in. It wasn't enough protection on freestone streams.
the simms sandals i have don't get many pebbles, but in the sandier rivers you will have trouble with grit. they do have a hard molded toe and that makes me feel more secure. the neoprene wading socks with boots works good too, i love my pair.
Last minute weekend trip to Miami was a success. Biggest fish was a 63lb amberjack. Also caught my first gag grouper and grey tilefish.
Got back from key west last night, was there M-F. Shot 1 red grouper with my new speargun and we hammered some mangrove snapper on the second to last day with lines in the water. Lobster mini season was decent. We limited out by 1pm on the first day, only caught 21 on day 2. Sounded like Key West had a pretty slow mini season this year.
Looking at renting a place there for a weekend this fall. In-laws are scoping out potential retirement spots. Anything I should know before booking? Any good recs for a steady bite?