Post by Slartybardfast on Oct 10, 2009 9:04:07 GMT -5
Hello TFFers,
I was in Southwest Florida this last week and fished my butt off! Wednesday the 7th I hired Capt Kevin Mihailoff for the day from Chokoloskee and my friend Ryan and I spent the day in the everglades. Our day started very early!
It was hot! like 95F all day long hot. Once we left the dock all we saw was mangroves. It all looked the same! Kevin knows the area very well and we went all over the back country. We started out fishing an area that bordered the Gulf of Mexico with a falling tide. Lady fish were boiling on the surface everywhere around us and we could hear snook taking baitfish on the surface by the mangroves.
We caught several lady fish here and a couple snook. I hooked a big redfish and the 9 weight rod I was using bend in half! But the leviathan shook the hook loose before we could get him to the boat. Here's Ryan with a nice snook. Notice the blood on his shirt? When you get a lady fish up to the boat they shake like mad spraying blood and poo everywhere. We avoided catching them after a while.
We worked the mangroves and took several snooklets. Kevin referred to these as key chains.
Kevin had a beautiful flats boat made by Hells Bay. We were in six inches of water in many areas.
This was my big snook of the day taken while poling along some mangroves.
Another snook.
Here's a mangrove snapper. This thing had fangs in its mouth!
We did go looking for some Tarpon and found some small ones rolling in a small stream in the middle of nowhere. However, Kevin said they were too far up the creek and there would be no room to go after them. We traveled for like :20 minutes to get to this creek, see a tarpon and then leave. That was hard. The ride to the creek was pretty exciting through some very tight mangroves.
Thursday provided some great fishing from the beach on Sanibel Island. I was on the water at first light and fished until 11:30.
I caught lady fish, spotted sea trout, spanish mackerel, jack creval and pompano. I could see snook and redfish in the shallow surf but they were elusive.
Lady fish. Be careful of the blood and poo!
Spotted sea trout. These things had some teeth on them.
Pompano
Jack crevale
Spanish mackerel. When I hooked this thing my 8 weight doubled over and that fish took off like a bullet. I had no idea what I had until I got him up to my feet. This thing had a mouth full of very sharp teeth! I used 30lb test bite tippet and had to change it often. The saltwater fish just destroyed it.
I cant wait to go back with Dustin at the end of this month.
I was in Southwest Florida this last week and fished my butt off! Wednesday the 7th I hired Capt Kevin Mihailoff for the day from Chokoloskee and my friend Ryan and I spent the day in the everglades. Our day started very early!
It was hot! like 95F all day long hot. Once we left the dock all we saw was mangroves. It all looked the same! Kevin knows the area very well and we went all over the back country. We started out fishing an area that bordered the Gulf of Mexico with a falling tide. Lady fish were boiling on the surface everywhere around us and we could hear snook taking baitfish on the surface by the mangroves.
We caught several lady fish here and a couple snook. I hooked a big redfish and the 9 weight rod I was using bend in half! But the leviathan shook the hook loose before we could get him to the boat. Here's Ryan with a nice snook. Notice the blood on his shirt? When you get a lady fish up to the boat they shake like mad spraying blood and poo everywhere. We avoided catching them after a while.
We worked the mangroves and took several snooklets. Kevin referred to these as key chains.
Kevin had a beautiful flats boat made by Hells Bay. We were in six inches of water in many areas.
This was my big snook of the day taken while poling along some mangroves.
Another snook.
Here's a mangrove snapper. This thing had fangs in its mouth!
We did go looking for some Tarpon and found some small ones rolling in a small stream in the middle of nowhere. However, Kevin said they were too far up the creek and there would be no room to go after them. We traveled for like :20 minutes to get to this creek, see a tarpon and then leave. That was hard. The ride to the creek was pretty exciting through some very tight mangroves.
Thursday provided some great fishing from the beach on Sanibel Island. I was on the water at first light and fished until 11:30.
I caught lady fish, spotted sea trout, spanish mackerel, jack creval and pompano. I could see snook and redfish in the shallow surf but they were elusive.
Lady fish. Be careful of the blood and poo!
Spotted sea trout. These things had some teeth on them.
Pompano
Jack crevale
Spanish mackerel. When I hooked this thing my 8 weight doubled over and that fish took off like a bullet. I had no idea what I had until I got him up to my feet. This thing had a mouth full of very sharp teeth! I used 30lb test bite tippet and had to change it often. The saltwater fish just destroyed it.
I cant wait to go back with Dustin at the end of this month.
