A Few Days in Florida

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to my Blog. This is a new adventure for myself, so please bear with me.

The main reason I have decided to start a blog is to give you an inside look at the general fishing industry, and anything interesting that has recently happened in my life (pertaining to fishing.) Including my travels, fishing trips, new fly fishing patterns, tips and tactics, etc. With this, I will share with you all that I know, which isn’t much, and hope you come back for many more visits. Feedback is appreciated as I hope to keep this fun, entertaining, and informative. Enjoy!

For the past few days I have been traveling in Florida with one of Cortland Line Company’s sales representatives, Capt. Frank Catino. This trip has been an eye opening experience for me, a Northern Country Boy, into the world of saltwater fishing in Florida. The tactics, techniques, rigging, rods, reels, line, and fish were all new to me as I cut my teeth on typical Central Pennsylvania trout and bass fishing.

For 2 ½ days, we visited Big Game Tackle shops and Fly Fishing shops, speaking with owners and Captains about new products, fishing info, what’s hot, and of course, how the fishing has been. After hundreds of amateur questions, I figured that I was making some headway and could confidently carry on a conversation with a knowlegable angler for about 5 seconds before embarrassing myself. The information I received from people in "the know" was perfect, but was still only a scratch in the surface. I would need to dig for a long time before I could even THINK about hanging with these guys.

The amount of products these guys carry in their shops is simply unbelievable. $2600 reels, $100 lures, more types of mono and braid that I could remember. Charter Captains do not think twice about spending 5k on a couple days of fishing. For one $60 lure, I could supply myself with months worth of groceries! Notable shops we visited (and are worth checking out) are Grand Slam Sportfishing in West Palm Beach, Harry Goode’s, and Orlando Outfitters in (of course) Orlando. There were others, but unfortunately, my memory is not working so well today.

Did I fish? Of course, but not much, and not nearly as long as I would have preferred.

4:45a.m. Monday morning greeted me like a hangover. I was too tired for fishing, and so excited that I felt sick. By the time I stumble out of bed, Frank had the flats boat hooked up, rods ready, cooler filled, and the truck running. After a quick stop to pick up Bi-Bo, Frank’s buddy who runs a bonefish lodge in South Caicos Islands, we were on our way South of Satellite Beach. Upon arriving at the launch, I noticed Bi-Bo hang his legs over the dock and swish them around in the water. I shrugged this off as nothing, more than him wanting to feel the warm water on his legs (or attract the first shark of the morning.) 15 minutes later, I was standing on the front deck blind casting into an area for cruising tarpon. About 5 minutes went by before my line became tangled on my left foot’s toes. When I bent over to free the lne, I quickly realized why Bi-Bo had washed his feet. On the boat ride out, ocean spray had covered the front deck of the boat, leaving it moist. When I stood on the deck, all of the dust that my feet had collected from the dock had been turned into brown water stains on Frank’s pure white boat. Note to self: Don’t be an idiot again. Wash your feet off before stepping into another flats boat.

"Tarpon 20ft behind the boat" were the next words I hear. I scramble to the back and managed to forget how to make a 20’ cast in the process. With knees weak and hands shaking, I had tarpon fever before I even made a cast. Can you say "greenhorn"?

The morning wore on without many tarpon showing themselves. This was not typical sight fishing either. When the fish would roll, you cast ahead of them and work the fly blind. Pure luck in my opinion. Cast after cast, strip after strip, with a constant lookout for fish. At some point in the morning, I made a cast and looked away to search for fish. A few seconds later Frank yells, "He’s on it! He’s on it!" I turn to my fly, which was actually Bi-Bo’s creation of a giant hook with 4 black chicken feathers out the back, to see fins and a big wake screaming towards it. With the tarpon disappearing in a giant swirl, I strip set the hook perfectly, only to find that the fish did not take the fly, but simply turned away. Disappointing, but exhilarating at the same time.

Time wore on and the tarpon shunned us. It was not meant to be. However, the ladyfish were all over Bi-Bo’s creation of black chicken feathers and proved to be good entertainment for a noob such as myself. Hard hitters, high jumps, and fast runs were enough to make them a worthy target for this trout guy. A few skipjack and ladies later, we called it a morning, as even the big reds were not cooperating.

Later that evening, Frank worked me through some canals in search of small tarpon and snook. This fishing was my style. Land the fly within inches of the mangroves, tuck a tight loop under a dock, and hold on. Well, not so much of holding on to the fish, but more of the rod. After 2 hours of perfect casts, I received 2 small hits and a big swirl, but it seemed as though the fish weren’t there. Baitfish were even stacked up at the docks during the night with NO fish crashing them. It seemed strange for even a beginner such as myself.

I will be back, but as a true fishing trip, not work. And then, maybe….just maybe, the fish will greet me with open mouths and tail slaps.

But for now, I am on a plane to Phoenix, then Salt Lake City for a taste of the Western Fly Fishing business. I hope you enjoyed reading, and will check back in for the Utah update.

Tight Loops, Bent Rods, and Reels Screaming…

Michael Foreman