Boca Grande, Fl.
16 Jan., 2009
Cold weather decended upon us this week. That coupled with very low tides in the morning pushed the bite to late afternoon. Anglers faced windy conditions and slow fishing. We made the best of it by waiting until later in the day to try our flies in the back country. Redfish proved difficult because we were restricted in the areas we could fish, but we managed to take a few on Clouser minnows and grub tailed jigs. Seatrout and ladyfish were the most abundant.
Cliff Fox, a winter visitor, took a large redfish in Whidden's Creek on Sunday. His partner, Allistar, from Glasgow, Scotland took seatrout and large ladyfish in Placida Harbour on chartreuse Clouser minnows. A sure surprise was a 27 inch King Mackerel caught in the middle of Gasparilla Sound. The king came after catching a medium sized Spanish Mackerel out of a school of busted bait. That is the first king I ever caught in the harbour.
Rhet Roy, form the Tarpon Coast Fly Fishers in Hernando Beach caught seatrout and ladyfish in Bull and Turtle Bay on several different fly patterns. Charlie Koehler, of Indianapolis, caught redfish and seatrout on jigs in the back country holes behind Bull Bay on a cold afternoon. Tim Guilfoile, of the Nothern Kentucky Fly fishers club, caught seatrout to 25 inches on Clousers and ladyfish to 24 inches. All the fish came late in the afternoon.
Next week is predicted to remain cool here and the fishing will not improve too much. Sunday looks like the best day. Afternoon fishing will be best. The tide will have risen and the sun should warm the water a little then.
Fish Hard,
Capt. Pete
www.floridaflyfishing.com