Tailing redfish

[SteveGibson]

Visited Pine Island Sound again today. Took my friend, Capt. Al White of Boca on the Fly. Tide was again right for tailing redfish.

With low tide scheduled for 9:30, we had a couple of hours to waste. So, we paddled to the backcountry and fooled around with snook, mangrove snapper and spotted seatrout. Al took a number of snook at the first stop. I was lucky enough to get trout and snook very quickly. I saw a number of decent snook and quite a few redfish in the shallows, but didn't hook up.

We headed outside, but saw just one tailer. So, we went back inside. Didn't take long before I poled up on a tailer. The fish was no more than 15 feet off my bow. I stopped the kayak, picked up my fly rod and made a cast. The fish didn't see the fly. I cast again. As soon as the fly got near the fish, he turned and ate. Turned out to be a really nice red. It took a First Cast Crab in about 12 inches of water. Good fight. After a quick photo, I released it.

We fooled around and caught a couple of more snook, then decided to call it a day. We enountered a couple of tailers on the way back, but couldn't draw any interest.

Tides are good over the next few days.

This was my second straight slam this week on fly.

[flyguy66]

Very cool! Al's a great guy, but does he fit in a kayak? That dude's built like middle linebacker.

I gotta get back to the saltwater soon. I need some sun.

[SteveGibson]

Very cool! Al's a great guy, but does he fit in a kayak? That dude's built like middle linebacker.

I gotta get back to the saltwater soon. I need some sun.

Look at the first two photos! Al fits in a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 quite well!

[flyguy66]

Oh yeah...I went straight to the fish porn. LOL

[Sully]

Interesting!! My FIL and MIL used to live on Siesta Key there in Sarasota...but moved off the beach and live at Stoney Brook now. Maybe I need to drag along some fishing stuff on my next trip and hire me a guide???

Question about "casting". I watched a long show once where the guy was fishing for Tarpon. And basically he said that if ya cant cast the whole line all the way to the backing...to stay home..? Are ALL species that way or are Tarpon just that spooky?

I live in the hills of southern Ohio...and wouldnt know a "tailing Redfish" if it stood up and waved at me!!!!!

[SteveGibson]

Interesting!! My FIL and MIL used to live on Siesta Key there in Sarasota...but moved off the beach and live at Stoney Brook now. Maybe I need to drag along some fishing stuff on my next trip and hire me a guide???

Question about "casting". I watched a long show once where the guy was fishing for Tarpon. And basically he said that if ya cant cast the whole line all the way to the backing...to stay home..? Are ALL species that way or are Tarpon just that spooky?

I live in the hills of southern Ohio...and wouldnt know a "tailing Redfish" if it stood up and waved at me!!!!!

I am a guide. I guide out of fishing kayaks.

The advice about having to cast a full line is not correct. Most saltwater fish are taken on casts of 50 feet or less. Sometimes a 70-80-foot cast is necessary but not often. If you can cast 50 feet accurately, you'll do fine.

I was standing and poling my kayak when I saw the redfish in the photo above tailing. It was no more than 20 feet off my bow. I picked up my fly rod and just flipped the fly out.

Email me at steve@kayakfishingsarasota.com if you have any questions about fly fishing the area.

[Sully]

I am a guide. I guide out of fishing kayaks.

The advice about having to cast a full line is not correct. Most saltwater fish are taken on casts of 50 feet or less. Sometimes a 70-80-foot cast is necessary but not often. If you can cast 50 feet accurately, you'll do fine.

I was standing and poling my kayak when I saw the redfish in the photo above tailing. It was no more than 20 feet off my bow. I picked up my fly rod and just flipped the fly out.

Email me at steve@kayakfishingsarasota.com if you have any questions about fly fishing the area.

Thank you for the info and I sure will contact you!

I can do the 20 feet OK.....lol

[flyguy66]

Sully, Steve's absolutely right based on my experience. I haven't even done a ton of saltwater fly fishing. But I've been able to catch fish wading, kayaking, and from a flats boat just fine all inside of 60' in all sorts of conditions. That whole 100' cast machismo BS is just that. I was talking to a FL guide last year who said that about Snook fishing around docks from a boat regarding a 70' cast. I told him that if he couldn't get a boat a lot closer than 70' to feeding Snook without spooking them then he needed to learn how to handle a fishing boat. The reality is that if you hook a big Snook near cover w/70' of fly line out, you're pretty near screwed already. So some of these guys just really like the sound of their own voices and think that by BS'ing folks into thinking they're "all that" they are somehow attracting more business. In fact, they're shooting themselves in the foot because of two examples now found right here in this thread. First, you probably have hesitated to fish down there when you've been in the past because of what that guy said instead of calling him up and booking a trip, which was the reason he appeared on the show in the first place. Second, I would never book a trip with that guy who lacks the confidence in his own boating skills to haul a fly fishing client that can't cast accurately and consistently 70' (even though I can easily do that).

Finding a good guide is the key to success in saltwater fly fishing...until you've learned a lot about how to do it. And you've heard the names and seen pics of three of them on the 2 redfish threads here.

[Sully]

Sully, Steve's absolutely right based on my experience. I haven't even done a ton of saltwater fly fishing. But I've been able to catch fish wading, kayaking, and from a flats boat just fine all inside of 60' in all sorts of conditions. That whole 100' cast machismo BS is just that. I was talking to a FL guide last year who said that about Snook fishing around docks from a boat regarding a 70' cast. I told him that if he couldn't get a boat a lot closer than 70' to feeding Snook without spooking them then he needed to learn how to handle a fishing boat. The reality is that if you hook a big Snook near cover w/70' of fly line out, you're pretty near screwed already. So some of these guys just really like the sound of their own voices and think that by BS'ing folks into thinking they're "all that" they are somehow attracting more business. In fact, they're shooting themselves in the foot because of two examples now found right here in this thread. First, you probably have hesitated to fish down there when you've been in the past because of what that guy said instead of calling him up and booking a trip, which was the reason he appeared on the show in the first place. Second, I would never book a trip with that guy who lacks the confidence in his own boating skills to haul a fly fishing client that can't cast accurately and consistently 70' (even though I can easily do that).

Finding a good guide is the key to success in saltwater fly fishing...until you've learned a lot about how to do it. And you've heard the names and seen pics of three of them on the 2 redfish threads here.

El Paso?? Will a Gila Monster bite on a #18 Elk Hair Caddis???? Last time I was thru El Paso I couldnt even find enough "water" to drink...let alone fish in! ( Just kidding guy...lol)

I lean the same way you do that all that distance in a lot of cases is a bunch of BS! Kinda like the "dude" at the flyshop told me that I needed 100 YARDS of backing on my trout reel ( 9 ft 5 wgt) I told him that by the time some trout had pulled off 90 feet of line...and 300 feet of backing...and I still hadnt gotten him turned...Id be skimming the water like a submarine getting ready to breech and screaming for someone to "get the gaff"....cause it would be a world record. He put 100 FEET on it then...lol

And your dead on right. Wife goes to see her mom and dad every January..I stay at home. I got 3 rods here that "are suppose to be" ( ??) decent saltwater rods. Sage RPLXi ( 8 wgt) and 2 Loomis GL3's ( 8 weight) that I built for Steelheading...but they are suppose to be decent salt water rods. It sure wouldnt be hard to load all of us ( wife; cat and me the driver) and all the gear into the bus and head south

[flyguy66]

Hmmm...let me see...

I can sit in OH in the dead of winter...

OR I can go to Florida WITHOUT having to sit with my in-laws for a week because I can fly fish...

Yeah, that wasn't a tough call for me to make from Missouri, either. That's how I got started fly fishing saltwater.

My wife's folks live in Dunedin, FL (just N of Clearwater) and we were going for TWO weeks at a time every year or 2. So I manned up and faced my fear of sharks and started packing some 8wt rods n reels and tying saltwater flies awhile back. It's a LOT of fun. And now I actually try to find excuses to go there.