Mine has to be an Atlantic Salmon, caught when i was 12, on a sandeel imitation, from my local beach. The fish was only 3 pounds, but put saline ‘n’ rum in my veins for the rest of my life.
My most memorable SW fly-lost fish has to be a tarpon(my first!!), in Cuba, last February… my guide estimated its weight as “Approximately twenty pounds heavier than me!!!”…(150-170??), took two hundred yards of backing on its’ way back to FLA, before jumping 3 times and throwing the popper 20 feet into the air. Still feel that rush now!
So, come on guys, spill the beans!!
Andy
"My fishing is no longer an obsession, an addiction, or a mania; it’s much more than that!
" - Dave Micus
Took my 6 wt offshore on a trip to the
gulf stream just for giggles. We saw a
wooden pallet floating in the dead calm
waters and I threw a popper out. Schoolie
dolphin hit that spent more time in the air
than in the water. One after the other.
The guys had been teasing me about bringing
the fly rod, but after I boated the first,
there was nearly a fight to see who would
go next.G Much fun! Warm regards, Jim
LOL… know what ya mean, JC… had a 24 pounder off Margarita in Feb 2004, on VERY light spinning gear(6# mainline)… spent more time looking at me at eye-level than he did in his own habitat. Mean indeed!
Jim, have yet to hook into a mahi… love to take one on a 6-7 weight, especially on a popper! :0)
"My fishing is no longer an obsession, an addiction, or a mania; it’s much more than that!
" - Dave Micus
Would have been the mother of all stripers this weekend but I failed to properly set the hook. Had the fish on for a few minutes and then nothing. PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET THE HOOK. Lessons re-learned.
a 135 tarpon in August a few years back on 20 lb. tippet. Dern thing 'bout killed me, couldn’t walk for 3 days. It musta been 98 degrees that day and it hit around noon.
My favorite though is the mighty bull redfish!
big blues off the south jersey coast when i was just a teen. we’d hit schools of fish all in the high teens and low twenties (lbs) and they would fight like they weighted 100 lbs each.
Some great fish so far, i’m impressed,(and just a little envious!! LOL)
Dave,
I have been working my a$$ off, eighty hours a week + on the Pig Farm… tying 300 flies a week too, so I haven’t had a great deal of time for much else. Things should slow down a little in a few weeks time and, hopefully, will return to normal.
I hope all the pirates fine, you all waving the long rod?? Take care, and take plenty rum!! Catch up with y’all soon!
Andy
"My fishing is no longer an obsession, an addiction, or a mania; it’s much more than that!
" - Dave Micus
November ?04 float tubing for Baltic pike in Sweden.
The surroundings are stunning, manoeuvring between the rocks to convince one of these savage beauties to ambush my fly. The pike was only about 5lbs, but it was a stunning pike. A lemon belly with a distinguished speckled back; the most fantastically coloured pike I had seen up to that point.
Have a feeling though that this might be eclipsed by my first foray into BC in a few weeks time, where float tubing for the salmon in the brine is on the cards.
Most memorable…a 2 pound Bonefish, not just any Bonefish, but the first one I ever caught on a fly.
After that, I was hooked on not only Bonefish, but Tarpon, and Permit…but that first Bonefish will always be special. In an instant with that first spectacular run, you understand why people seek out the flats fish. It has hooked me for life.
Probably the first Striper I evr caught. It was a keeper. My friend, whose boat I was on, thought I was horsing around pretending to have on a big fish. My 8wt was near its maximum curve. The fish was a fat 32"+. I gave it a pat on the back and sent it on its way.
Another memorable fish was an 18" brookie caught 35 years ago. My best fish in my first year of fly fishing. That tasted good!
It was about a 4 pound snook, not large for a snook, on a 6wt rod. It wasn’t the size of the fish that did it, but how it happened.
I had been casting from a high perch to an area about twenty feet away. As I stripped back my red rabbit zonker skimmed what I thought was a bunch of rocks. At the very moment that my eyes figured out one of the rocks was a snook the fish shot out and snatched my fly.
Never have I had such a clear view of the whole proccess. I could not have asked for anything better.
A couple of springs ago I was fishing the surf on the back side of Cape Cod.
The sun was just right so that you could see the stripers surfing in the crest of the wave.
I was using a flatwing on the point, a blonde on the dropper.
The fish weren’t that big,22-24", but sight casting to, and catching two at a time was a gas.
I had to land the fish ASAP too or risk having a big gray seal steal the pair.
“Nick’s heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling” …Ernest Hemingway
Most likely mine would be my first Tarpon. Nothing of any size, a mere baby at just ten lbs or so but the first. To make it better it was on my first cast to a Tarpon, instant strike, good hookset and landed him. Batting 100% on Tarpon but suffice it to say that average didn’t last at all.
The place, out near Mosquito Lagoon, a nice day and a place that an internet acquaintence, Tammy, told me about. Even had her friend meet me an take me directly to the place. Tam, can now be found out on the Dan Blanton board at times and is now likely giving those Sacrameto Delta fish the fits.
Good Fishing
Chuck Scheerschmidt
“I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.”
As to the origional question, one of our most remembered is a Ballyhoo we pestered with a #10 shad fly. The danged thing kept knocking the BUG out of the water with it’s lower bill, I guess. Took many tries to get him eyeball to eyeball for a very short, close inspection.
…lee s.
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[This message has been edited by lee s (edited 11 September 2005).]
[This message has been edited by lee s (edited 11 September 2005).]
[This message has been edited by lee s (edited 11 September 2005).]
[This message has been edited by lee s (edited 11 September 2005).]
I had to land the fish ASAP too or risk having a big gray seal steal the pair.
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