Tampa Snookin'

I recently had the opportunity to go to Tampa for the first time.  It was a work trip, but since the days were still long enough that I thought I’d be able to sneak out for an hour or so after work.  I was also invited by a client to go out on a guided trip the Friday afternoon I was there.  I chose to take them up the offer and red eye flight home instead of the originally planned afternoon flight.  Beautiful weather in a beautiful place or head back to Memphis a couple hours earlier…it was a tough choice.  I planned accordingly and spent a couple evenings spinning up a few different flies to add to the box, with a primary focus on experimenting on larger versions of the Cheech's low fat minnows in the 2/0 range.

Going on the little information I could find on wade fishing in the bay that would be fairly close to my hotel, I waded out onto a grass flat with the satellite images I pulled from Google Earth on the location of the channels I would target.  The wind was blowing directly at the shoreline at a stiff 25 knots, so my fly rod remained holstered, as conventional was my only real option if I wanted a shot at covering a decent amount of unfamiliar water.  To my surprise, my very first cast yielded a nice snook taking a shot at my bait right in front of me.  Unfortunately I didn’t come tight, and it remained the only excitement I'd see that evening.  Other than a couple small trout attempting to eat my large topwater presentation to no avail, I blanked day one.  However, I did witness a great sunset, so it wasn’t a total loss.

The second evening proved much more interesting even while being welcomed again by similar wind conditions.  I fished the opposite side of the flat, and as I waded out, I had a close encounter with the first manatee I had ever seen.  Shortly after a dolphin breached in the channel I was fishing.  So wildlife was definitely more plentiful.  After switching up lures I finally came tight on a Spanish mackerel, and shortly thereafter I hooked into a small jack crevalle.  The evening was capped off with a couple 10” speckled trout on topwater as the sun sank below the horizon.  Getting a decent picture of the mack was not easy, as you can tell.

Friday turned out to be another perfect weather day, aside from the wind remaining.  We boarded the boat and headed to a sheltered cove to target snook.  I had never caught a snook before, and was excited to attempt to cross it off my list.  It didn’t take long before all 4 of the people I was fishing with landed a snook, all in the 3lb range.  I boated 3 more before deciding to make the switch to my 8wt.  I had several follows on my first fly, but that was all.  I altered my approach from my larger streamer, to a small, sparsely tied bend back fly I had in mind for mackerel.  Slinging that fly up against the mangroves a couple times was all it took to finally seal the deal on my 5^th ever snook, and first on the fly.  I hooked into one more, but it got off at the boat.  By this time, the 4 of us had landed over 20 snook in little more than 2 hours.

The First

The First on the Fly

 The guide posed the option of fishing for reds on live bait off the bottom in deep channels (since the wind prohibited sight fishing for them).  The other option was to chase mackerel, bluefish, and jacks in the more open water of the bay.  We chose this as to keep the fishing more active.  Also, I had never caught a bluefish, and never a jack or mackerel on the fly.  On my first couple of casts I hooked into a ladyfish, and the others tangled with jacks and catfish right off the bat.  We made a slight adjustment in location and we found the bluefish.  I was very surprised at how hard they pulled.  The 3lb blue I hooked was good fun on my 8wt.  One of the others caught a large bluefish by Tampa standards at around 10lbs.  I had another bluefish hit my fly a couple casts after landing the first.  I saw the take and barely felt a tug.  He chomped right through my 20lb fluoro leader like butter.  I forgot my wire leaders in my car that I  bought specifically for this circumstance.  Lesson learned.

No Lipping This Guy

The day ended too quickly, but great days on the water always do.  My next trip down to Tampa may be prolonged into the weekend.

Bought a new boat!

Well I finally took the plunge into owning my first big boy boat.  I bought a Gheenoe about a year ago, (you can see it in the previous post) and put a 9.9hp motor on it, and it was cool.  It was a fantastic boat, possibly the best boat made for it's specific purpose.  However, 2 people and gear are all that really fit in it.  And forget about taking it on big water if you have any sense.  So I sold it, and looked for a 16', side console aluminum boat with around a 50hp motor for duck hunting and fishing.

I was adamant about getting either an Xpress or a G3.  The budget was set at a level that the wife and I agreed upon, so finding one for the price in good shape was a challenge.  When one would pop up on Craigslist, it would sell before I could get it.  So about a week ago, a G3 1860 popped up when I was searching craigslist.  It was way up in Columbia Missouri, which is about a 7 hour drive from Memphis.  But the price couldn't be beat.  I figured for sure there was a catch since this same model boat I'd seen go for $10k.  I called the guy and it was an old guy who used it once a year and figured he'd get rid of it.  I left straight from work on a Friday and got to Columbia around 1am.  Stayed at a Hampton Inn and met him at 8am the next day.  I couldn't believe how awesome this boat was.  It could have passed for 1 year old instead of 8.  It's a 2006 with a 2006 Yamaha 50hp 2 stroke and it is cherry.  The trailer is pristine, and it came with a few extra goodies like fish finder, trolling motor, water/fuel separator filter system, and some faded camo swivel seats.

The owners were also quite possibly the nicest people in the world.  We talked for while and the lady made me promise I send her pictures of me using it and especially of my kids in it.  So I obliged after getting it home.

It is slightly under powered for it's size, but I figured it would still go high 20's mph, and that's perfectly fine by me.  It's also good because the WMA's in Arkansas that aren't limited to 25hp, are limited to 50hp.  AsI am planning on using it some for that, it makes the 50 a plus.  It should still draft plenty skinny for when I take it to Louisiana sight fishing for Reds and being an 1860, it has a TON of room and storage over the 1650's I was looking at.  It'll also "work" for the one or two days a year I MIGHT take it out with friends tubing or whatever, and being a bigger boat, it's very stable, which is a big plus since my wife is nervous on the water to begin with.

Last week I finally took it out for a spin on one the most beautiful lakes in Tennessee (not thick use of sarcasm), McKellar Lake next to downtown Memphis.  It's an offshoot of the Mississippi river where barges are parked while staging.  It's pretty gross.  It's also right next to an oil refinery, so the smell matches everything else.  It was also my first experience with jumping silver carp.  Thankfully only one ended up in the boat, and it was only 5lbs or so.  So the first fish in the boat wasn't actually caught in a traditional way, but it did a good job of sliming it up.

Here's a quick video of them behind my wake in the shallow water.  Sorry for the poor video and vertical filming.

To somewhat save the day of the little fishing we did, I managed to actually catch a small bass, which was kind of cool and unexpected.

In any case, it is the closest and easiest access lake to my work where I could open her up and get to know her a bit.  I went out with a buddy and it ran fantastic.  Note that my friend is a solid 260lbs.  I was extremely pleased when I tested it's top speed and it hit 29 mph with the two of us.  I'm sure with a bit of trim adjustments and a non-factory prop, I could hit a little over 30, and be able to cruise at around 28 mph.

We left just before sunset, and I couldn't have been more pleased.

The boat did require a pretty serious cleaning after being in that lake, as well as some of the dirt in general that had build up over time.  So Saturday I spent a solid couple hours pressure washing a giving it a good scrub down before putting the cover on, and storing it for the next time.

Planning for NOLA

The saying that your life changes forever when you have children, though trite, is also 120% accurate.  Make that 240% since I have twins.  Gone are the days where on a whim, you can simply head out on a Friday after work for the weekend of “whatever you want to do”.  Planning weeks, if not months, in advance is usually what is involved when you have 20 month old twins.  In a couple years it will get a lot easier.  This will be especially true when they are at the age where they can come with me.  For now, it takes planning.

Since my 6^th anniversary of my marriage coincides nicely with Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d bend my wife’s ear to the idea of driving down to New Orleans for the weekend.  She had never been to NOLA for more than a couple hours, and we thought it would be fun since it’s only 6 hours from Memphis.  With my parents committing to taking care of the twins, the planning of the trip began.  My buddy, and former guide in the area, was generous enough to give me great intel into the areas where he guided around Port Sulphur, LA.  He is currently stationed in Texas with the Air Force, but he happened to be taking a trip back to his stomping grounds just weeks before my trip.  This would mean he'd be able to give me some more up to date information when I did get down there.  He helped me map out key areas to target redfish on the fly.  With the locations planned out, the next step for fly fisherman who also tie flies, is to hit the bench and knock out about 500% more flies than will ever be necessary for a trip.  But I find it to be a wonderful way to build anticipation.  As I had heard from many local fly fisherman, "If it ain't got purple or chartreuse, it ain't..." well, you get the point.  I mixed in a few more natural looking shrimp patterns, sliders and seaducers in the lot as well.

 

Also whipping up some hand tied 9ft leaders to accompany my flies.  With more than 75 flies for a 2 afternoon fishing trip (it is my anniversary after all, I had to spend some time with my wife) I was now part way ready.  45 days out, I procured a new motor for my Gheenoe.  A 4-stroke 9.8hp Tohatsu would be strapped on to the stern.  This was a big step up from my 1970’s 6hp Evinrude, which was mixed as far as reliability and performance went.  I tested it out on a local lake to see how it ran, and was pleasantly satisfied with it hitting near 20mph (the old 6hp barely made it to 10mph). 

A few other temporary mods to the Gheenoe included a casting deck of sorts in front of the front seat, and a raised platform on the back inspired by Geofish’s Gheenoes in their film.  It wasn't pretty, but I was shooting for function more than form for this trip.  I plan to fiberglass in a permanent front and rear deck with compartments at seat level, remove the middle seat, and put in a flat floor, but that will be a summer project for later.  I replaced my trailer’s bearings, installed new bunks, a transom saver, a trolling motor mount, and slapped on brand new shiny wheels and tires to be sure there wouldn’t be any hiccups getting down there.  I was now basically set to go.  We loaded up the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and made the 6 hour drive down to the area ravaged by hurricanes in the not so distant past.

My wife committed to coming with me Saturday afternoon provided we wouldn’t be out longer than 4 hours.  My married friends out there know that it’s important to keep the boss happy.  Being that my wife is a 1^st grade teacher, and Saturday was her first official day of summer, she was not too eager to leave the comforts of our hotel bed.  With some coaxing, we made the 1 hour jaunt to Port Sulphur with the Gheenoe in tow a little after noon.   We were welcomed by the amply friendly owner of the boat launch.  We chatted as I prepped all the gear and loaded the boat, and wished us good luck as we launched.  We made the short 1 mile scoot to the first bay I had been instructed to target.  We found only slightly stained water, but were greeted with partly (changing to completely) cloudy skies.  This made my out of practice eyes even more challenged in being able to spot fish. 

 

Thankfully it didn’t take long to find fish tailing and pick out fish swimming near the bank.  After a couple flubbed casts at fish less than 20ft away, a missed hook set, and one fish that came unbuttoned on it’s first run, I finally was hooked up on a decent Red.  My wife never touched the spinning rod I had rigged up for her since she was content laying back with her feet up, and snapping a few action shots of me fighting my fish. 

 

Since she is inexperienced when it comes to fishing, she didn’t understand why I didn’t just reel the fish in, and why I kept letting it pull line.  Because her biggest fish was a 4lb catfish, I had to explain why this fish made my reel make the wonderful sound as the fish fought to get me into my backing, but never quite did.  It wasn’t the prettiest redfish (lacking a spot on the tail and possessing several deep scars), but it was self-guided, hooked on a fly I tied, and my first redfish on a fly.  So it was special to me. 

 

Shortly after the release, I rounded the corner and spotted a distinctive grey forked tail next the shore sticking out of the water.  I made a quick flip to the tailing fish and my fly was attacked as soon as it dropped in front of it’s face.  The fight was nowhere near what the redfish put up, but to catch a sheepshead on a fly was still very cool.  I’ve caught a couple on shrimp in the past, but I’ve been told it’s quite a big deal on a fly.  Since it was only the second one I’ve thrown a fly at (the first was 20 minutes before), I had to take other’s words for it.

 

 

Shortly after his release, the thicker clouds came in, and so did the gnats.  I knew this was my cue to pack up.  If I was ever to convince my wife to join me again, I knew better than to make her suffer through that.

The following day, my wife chose shopping and an afternoon at the day spa.  It was a fair trade to me going fishing by myself.   The weather was perfect.  I marveled at the perfectly clear sky.  I had visions of dozens of redfish, dancing in my head.  The wind was only blowing 4 mph, and I would be hitting a strong falling tide just in time.  This was going to be awesome.  I hit a spot further away based on my friend’s suggestion, and how he had done extremely well there just 2 weeks before.  Unfortunately, the water didn’t cooperate.  Each spot I hit was chocolate milk.  I spotted a couple tailers, and one belly crawling in 3” of water, but nothing came to fruition.  My very limited knowledge of the area prevented me from getting too adventurous in trying to find new water.  I trolled up a few channels up into some ponds hoping to find clean water, but each time was to no avail.  The water was teeming with life.  Shrimp and mullet were everywhere, but my quarry remained hidden.  The only real excitement of the day occurred when in a channel only 10 yards wide, a dolphin popped up 10 feet from me and exhaled in a loud blast.  Let me tell you, when you are all by yourself, in tight water, and the silence is broken by a dolphin breeching that close to you, it can be quite a shock.  It was quite neat however.  Dolphins are slightly more than unusual coming from the fresh water in Tennessee and Arkansas I’m used to.  My fish count for the day wasn’t a complete bagel.  I caught an 8” long catfish when blind casting.  He was also generous enough to gouge my finger worse than any other catfish I’ve caught.  So this would have been one of those times I would have preferred to be skunked.

The trip didn’t quite meet my hopes and dreams of an epic fishing trip, but I didn’t go home without some great memories to go with the few fish I did catch.  Though my wife may not have cared all that much, it was still cool that I got to share the unique experience of catching 2 fish species that were my first on a fly.  New Orleans left me wanting more.  I almost certainly will forgo a weekend of duck or deer hunting if I get another opportunity to make it down this fall when cleaner water, and even more redfish cruise into the saltwater marsh.

Christmas Snipe Hunting

Christmas time often conjures the thoughts of relaxing by a warm fire, and drinking a big mug of hot chocolate. My last Christmas Eve was spent slightly differently. After a fantastic duck hunt with my seemingly long lost brother, and a big breakfast, the next undertaking on that day was a quest for Wilson’s Snipe with my recently acquired 20ga over/under. My dad and brother chose to relax inside and hold with the traditional Christmas Eve responsibilities as opposed to trudging through ankle deep muck on an unproven mission for a flighty quarry. With the recent rain, a nearby field with a small standing corn crop, next to a wide open mud flat had now accumulated a couple inches of water, making it ideal for snipe. That is where I set out with my lab, my new gun, and a box of #7 steel.

Having low expectations, I simply put the shells in various pockets of my waxed cotton overalls, not thinking even thinking of where I would put the snipe if I actually killed any. As we approached the field edge, we quickly jumped a couple snipe sitting on the mud flat 40 yards from us, and well out of range by the time I could shoulder my gun. It was a good sign though. Taking the first steps into water bordering the corn, I was greeted by a handful of snipe getting up out of the corn. I missed the first shot, but dropped one with the top barrel. My lab was on it immediately, so I crouched back down anticipating the inevitable circling of the group I had flushed. As expected they passed right overhead, resulting in another bird down. Having no place to put the birds, I simply held them between my fingers in my left hand. Quickly however, I had 5 birds down, and more shells burned than I care to admit. This left one of my pockets open to fit 4 of the birds surprisingly. My dog and I continued walking the muddy edge with the same tactic of flushing and then crouching. Perhaps the only thing a snipe does that makes them a viable bird to hunt is their willingness to circle back over their original point where they were flushed. Counting on being able to shoot more than a couple birds in a hunt off simply off their initial flush, would be unreliable at best.

Limits of snipe are rare most of the time in a vast majority of Mississippi. Weather changes seem to bring migration influxes of birds, just like with ducks. These are the times when it makes a snipe hunt worth all the effort. In other times, you may be lucky to jump a half dozen. On that particular morning, that small field with about 1 acre of water on it, held a couple hundred snipe. In less than 45 minutes, I had my limit of 8 snipe, and had one heck of a workout making my way though that thick, sticky mud.