* Early June - Florida Everglades
My wife and I had a great trip to the Everglades and 10,000 Islands. We stayed in Everglades City, and fished both north and south of Chokolaskee. The previously poor weather had just ended and we were greeted to a beautiful, windless day, for our first day out for tarpon. Fortunately, we were able to find a few tarpon willing to play.
The largest tarpon was a 60 lb. fish that must have jumped at least 8 times, and really put on a show for us. My wife was busy with the video camera and was able to get some nice footage. You can go to my blog for the entire story, pictures AND videos! http://leehaskin.blogspot.com/.
These tarpon were "laid up" which means they were usually found lying motionless under the mangroves. Even when you could spot them they were tough, or impossible to reach. Also, they normally don't eat when in this state, yet we were able to entice several with a Neutralizer!
Unfortunately, the wind prevented us from fishing the gulf side, and the clear water needed to sight fish for reds and black drum. The snook fishing was great, as well, although the casting needed to be tight to the structure, and the fly needed to be weedless. My new weedless Floating Minnow pattern proved exceptional for these conditions and these snook! The water was quite stained, so most of the snook fishing was blind casting. It was quite a challenge blind casting 8 hours a day, for 3 days!
The life in the 'glades is amazing. We saw manatee, dolphin, alligators, many species of birds, black drum, and red drum. In addition to the tarpon, I hooked a huge lemon shark that really pulled some string before dropping the fly, and I caught numerous snappers, and small jacks. The large snook were hard to find, and when we did get them to come to the fly, they just couldn't find the hook! The guide estimated one big snook to be over 20 lbs....but the really big ones tend to live only in our memory, given the image flashed in a moment. - Lee Haskin
* End of May, '09 - Bone-fishing: South Andros Island, Bahamas
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I was one of six fly fisherman living aboard the Pulitzer family yacht "SEA HUNTER" (homey, comfortable, but not luxury) for a week, anchored off the hundreds of perfect flats in South Andros. The crew were mostly from Crooked Island, three of which acted as our guides. All fishing was wading and despite the constant high winds that time of year, which makes seeing the fish difficult, our guides put us onto fish all day, everyday. I averaged five fish a day in the 3-5 lb. range and caught one around 7 lb. Although on a couple of days we saw world-record sized fish (15-17lb), none of us were able to catch one.
Living aboard a boat (which was extremely stable) has the advantage of being 5-10 minutes from the closest flats, and the constant breeze keeps all the biting insects away. At the airport we compared notes with fisherman who were land resort based...they had grueling 45-minute boat rides to the flats each way, and were covered with bites from flies and no-seeums.
At $3000 for the week, which included all guiding, daily maid service and laundry, good Southern style food and drink, we all felt this was a great value. If interested for next season contact Angling Destinations (800-211-8530) and Lynx Airlines (888)-596-9247) - David South