Stuff I Like: Spotted Sea Trout

This is a species that unfortunately we don't have down in Vieques but is plentiful up here in West Florida. Sea trout aren't related to freshwater trout at all but are quite similar in appearance. They're actually part of the drum family which includes the equally popular redfish.

Sea trout are common on the grass flats of Pine Island right now but most are below the legal size of fifteen inches. On the right day it's possible to catch dozens of them. The one pictured here measured a bit under twenty four inches. Getting a trout this size on a fly is a real treat. They're known as "gators" when they're this big thanks to their impressive mouthful of teeth.

These fish hit suddenly in the stained water up here and it's one of best strikes on the flats. I catch most of them by blind casting a weighted Clouser Minnow in two to six feet of water. They pull hard but nothing like a bonefish or tarpon of the same size and rarely run a fly line into the backing. They make up for that by being superbly edible. Lightly grilled with garlic butter and olive oil, there's nothing better. And yes, the dog got some leftovers.

Stuff I Like: Sage 1880 Fly Reel

For most it's history, saltwater fly fishing has been an expensive sport to get into where the gear is concerned. This has changed radically in the past decade. As more anglers head to the ocean with their fly rods, the manufacturers have stepped up to the plate with gear that's more affodable to everyone.

Just last week I picked up my first fly reel that cost me under $400. It's a new Sage 1880 and is set up for 7 to 9 weight fly lines. It retails for only $139. I'm currently using it on an 8 weight rod up here on Pine Island, Florida and catching the hell out of everything from seatrout to small tarpon. The reel is capable of handling any saltwater fish up to fifty pounds and even comes with Sage's great waranty. This is a solid aluminum reel with a sealed and adjustable drag system. Ten years ago you would have spend at least $500 for the same capability. These reels are available all over the internet and at any fly shop carrying the Sage line.

Inexpensive fly gear is now common in the market and this is great news for anyone heading toward the ocean with a passing interest in fly fishing. Most dedicated freshwater tackle will disintegrate in the salt and isn't up to the challenge of species like bonefish or tarpon. It's now possible to pick up a great rod and reel for under $300 that can handle anything you'll see from the bow of any flats boat. If you're heading to the coast or the islands and are thinking of tossing a fly at something, there's plenty of stuff out there that won't cost more than the budget of your entire vacation.

Dodging Water Spouts

Summer in south Florida is water spout season. These shots were taken yesterday while fishing in Charlotte Harbor with my friend Bill Heindl. We played tag with two spouts that formed within a mile of each other, actually running through the base of the smaller one before the rain drove us away. Water spouts are a common site in this part of the world, especially down in the Florida Keys. Fishing around them is rarely dangerous but the same cloud formations that produce spouts can also produce lightning. Fly fishing near an electrical storm is something to be avioded at all costs and that's what caused us to finally run from this fascinating weather phenomenon.

Florida Update

It's been a little over three weeks since we came back to Florida for the season. My main priority has been fishing as much of the Gulf waters from Boca Grande Pass to Sanibel Beach as possible. The flats up here are as shallow as Vieques and the distances between them can be much more significant. Last week I picked up a great little boat for running these waters, a 16 foot Mitzi Skiff with a 40 horsepower four-stroke outboard. This is one of the most popular skiffs available and floats in less than 6 inches of water. It's an excellent fly fishing platform and has put me on top of a lot of redfish over the past few days. Best of all, it burns about a gallon of gas per hour. Just like my excellent Beavertail Skiff I use in Vieques, it doesn't cost a fortune to spend a day exploring the flats. I'll have some more fishing reports coming soon.

Matlacha, Florida

July is here and the tourist season on Vieques has come to an end. Amanda and I have once again packed up and headed north for the summer and fall. We’re currently on the southwest Florida island of Matlacha, where my parents live and fish. While tiny Matlacha is an island in the technical sense, it’s actually connected to the very developed west Florida city of Cape Coral by a short drawbridge. And unlike Vieques, this makes all the conveniences of 21st century life just a car ride away.

So right now life on Vieques really slows down to a snail’s pace until late December. I’ve found that leaving the island for a few months to chase Florida redfish instead of Caribbean bonefish is the perfect antidote for not focusing on what Vieques lacks, like movie theaters and big grocery stores, but to be reminded of all that it has to offer. And of all those things, there’s really one that stands out the most. While the fishing is equally fantastic up here in South Florida, Matlacha really lacks for beaches.

On Vieques, when I’m not poling a charter across the shallows of Ensenada Honda, my favorite thing to do is hike down to Encampment Beach just before sunset. Our lunatic dog Maggie will chase every single bird back and forth at full speed, stopping only to dig ghost crabs out of their holes in the sand. I’ll usually get several shots at the resident school of bonefish that live inside the barrier reef at the beach‘s end, often hooking one, sometimes two. When it’s finally time to go home we’ll have an exhausted dog, a freshly eaten bonefish fly, and a pocket full of new sea glass for Amanda’s ever growing collection.

That’s been our routine on the island for the past three years, several times a week, and I’ll miss it immensely at first up here. Matlacha’s shoreline is composed of dense mangroves and oyster bars (we’re talking about both kinds; the natural ones that grow under the water’s surface and the man-made ones built above it that serve draft beer.) There’s nowhere for Maggie to run wild within walking distance. There are beautiful beaches a few miles away on the islands of Sanibel and Captiva but, like almost anywhere in the States, no dogs allowed. Strict leash laws apply everywhere up here and on Vieques Maggie rarely wore a leash. The generous splash of terrier in her mixed up gene-pool makes calmly walking her down the road a true ordeal most days, especially when a squirrel darts across her path.

Maggie goes crazy each afternoon around 5:00 PM when we’re not heading to a beach. With her schedule so messed up we’ve had to compensate and longer walks on the leash didn’t seem to work at first. Fortunately, we’ve discovered that Maggie is an excellent kayaker. Our rental house up here is right on the very shallow waters of Pine Island Sound and comes equipped with several fishing kayaks. A five minute paddle from the back porch can put me in the middle of some of the most productive flats on the entire Gulf coast of Florida. Maggie will sit on the bow of my single seat kayak and not budge while we paddle for miles around the mangrove hammocks. This is an amazing feat of obedience for this thirty-five pound inbred mutt. At the same time it’s great exercise and gets me very close to some big tailing redfish. The drawback is that it’s a less than ideal situation for casting a fly at anything. But Maggie is back on the water and happy. I’ll figure out a way around the dog with a fly sooner or later.

Owning a dog that loves the water is kind of a chore up here in the States when compared to Vieques. The island is incredibly hands off when it comes to rules for dogs. As an animal lover, this is both good and bad, as anyone who works with the Vieques Humane Society will tell you. Watching my dog tear up and down an empty beach and screaming at her for scaring off my bonefish are favorite memories of Vieques. I’ll look forward to doing that again in a few months. Until then, I’ll be like every other Floridian dog owner being dragged down the sidewalk with a leash in one hand and a plastic baggie in the other.

While I'm Away...

We head up to the States this time every year to fish the Southwest Florida flats off Pine Island for a few months. If you're heading down to Vieques you'll still have two of the best guides in the Caribbean at your service. Franco Gonzalez (pictured on the right) is the original Vieques charter boat captain and now has the bonefish all to himself down there. Call him at (787)450-3744. The newcomer to the island is Capt. J Fergeson (pictured on the left) at (787)502-3839. J, however, is far from a newcomer to saltwater fishing. He's been guiding anglers on the flats and deep water from the Keys to the Virgin Islands for fifteen years and has the only dedicated offshore boat on Vieques. Give either of them a call or check out their website links on this page. Good luck and tight lines.