Florida/Bahamas/Mexico holiday

Just thought I would give you a quick update on my fishing holiday to Florida and the Bahamas etc. At present Sue and I are in Abaco in the Bahamas which is fabulous however the bonefishing has been a little tough, but the water is unbeleivably clear and you can swim in it!

The house we are staying at is right on the beach and 30meters from the patio to the gin clear water.

One of the 75lb Tarpon

Tough eh?

Tarpon fishing was successful as my dream was to catch a tarpon sight fished on fly of over 100lb which was acheived on second day in the Keys with fish of 125lb which ate the pissant 50mm fly almost off the rod tip, you could hear my arsehole snap shut from 100 yards away.

The tally for the Florida leg was

Fished 5 days in total, 2 in the everglades, and 3 in the Keys.
Day 1… 1 tarpon of 45lb
Day 2 …2 tarpon 45 & 50lb.
Day 3 …first day in the keys 0
Day 4 …2 tarpon 125lb and 75lb
Day 5 …2 tarpon 75lb and 90lb
In total 7 tarpon pretty good fishing for end of season.

Haven't had time to assess al my pics but here are a few to drool over for the moment.

90LbTarpon jumping

Talk soon

Fish

The last tarpon caught in the Keys 90lb

An Interesting Month...

Due to work and other commitments, I've slackened off a little on the blogging side of things. Fishing on the whole has been quite good, although there have been some quiet days, but the best thing this year has been the weather. A few weeks ago I had a memorable day offshore catching a few mackerel and couple of tuna and raising at least 7 sailfish (hooking a few, jumping a few off and 1 eaten by sharks boatside). Definately a little more homework needs to be done there.......

As yet we have hardly had a winter so the water is still fairly warm in the rivers, helping the barra fishing along nicely. Memorable fish lately were include this 63cm fish on fly for Paul Ellis from Tassie and a nice 92cm fish on a livie from a low tide drain. Crikey there has been a lot of 80 - 95cm fish this year!!

The hot topic at the moment is milkies on fly. Pictured here is Ian Cole, fly fishing guide from NZ with his first of 3 landed from 5 hooked and a few more bites on weed flies.
Jason and Lee had a day off just a couple of days ago and managed 1 each from 6 hooked. My last 2 days fly fishing saw more fish on the beaches than ever with blue skies and little wind. We even had tuna in 5 feet of water on the flats, hundreds, no, thousands of blue salmon and some nice queenies and plenty of blue bastards to take a shot at. My guys found it difficult concentrating on a feeding BB when 50 blue salmon would cross their path, followed by a couple of barras or a nice queenie or a school of 100 5 lb tarpon.......

a few more pics

hey all its been a while (very very slack i know but been flat out)so here are a few random shots from some great times had out on the water...

The Milky Puzzle

What a week!

With all the crew flat out we have had a sensational fly fishing week.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I have added a few for you to drool over.

The baitballs were incredible with Gt's to 70lbs crashing the poor defenseless anchovies, manta's with cobia's all over them and the odd blue bastard makes for an exciting day.

Then the next day catching 3 permit from 3 boats, and over the next few day's hooking 8 milkies and landing 3. Would you even hint that we are starting to work out the puzzle?

Anyway it has been happening to say the least!

I am sure that my guides will also have plenty of pics to show you also.

There are still a few places left in Sept/Oct if anyone is interested? don't be slow you won't know if you don't go!

"Slower" Tides.....

The tides were on the neaping cycle recently when Rob and Dave fished with me and although fishing became a little tougher, the weather was absolutely magic and some great fishing moments were had. As you can see by the piuctures, some nice queenies made an appearance and were caught both on jigs and poppers. Some school sized spanish mackerel were fun on poppers and jigs and although the sharks were nothing short of fierce at times we did manage two triple headers (I couldn't help myself) of tuna on the way home on the last day in 15 frantic minutes .....

Releasing a metre long popper caught queenfish.
A nice queenie double...

Dave did well to land this mackerel on a light spin rod despite Rob's being taken by bull sharks on heavier gear.

Hot Fly Fishing for 2 Weeks

Well, the last 2 weeks has left 15 flyfishermen understanding why WEIPA HAS THE BEST SALTWATER FLY FISHERY IN THE COUNTRY. Where else are you going to beach fish for metre long queenfish or barra to 75cm, or get a triple header of mangrove jacks, and cast an innocent white clouser in among bait balls being creamed by countless tuna, sharks, and even the odd billfish...

(both sailfish and marlin were seen on the last day). I don't think there was much that wasn't caught or at least cast to in the last two weeks. OK no permit were caught, but on at least one occasion a crab fly was cast in their direction. The species count for each week was around the 40 mark and included some truly fantastic fish on fly.

Bait balls, I mean when the bait is so thick that the sharks even close their

eyes and still get a mouthful of sardines were seen most days, making hooking a tuna just a matter of dangling the fly from the rod tip!

A few mantas were still around, with some cobia in accompaniment and queenies and trevally.

Some nice barras were caught in the estuaries on surface flies (gurglers and poppers) and the usual flats species were present in the lower estuaries and beaches (blue salmon, Giant herring, golden trevally, queenies etc.)

Weipa has so many options open to be fly fished at the moment which highlights just how strong this fishery is.

We had a group of regular Japanese clients fish for just a couple of days - due to available flights from Japan, so much fishing was crammed into the two days and the guys weren't disappointed. Big barra and manta rays were the order so day 1 saw us up the river with some great top water barramundi action and about 40 barras caught between the two boats and that's just on surface lures!

The biggest went 93cm and made a great sound as it inhaled the lure. Day 2 was a little shorter as the guys had a plane to catch, but the mantas played the game and several bites form cobia and queenies and small trevally kept us busy. Along the beach a few big queenies kept everyone on their toes and goldies and blue salmon made up the numbers.

Bass & Bream vs BARRA!

I had a couple of young bass and bream tournament winners fish with me last week. While they are just crazy about bass and bream, I just couldn't help notice how they rated barra and the bycatch associated with barra fishing. Also keen to fly fish a little, the guys racked up a few

nice fish in 4 days.....

Barra fishing with top water lures and fly poppers is very visual and rewarding.

Cobia on fly off manta rays was one of the highlights.

Giant Herring were a welcome catch on fly, pull most bass backwards and jump like crazy!!

A cobia double header. Mick lost one while Joel was hooked up, got re rigged and caught another!
Joel was amazed by the northern bream - spots all over them, big teeth and pull any oyster rack model backward!