Greetings from Captain Buddy,
The onset of this global pandemic has certainly allowed introspective time on the water, with more time alone than ever before. The fishing has been excellent, and darn, I had to cancel almost all of my charters until a few days ago. In April I had some exceptional Tarpon fishing, jumping 8-10 fish a day. Since then I’ve spent most of my time chasing mature snook. In my daily pursuit for Snook, I wound up intercepting a bounty of Redfish. They’re back in great numbers. However, the rain and wind of the past few weeks, has made it a bit more difficult to sight cast them. For a while I thought I was in the “Redfish Bahamas”! The attached photo shows a customer’s Snook which was caught on a Gurgler at the very beginning of June. Sometimes I think that I must already be in Heaven!!
Experienced anglers have always said to fish the moving water. It’s true, best not to waste any time in stagnant, slack type bays. Any movement, ever so slight, which is common for in the mangroves, I say go ahead and fish it. However, with the slack or high tide, get out of there–go somewhere, even if it’s a good haul, where fish are feeding in the current. I certainly don’t claim to know it all, but it’s sure great fun discovering new ways to catch these illusive creatures.
While it’s felt for some time, with fewer boats in sight, that everyone has abandoned Southwest Florida–the Chokoloskee area in 10,000 Islands, the bugs, well, that’s another topic. Last night I fished until dark, forgot my bug suit, and paid the price. I’ve used Lemon Eucalyptus repellent quite often because it’s natural ingredients. After last night, back to the heavy duty stuff! Day time fishing in the bright light and wind, bugs are out of sight, but in the early hours of darkness or closer to sunset, especially close to the shorelines, you need to be ready with adequate protection. Either way, bug-bitten or not, the fishing has been excellent!
The underrated Jack Crevalle’s are here in full force right now and while they’ve been on the smaller size in recent years, they appear to be getting larger down this way. I recall fishing years ago with a guide in Tampa Bay where we were catching Jacks in the 12-14 lb range. A good Jack in this area has been in the 5-7 lb range, we’ve released several in the past couple of weeks that were every bit of 10-12 lbs. Tough on your popper or gurgler, but well worth the fun and excitement of the catch!
Tarpon should be back to their old haunts soon.
Have a great summer!
Signing off…..
Captain Buddy