Some of the last weeks action!

So the water is getting a few degrees colder and whitebait is still around, but very sparse. But there are plenty of mullet. So I make one throw with the mullet net and I have enough for cutbait to last the whole day, even some to bring home for smoking and grilling. The mullet right now are nice and fat and delicious! Not only for me, but for the Redfish, Trout, and Snook as well. My game plan the last few weeks has been to deploy three rods baited with chunks of mullet, and cast topwaters or soft plastic baits while waiting for the chunks to get eaten. The topwaters have been producing some quality Trout, and some puppy drum. The big over-slot Redfish have been eating the mullet chunks. I have been catching some small snook on the lures and the chunk, and it is only a matter of time before a big girl eats one of the chunks. I have been seeing the big female Snook everywhere. They are in Lemon bay and Cayo Costa and everywhere in between.

My three favorite topwater plugs

Yo-Zuri Wack-O

Chrome (sort of) Super Spook jr.

Yo-Zuri Banana boat

Big ol Seatrout that sucked the Spook

I have a thing for chucking topwater plugs. It is an active way to fish, constantly manipulating the lure in an effort to elicit a strike. I can cover alot of water in search of areas that are holding fish. The surface strikes are always a visual treat and make for exciting fishing. If I was relegated to only one method of fishing I would choose topwaters over bait, jigs, spoons, or flies. The magic of getting the topwater into the strike zone, the technique of making the lure dance, and the reward of a vicious surface strike all come together to culminate in the highest form of inshore light tackle angling. Here are some of my practices that work for me.

First off... whatever topwater plug you choose to fish with... change out the hooks. Every plug on the market comes with hooks that are too weak, gap too small, point and barbs too big, and some plugs even have terrible split rings. SPRO makes awesome split rings, they are beefy and have a good finish that stands up to corrosion. As for hooks I use Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp 3x trebles. Size #2 (L934BTP3-2). These hooks have a wide gap, sticky sharp points, a low profile barb, and the finish is fairly resistant to corrosion. I have found that these hooks are slightly heavier than most standard topwater plug hooks. This adds a little more weight to the plug and causes it to float lower in the water. I believe this does two things. One is the plug will 'burp' or 'gurgle' more. The second thing is the plug is more likely to be slurped under the surface during the strike, as opposed to being blasted airborne by the rushing head wake created by the gamefish as it charges. This really comes into play when targeting Redfish with topwater plugs.

Each of the plugs I like essentially works the same way. The standard retrieve is what every one calls "walk the dog". It is a retrieve that is easy to master and can be done at a fast pace or much slower. A slight twitch of the rod-tip will cause the plug to dart off to one direction. The slack is reeled in, and the rodtip is twitched again, which will cause the plug to dart the opposite direction. When done correctly the plug will travel in an elongated Z pattern. Quick, short, twitches will result in a small z. Stronger twitches will cause the plug to travel more and make a much larger Z. I like to work the plug with a steady metronome like cadence. If a fish rushes the lure, making a boil, even smacks it and misses, I will speed it up and change the rhythym. A few quick snaps of the rodtip, a slight pause as if the lure needed a rest, and more twitches causing the lure to skip away. This makes the lure appear as a wounded minnow that is using all its energy to escape the predator. The gamefish will react by charging the plug and attempting to devour it.

Now comes the really hard part! DO NOT SET THE HOOK! Rearing back to strike home the steel will 9 times out of 10 cause the plug to come ripping out of the water and fly straight at you with the velocity of a speeding bullet. Remember the hooks I suggested? They will hook you real quick like if the plug comes flying straight at your face. Instead, allow the fish to strike the lure and get his lips around the plug. The velocity of the strike will give sufficient pressure to make the points of those sticky sharp Eagle Claws stick in his jaw. Once you feel the weight of the fish on the line, a sharp tug will get the business done. In actuality all that needs to be done is a few quick revolutions of the reel's crank to get the slack out of the line and come tight to the fish. The hooks and the fish do the work of setting the hook for you. Many anglers do not use topwater plugs because of the frustration from missing fish due to over zealous hooksets. Just let the fish do it for you!

Boca Grande Outfitters- something for everyone!

Welcome to Boca Grande Outfitters! A unique shop located at 375 Park ave, directly downtown in the shopping epicenter of Boca Grande, Florida. Guide services are available in the shop, as well as local fishing advice and insider infromation on the best places to dine and spend time on the island. Boca Grande outfitters is unique because of the myriad of specialty items and gear for outdoor adventures and island social life. Quality, innovative, and hard to find products set the outfitters apart from big box and chain stores.

The clothing aspect of the store has something for everyone. Great technical garments from the Patagonia line of clothing will keep outdoors enthusiasts dry, warm, and comfortable. Great garments such as The Vineyard Vines Murray shirts are perfect for snappy style during social events. Other items like boardshorts, high SPF fishing shirts, rain jackets, bathing suits, and hats are also available. A full compliment of children's clothing is also available. Some of the other clothing lines like ExOfficio, Polo, Life is good, and Needlepoint iems by Smathers and Branson offer something for everyone.

BGO has a great selection of footwear from Chaco, Keen, Teva, Vibram Five-fingers, Toms, and Leatherman ltd. And if you need sunglasses, you can choose from Costa Del Mar, Ray-ban, Smith, Maui Jim, and Kaenon.

Now for the fun stuff! The fishing gear! Scott and Sage fly rods share space with G-Loomis rods on the back wall. Several superb brands of Fly reels accompany the rods. Abel, Tibor, Nautilus, Hatch, and Hardy are all present in the reel case. A full range of weights of floating and sinking lines are available from Scientific Anglers and Rio. There is a line machine that makes loading backing and new lines a breeze. And the shop boasts the largest fly selection in Southwest Florida. There are many Puglisi Tarpon flies, Gurglers, Sliders, Kwans, Scuds. Decievers, Clousers, Merkins, Toads, Whistlers, Cockroaches, Crazy charlies, Seaducers, Gummies, and more. There are literally hundreds of patterns to choose from, with many of them tied by local guides. BGO also carries Shimano Stradics, Van Staal reels and pliers, G-loomis and St.croix spinning rods, Mirrolures, Hogy jerkbaits, and Boga grips.

If you find yourself in downtown boca grande this Tarpon season, make sure to Stop by 375 park Ave and check out Boca Grande outfitters. Or give the shop a call and get a report on the fishing action and the tides. 941-964-2445

Fly fishing for Speckled Seatrout

Today's aquatic adventure started out with a dozen 35-40 inch Snook laying in a sandy swash on the outgoing tide. My client mr. Curt was shooting a red and white puglisi mullet right at them, perfect angle and presentation, but they never even showed interest in the fly. Curt got a dozen casts at them before a pod of 5 snook in the same size range swam lazily towards my boat and spooked from our shadows. This in turn spooked off the fish laying in the swash. A few minutes later another group of snook in the 40 inch range came down the chute and Curt got a few decent shots at their noses without a take. The whole egde of the flat we were staked out on had pilchards working into the current, so we switched flies to a chartreuse/white deciever. Still no interest from the dozens of Snook milling about. I really wanted Curt to hook one of these big girls, but it was not in the cards. I decided to slip around the corner and work an oyster bar that has had Reds/Trout/Snook. When we posted up on the splotchy bottom, I could see several bruiser Snook laying in the sand, noses into the current of the outgoing tide. Several schools of mullet pushed towards us and I kept a lookout for cruising Redfish. By now the Fly of choice had turned into a yellow gurgler and a 20 inch trout pounced on it and broke the ice. I stood on my poling platform and was scanning for Redfish when even more huge Snook materialized. Four of them came out of deeper water on my starboard side and sat with their noses pointed straight at my stern. They just sat there motionless, laying on the bottom for a few moments before swimming off towards the bow. At this point I was itching to find some Redfish that wanted to cooperate. We picked up and blasted over to some potholes that were loaded with Mullet and Trout. A few eager Trout slurped at the gurgler, and Curt did his job of feeding them. We worked about a quarter mile of prime pothole action at dead low tide and no Redfish to be found. By this time it was time to head for the dock and call it a day. All I gotta say is those Snook have to eat sooner or later!

Wicked hot Grouper and Amberjack action

I had an awesome trip as the deckhand aboard Captain Travis Ormond's offshore charter boat, Pelagic today. And so did the clients and guests aboard for the trip. Making bait started out pretty slow, but soon Captain Bling found the meatball of pinfish and pigfish. We anchored on it and started the process of blacking out the well. Even though we had six Sabiki rigs working, it still took 45 minutes before Bling was comfortable with the amount of bait swimming in the livewell. Great bait, hand-sized pigfish and pinfish, some squirrelfish, bluerunners, lizardfish, and threadfins.

First stop was a super secret number. It did not dissapoint! The first few fish hooked up were solid 40pound Amberjacks. Anglers were jacked down to the gunnels of the boat and powerless against the onslaught of jacks. It was actually very frustrating to catch these delicious, powerful, and beautiful fish. We were after Gag grouper, and the hungry Amberjacks (reef donkies) were eating all our bait!

Long story short, we cranked and lifted and grunted. We broke a sweat, and bled. Everyone aboard earned bruises and laughed and hollered as they did battle with grouper and amberjack and sharks. And battle it was, because that is why they call it fighting fish. We ended up catching a full limit of Gag Grouper from 7-15 pounds and an equally nice limit of Red Grouper in the same size range. Did I mention the weather was BEAUTIFUL for november?

Captain Travis Ormond

Pelagic Charters

941-374-1669

$100/hour

Fishing in Englewood and Boca Grande has been extremely good this year. The Snook bite has been very crazy, with many trophy fish doing their part to destroy tackle and bruise egos. Those big female Snook really know how to smoke the line into the mangroves! My boat has seen more Gator Trout caught this year than I have seen in my life. Catching 24 inch Seatrout on light tackle topwater plugs is high on my list of favorites. Don't even get me started on the Redfish action! The year started out sort of slow with the bronze brawlers. But this summer and fall has been wide open with crazed schools of hundreds of Redfish in the 26-35 inch range. At least two of my reels have worn out completely from the abuse they endured from epic Redfish action. Now that winter is here, I am getting into the swing of fishing the negative low tides. Snook, Trout, and Redfish are all on the move and very hungry. I am really looking forward to fishing the next set of low tides and cold fronts!