It's worth a shot.

 My good buddy and fellow fishing guide in Lake Tahoe is running a contest.  Mat Heron, is the head of the Fly Fishing program at Squaw Creek located at Squaw Valley Resort in Lake Tahoe, California.  Mat is a FFF Certified Casting Instructor, and a great guy to fish with.  Fill it the form and maybe you can win a free guided trip with him on the famous Truckee river and hook up with one of it's big Brown Trout.  Good luck guys and gals!

http://mountainkhakis.com/sweepstakes/enter-sweepstakes/

A few hours to kill, Tarpon, and one huge Thank You!

When I was leaving work the other night and heading back home, I got a call from a good buddy of mine Capt Paul Fisicaro.  He is the owner of  Strip Strike Charters down here in Marathon in the central keys.  He knows I have been working a lot and have not had much time to fish.  This is never a good thing for a fly fishing junky....I was starting to get a little bit Aggro.  He knows that I like chasing down anything that swims when the opportunity is right on foot with my personal fishing guide Chowda, my noble and ever so loyal Chocolate Lab.  Capt Paul had recently got home from a guide trip and found a good pod of Baby Tarpon roadside off the Overseas Highway.  He gave me perfect directions to the hole, and told me to try a small white fly because he had seen the mother load of Glass minnows there earlier that day.  So, after that call I found his spot, pulled off the road, strung up the 9 wt., and waded out around to the corner and started looking for rollers.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw a Tarpon smash a school of Pilchards.  This got the adrenaline flowing to say the least.  Looking out, I could see probably 20+ Tarpon feeding and rolling around all within 100 yards of where Capt Paul told me to go to. Desperately wanting to jump one of these Poons, my guide Chowda and I waded into a good casting position where we could get a decent back cast off without sending a fly line into the mangroves.  I stripped off about 80' of line from my reel and we began the waiting process.  After about fifteen minutes standing there waiting for an opportunity to arise, Chowda was over it, said screw the Tarpon, and decided to chase Pilchards and Blue Crabs around to pass the time.  Some guide he is!  Good thing he rates are reasonable, and he takes payment in the form of dog bones and other treats.  During Chowda's play time, I do have to admit I was a bit distracted by him, and was laughing at watching him aggressively trying to step on and crush anything that moved in his general vicinity.  I typically find, that when you are least expecting it, and most of the time not even remotely ready, is when you have a great opportunity pass you by to sight cast to a fish. This proved to be true once again!  A Tarpon boiled right in front of me.  I slapped a half ass sloppy cast out there as fast as I could in pure desperation, but didn't get a strike.   So, pissed off, I stripped my line back in, and started scanning again praying for another shot.  I was seeing bait cascades and boils near me, a good sign that fish are dying falling victim to much larger predators having dinner on the flats.  The boils got closer and closer, and then I saw a roller right in front of me.  I made a false cast and dumped the fly right in the path of a feeding Tarpon no more than forty feet in front of me.  I stripped my line a couple of times and then felt it go heavy.  I strip set and launched a baby Tarpon into the air.  The fish ripped line off of my reel and proceeded to cartwheel across the Gulf in an effort to spit my fly from his armor like mouth. All of this commotion drew the attention of my fishing guide from his crab chasing and he crashed through the water to my side to see what was going on. The baby Poon made about 5 jumps total, and fought tremendously hard, but , I was lucky enough to be able to hang onto him and land him.  I eased the fish over to where I was standing and grabbed him by his lip.  I made sure to keep this fish in the water while I fumbled for my camera. This is a crucial part of catch and release fishing!  Obviously, if a fish is out of the water they can not breathe.  The best analogy I have ever heard explaining this situation was from a former client of mine when I was guiding in Lake Tahoe, he said, "Run a marathon, then, as soon as you finish, stick your head into a bucket of water and keep it submerged."  This is the exactly what you do to a fish but in the reverse order by having them out of the water. Help them out and keep them breathing after you exhaust them.  They will revive quicker and have a far greater chance of survival.

All in all, it was a great experience.  I had a great time on the water with my best fishing buddy, and it was a successful trip.  I owe a big thanks to Capt Paul Fisicaro for the kick down.  I owe you again Paulie! He is an amazing guide, and an incredible photographer.  Look him up if you are ever in the Keys and have interest in stalking the flats.  Check out his website at http://stripstrikecharters.com/

Beach Bonefish

I was recently kicking around the local fly shop down here and was talking to my buddy Chris.  A long time customer of his, a seasoned veteran fly guy from South Eastern Florida also stopped by.  While we were shooting the bull, we got to talking about wade fishing opportunities to flats fish in the area.  Chris and I have a few spots we like to frequent on the regular, but, are always looking for new spots.  Unfortunately, down this way, there are very few flats you can access on foot to fish for Bones and Permit that actually will produce fish.  Jay was unbelievably kind and dug into his mental GPS and threw us a bone.  He told us in his opinion the "BEST" wade fishing spot in all of Southern Florida that he had found in all of his years stalking the big 3 from shore ( the big three being Permit, Bonefish and Tarpon).  Not only did he tell me where to go, but he told me the tide he liked there, where to park, and what flies to bring!  So, we swore to Jay that our lips were locked and we would throw out the key as to where "Destination X" was.....because lets face it, loose lips sink ships and we did not want to spoil his secret spot that he was kind enough to share with us.  So, we went back on our way telling fish tales of past fishing ventures, discussing new fly patterns, and listened to some more of Jay's colorful stories with his precise attention to detail and amazing ability to paint a mental picture of exactly where he was at a particular time and place.

After I left the shop, I went home and checked the tides for the following day at Jay's secret zone.  Strangely enough, the exact tide he described as to be ideal in his spot was predicted for the next day.  I checked the weather and everything looked good, south west wind was in the forecast which is ideal for sight casting from shore on the east coast, and there were no off shore storms brewing so swell was minimal.  So I decided I would try my luck out there and give it a whirl and hopefully would run into a few Bonefish, and maybe even get a few to eat.  I spun up some small Crabby patterns, and some shrimp imitations and went to bed early to get ready for a long morning in the hot Florida.

As I was driving the next morning, I went over everything Jay had told me in my head.  I followed his perfect directions and found his parking spot that he had described to me.  I strung up the 8 wt, grabbed my stripping basket, loaded up my face with some SPF 1,000, and hit the beach just as the sun was rising over the Atlantic.  As soon as I got to the water, I spotted 3 Bones tailing right on the shore!  To be honest, I didn't even have any line stripped off of my reel yet and spooked them almost as soon as I saw them.  DAMN IT!  I swore that the next fish I saw I was going to be ready and make a presentation to it.  I peeled off about 80 feet of line, neatly placed it in my home made stripping basket, and got ready to make a cast.  I walked about 30 more feet and spotted 5 Bones heading my way about 60 feet away from me.  They were nosed down and were recklessly chomping everything in their path.  I made a false cast and plopped the fly down just in front on the school.  As soon as they saw it, they rushed the fly like a fat kid to a buffet table leaving a wake behind them. These fish pushed up water like a Tsunami as they were B lining right to my fly in their competition for survival of the fittest!  Fish on!  Almost instantly the Beach Boner had me into my backing and was ripping line off of the reel.  It fought hard for about 5 minutes, then threw up the white flag and let me ease it into my net.  It was not a huge Bone, but definitely a solid fish that probably went about 3 lbs of pure piss and vinegar.  I grabbed a quick photo, and then released it back onto the sand flat where it had fought so hard from.  The Bone darted off hopefully to be caught again another day by another angler when he has fattened up a bit.  This was the start of nothing less than an epic day of Florida Bonefishing.  I luckily ended up hooking 9 Bonefish that morning and landed 6 of them ranging from 1-5 lbs.  This is a stellar day by Florida Bonefishing standards out of a boat, never mind walk wade fishing on the beach and not having to get my feet wet.  I owe it all to Jay!  Without his gift to Chris and myself, I would be stuck combat wading the same old flat with everyone else in this part of the state.  Thanks Jay!  I owe you my man.

On Foot

I love and breathe fly fishing. Literally, it is all I do. I will chase anything and everything that swims when they are around, and sometimes, even when they are not just for the sake of being outdoors. Fly Fishing is my environmental therapy....it has the ability to free me from the stresses from every day life and bring me to a better place where I am truly happy. And, for this reason alone, is why I am a junkie for the Fly.

In my opinion, it is all about the foot pursuit. Chasing down migratory fish, and ocean fish of all types on foot has a special appeal to me. Mainly, I like how tough and challenging it is. Timing is key in this game, and I not going to lie, there are plenty of trips where I do not even see a fish never mind catch and release one. Some may call me a glutton for punishment,but, when everything comes together and there is no better feeling in this world. All kinds of line rippers can be targeted from shore at certain times of year in the fresh and the salt, please check back in and follow my ventures in Foot Pursuit Fly Fishing.