Bob Riggins
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Boca Grande is about 60 miles south of me. You will probably not find many tarpon that time of year. Your best shots are going to be redfish and trout. Snook, pompano and spanish mackerall are also a good possibility depending on water temps.
Best all around rod for redfish and trout is a 9 foot 8wt. You could also use a 6wt if the wind is not blowing. I usually fish a sink tip line this time of year.
My winter flies are kwans in light and dark brown, schminnows in various colors from white to copper, Prince of Tides bendback patterns in chartruese, brown and black, conehead bonita bunnies, a light colored crazy charlie for Pompano (if you find them), and gurglers if you find trout feeding on top on a warm day.
If you have access to a boat or kayak, your best bet is going to be on deeper flats, canals and passes. Wading can be tough that time of year since the fish are normally just outside your casting range.
Check out the Florida Sportsman forum at:
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zeromain?id=1You might also check out Paddle-fishing.com at:
http://paddle-fishing-forum.com/index.phpAnother good site is Capt. Mel’s.
Marco Island is a great place to be in January. You can target redfish and speckled trout on the flats and snook and tarpon in the backcountry. You can actually drive out a few miles on Tamiami Trail (US 41) and park anywhere on the side of the road and fish the canals from right next to your car.
As far as guides are concerned, there are two I recommend Bill Blanton and Charlie Wright. Bill Blanton is well known in fly fishing circles and is usually heavily booked.
http://www.flyfishtheglades.com/index.html
Charlie Wright specializes in kayak fishing, which is cheaper and more flexible. Kayaks are particularly suited for fishing in that area due to all the protected, shallow flats. You will probably need to practice casting from a sitting position if you go this route. It’s not hard and you rarely need over 60 foot casts.
http://www.evergladeskayakfishing.com/ten-thousand-islands.htm
Two web sites you might check out are
http://paddle-fishing-forum.com/index.php
which is primarily a Florida Gulf coast kayak fishing site and Florida Sportsman
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zeromain?id=1
which is a more general fishing site for the state of Florida.
As far as equipment, I would recommend a 6wt and an 8wt.
Actually, I thought it was a pretty good article, particularly for people not familiar with fishing in some of our waters.
I agree with Zach, stick with the Headstart until you really get a feel for casting and develop your style.
I think line selection is the way to “fine tune” the performance of a particular rod.
Enjoyable read for sure. I have never worn a jacket while wading and am not sure I will. I guess I dont know enough to wear one.
On a side note, the fashion color topic, I had a very nice columbia flats shirts I purchased knowing I was heading to the Keys and during the trip the guide, explitives deleted, told me I was an idiot for wearing a salmon color to fish in and what did I think the fish would see when they looked up? He said a blue shirt would be better than scaring the, you know what, out of the fish wearing that orange/slamon color.
It must matter if a guide yelled at me and told me it is so, right :'( ::)How much did you discount the tip? ::)
Computers just crashed with a new program at work, everyone is panicing, but no problem. I’m going fishing. Hitting the road in about an hour, Neal’s house this evening and on the stream tomorrow.
I’m going to be getting there tonight. Do y’all have any advice for fishing tomorrow? Trails to hit, pull offs, or any ideas? Without of course any public display of honey holes…
Ethan:
I found this site that had some good general information. I plan on hitting Nolan Creek tomorrow, and Deep Creek and Indian Creek Saturday. Other than that, I’m no help since I’ve never been there.
