parker allie
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
You might check in with Capt Eric Hart.
http://www.naplesflyfishingguide.com/estero_florida_fishing_guide_bio.php
My buddy Wes and I fished w/ him in May ’08 and had a blast with him.
I was up there with Wes this past weekend. Be prepared for the shock that comes with viewing the river for the first time after all their flooding. I could not believe all the damage, the lack of aquatic insect life, and how much the river reconfigured from the end of Spillway Creek through Evening Hole. We just treated it like a brand new river to keep our spirits up and did some recon work in order to find the fish. I believe they just stocked on 6/4/09 so most of the trout landed were lil’ 10-12″ stockers but we did see some solid “survivors” (termed we coined to the trout that made it through the floods and did not get washed out to the Gulf of Mexico). They were lurking in the few deep holes that remained and new ones that have been formed. We turned a few, lost a couple, and Wes landed a nice one…
And since they have been releasing quite a bit of water from Broken Bow Lake, there were a few other species invited to the Lower Mt. Fork River Party. Wes landed a sand bass…
I landed a beat up walleye…
Yall have fun. Good Luck.
Last spring I went about the same time you’re heading out there but I was a little further south…closer to Naples.
It was hard to pick one so I threw a montage together of all the fish my friends and I landed in 2008 on our site…
(site = http://www.liveandletfly.com)
Yesterday was crazy with the warmth in Texas but I’ve ventured to some cold places to fish. One time my buddies and I went up to Beavers Bend in OK. It was our first time up there and we were pumped to fish the Lower Mountain Fork that we hit the water at sunrise when it was 13 degrees. One friend’s rod snapped in half, two friends dunked their waders, and I couldn’t feel my left foot until mid afternoon. It was the coldest we’d ever fished but some of those pics above look even colder.
How’s this for winter fly fishing?! It was 83 degrees today in Mineral Wells TX and I was at the Highway 16 Bridge over the Brazos River where I landed this little stocker…
…I think I got sunburn.
I got these a few weeks ago from Cloudveil and I have enjoyed them.
http://www.sweetwaterflyshop.com/Fly+Fishing/Cloudveil/Cloudveil+Two+Trigger+Glove.html
They don’t have those little flaps to cover your fingers when you are not fishing and are comfortable.
It was a lot of fun throwing this one together b/c it reminded that it is not too bad living in the lone star state.
Okay…you busted me. No fish were landed on this trip. But let me explain w/ some quick hits:
*The tarpon we went after were rolling fast and heading straight back down to the bottom. We had a split second to get a fly on them or they were gone. We also did not have any sinking line on the reel. We probably threw at a total of 8 tarpon, 5 of which we had a real shot at, but we couldn’t even turn’em
*At this redfish/snook flat, we saw 3 redfish and one BIG BLACK SNOOK. The redfish sped off quicker than lightning. Kyle had a good shot at the snook, but it just wasn’t interested in the fly.
*Then we hit this Bonefish flat near Islamorada where the world record was landed. The water was gin clear, the tide was rolling in nicely, and the wind was howling. While Kyle was at the bow, a HUGE bonefish rolled by that made both our hearts race…plus the guide’s. The only problem was it was going back out to sea and had his tail toward us. There wasn’t a chance at it, but Kyle tossed it out there but he just swam by w/ other things on his mind.
*Saturday we went out on our own to some wadeable flats that bonefish are supposed to be at. We turned about 8 bonefish between us but not a one of them took the merkin pattern we had.
So no we didn’t land a fish, but had a GRAND time still. This was our 1st time in the Keys and we had heard the fishing had been real sloooow of late. We just told ourselves we could not ride a bike the first time we got on…we just need to practice some more and head back as soon as we can. We are already trying to figure out when that’ll be!
I cannot even begin to explain how much FUN we had. Wes and I did a full day on Friday and each landed our baby tarpon with the 1st ones we hooked up with in the first 2 hours. We later determined that luck must have been on our side b/c I hear you only land about 1 out of 10 you hook up with.
I liked it so much that on that Sunday I went back out there w/ the guide for a 1/2 day. Lost about 3 I hooked up with and lost too many to count on the set b/c I was trying to “trout set” them instead of “strip setting.” The guide we used was from New Jersey and everytime I missed one with the “trout set” he’d say, “Nice trout set, Pwaarker…real cute trout set.” It was like having Paulie Walnuts on the polling platform coaching you…minus the awesome hair.
