You know what would be awesome? Three weeks of steady 18 knot winds with no rain and no end in sight. That'd be really, really terrific from a fishing standpoint. Oh wait! Great news! there HAS been 3 weeks of wind and more in the forecast! Sweet! I hope you sailboat owners are enjoying this because I'm a little sick of it. They say March is the windiest month of the year in Florida and they appear to be 100% on target with that statement.
The fishing has been good and the nature photography has been swell too. The high pressure and whipping winds make for lots of cloudless skies (which all look kind of the same) but taking a camera out at sunset is basically a can't lose proposition for nice photos. Everything is better at sunset. Sunsets make fat people look tan and skinny. Small fish look bigger. Even a Yugo looks kinda nice at sunset. If you can't take nice pictures it's because you're not taking them at sunset. With that said, lets get on with this blustery fishing report.
Staying in the mangroves is a pleasant alternative to being beaten up in the ongoing maelstrom in the bay. I caught several jacks right in this very spot.
Once again, I have gotten the paddle into crystal clear focus but the actual subject of the photo is all whacked out. Nice one, Ansel.
The little black dots along the nose and face of the common snook are called meyopores and allow the snook to communicate with its kind and sense motion and mass in the water column around it. Just kidding. I don't know what the hell those things do.
Someday when you're older, like 6 or 7, you will start an Ebay store and support your old man.
This is the earmark of a truly great nature photographer. Note how I have quietly snuck up on the legendarily skittish great horned owl and captured this amazing photo. Lesser photographers will need a lot of patience and practice before they start achieving this kind of National Geographic quality result.
See? Sunset photo. Can't fail. You'd have to be a soulless monster or power drunk forum moderator to not like one of these.
Action! Dangerously close to that mangrove too!
Ye olde redfish hole produces another sweet fish.
It's funny that an animal that freaks and jumps all over the place when you catch it chooses to just hang out on your thumb until you shake it off. Perhaps, when snook are young, their mothers don't give them enough attention which makes them thumbsuckers. (Insert drum and cymbal sound HERE)
Ha! That channel marker has on a funny little party hat. I bet the other markers hate it when he goes to the cocktail parties...
Ok hippy, here you go. Show your girlfriend too. Now tell your dolphin story. Good.
It's blurry but its pretty cool.
I don't keep many fish but this one was gut hooked so badly that I decided to bring him home. I hate to waste them and trout are some of the best eating.
This is sweet snook/sunset/kayak fishing shot. Kind of sums it all up I think.
Thats it. Fishing remains steady. Enjoy the breeze!
_________________
http://www.hornetbear.com
“When I found the skull in the woods, I called the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.”
- Jack Handy
Last edited by Hornetbear on Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
03_March
March 13 - Trouts - Red - Nature Shots out the Wazoo
Phew. the fishing has been a little tough in the greater Sarasota metro. Caught a bunch of trout, ladyfish and some other fish but it hasn't been the wide open free-for-all that I experienced the last few months. Ironically when the fishing is not that good the photography gets really good. There's something about not catching hundreds of fish that really makes you look for nice photos. Ying and yang, i guess. Anyhow I have some nice looking artsy shots and enough fishing shots to keep it somewhat about the fishing.
I find myself really looking for new kinds of fishing shots. Underwater. In action. etc. Thats where its at. keeping it fresh. I like to document the fish caught but leaving them in the water is probably more interesting, long term. Thankfully, a hippy shot will never go out of style. Shoot, at the end of the day most people like the hippy shots BETTER than the fishing shots. What a crazy world. Who thought people like sunsets better than a picture of a 14 inch trout. Weird. Well, here's the report
I consider Little Sarasota Bay to be sort of a Walden Pond with million dollar homes, power boats and jet skis.
Yow. Not even a bird or plant in that thing. Totally abstract weirdness.
I was fishing when the world started to melt. It was freaky. Fortunately I had my fishing ruler and took some measurements and got everything back to normal.
Better throw some fish pictures in... This is the wily sea trout putting up a fight.
I'm starting to realize that fishing isn't really about fish. It's about the experience. Fish are just a small part of the overall package.
Had to get the ruler out again for this one.
I like the upside down bird reflection in this photo. I also like ice cream and Snoop Dogg records. Snoop rocks.
I'm sure you're thinking, where are the fish? Well it's my post and I'll show a fish when I'm good and ready. Now, just sit back and enjoy this cormorant.
Now, enjoy this cormorant... again.
Ok. Ok. It's supposed to be about fishing. Here's another fish.
Umm. Well. There might be some really small minnow type fish in the water under this bird.
I call this picture "stick"
Gamefish! Pretty color on this one as well.
Don't Forget: Limit you catch. Wear sunscreen. Don't be a complete tool. Pick up trash.
_________________
http://www.hornetbear.com
“When I found the skull in the woods, I called the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.”
- Jack Handy
March 1 - Nice Snook - Pompano - Reds - Trout
Finally found a canoe for the family to cruise around in. Thanks to Noles for making me a smoking deal. It's a 16 ft. Mad River kevlar and weighs much less than my kayak. He also hooked me up with the bent handled bending branches paddles and a seat. Thanks again dude. We had friends in town this weekend and we really got to use the canoe as a fishing machine. The fishing, while not electric red hot has been steady. The cold winds have driven the fish up near shore and we've been catching nice fish in canals and shallow shorelines. Check it out!
This is a classic family fishing shot.
Hippys, you're going to love this canal. Its real pretty.
The cold weather makes the water so clear. It's much harder to catch fish when its this crystal clear. They see everything.
Caught some of these sunning themselves on a shallow bank.
The wily Jack Crevalle made a cameo.
This is yours truly with the elusive pompano!
Attention FL hippies - nature shot and potential idea for a nice big tattoo - I think you should go for it, nature boy.
Best empty seawall picture ever.
That kid was born to angle and surf professionally and be a major investment banker. No pressure though.
I get the feeling this crab trap has been here a long, long time.
Trout fishing remains sick.
My buddy Kris, through some miracle of my guiding expertise, managed a snook in the slot with two two year olds in the boat. Amazing.
_________________
http://www.hornetbear.com
“When I found the skull in the woods, I called the police. But then I got curious about it. I picked it up, and started wondering who this person was, and why he had deer horns.”
- Jack Handy
MARCH 7 - OLC REPORT- SOTE PROVES VERY DIFFICULT ANGLIN'...
Friends, neighbors, bait fishermen, fly fishermen, countrymen, a hearty hello to one and all. I participated in the OLC (One Lure Challenge) this weekend which is a tournament in which you can only use one select lure. The lure was a Capt. Mikes Spoon and, let me tell you, it did not go as planned.
I’ve never been a big fan of the spoon. Those line twisting little buggers never seem to work very well. Spoons are for cleaning cantaloupe. Spoons are for French onion soup. In terms of the modern fishing lure timeline, fishing a spoon is like driving a steam powered car. Yet, I must admit, I hear people catch fish on them. I can only assume they put the spoon into the fish’s mouth after removing the hand picked shrimp that actually caught the fish and snap a blurry photo. I have caught fish on them but it’s typically pretty hard work.
Anyhow, I paid my $10 and paddled out with the rising sun planning to win the whole tournament, preferably before 10:00, so I could still catch the breakfast menu at McDonalds. Alas, this was not to be.
Let me preface this report with the fact that I had once, when I used to be good at fishing, won this event on a different lure. Again, this day just didn’t pan out the same way.
I launched out on Longboat Key. My friend RIK turned me onto the launch and the fact he was nowhere to be seen was probably the first fishing red flag I ignored of the day. I drove down to the really very nice launch and found copious parking and nary another fisherman in sight. I slipped out into the pre dawn light and commenced anglin’
THE FIRST THING I SAW AS I EMERGED FROM THE CANAL WAS PELICANS, TERNS, AND TURKEY VULTURES ALL FEEDING ON BAIT NOT 50 YARDS FROM WHERE I WAS. I THOUGHT THIS THING WAS IN THE BAG. GIMMIE A NUMBER 1 WITH COFFEE AND SUPER SIZE IT. 
THERES THE LURE. BAIT WAS EVERYWHERE. I MANAGED TO CATCH NOTHING... 
BIRDS. BAIT. BABES. WELL... NO BABES. BUT IT WAS A PRETTY SUNRISE. I DISCOVERED THAT THERE WOULD BE PLENTY OF TIME FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS DAY. 
HERES ANOTHER SHOT OF THE LURE. CAPT. MIKE, WHAT KIND OF SADISTIC MONSTER ARE YOU? JUST KIDDING. THANKS FOR SPONSORING THE TOURNAMENT. LOTS OF PEOPLE SWEAR BY THESE THINGS. 
HOW “FISHY” DOES THIS SPOT LOOK?! YET I MANAGED TO CATCH NARY A FISH. I GOT A CALL ON THE CELL PHONE THAT PEOPLE WERE CATCHING REDFISH ELSWHERE... THE LUNCH MENU AT MCDONALDS IS GOOD TOO... 
WHEN THE WATER IS REALLY CLEAR IT’S MUCH HARDER TO CATCH FISH ON LURES. FISH HAVE GOOD VISION AND WHO IS TRICKED BY A LITTLE GOLD HUBCAP WHEN YOU CAN SEE IT PLAIN AS DAY... 
YOU GOTTA THINK THAT LITTLE WHELK WAS GETTING READY TO SHAG THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE BIG ONE. I THINK I’VE CREATED SOME OF THE FIRST WHELK PORNOGRAPHY. THE DAY WAS NOT A TOTAL LOSS. 
WHAT IS THE LEGAL LIMIT FOR A SPONGE? BAG LIMIT? THIS MOTHER GOES AN EASY 24” I MIGHT WIN THIS THING YET! 
MAN. I LOVE MY KAYAK. BIG BOATS ARE A ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS. HOW MUCH PREP AND CLEANUP TIME DOES IT TAKE TO RUN A BOAT WITH A MOTOR? OF COURSE, ‘GIRLS GONE WILD” HAS NEVER FILMED A SEGMENT ON MY KAYAK... THATS A REAL UPSIDE OF OWNING A BIG BOAT... 
HELLO MR CORMORANT. WHAT SAY YOU SHOW ME WHERE THE REDFISH ARE BEFORE I WING YOU WITH THIS HEAVY LITTLE GOLD SPOON... 
YOU WOULD THINK THERE’D BE FISH HERE. NOPE. AT LEAST I GOT OUT OF THE GALE FORCE WINDS THAT WERE WHIPPING ACROSS SARASOTA BAY. 
I WENT BACK TO THE LAUNCH EARLY. I HAD INCURRED A MASSIVE SHOULDER INJURY FROM THROWING A CAPT MIKES SPOON 25000 TIMES. MY ATTOURNEY WILL BE CONTACTING THE MANUFACTURER. 
WHOA! LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT SKYSNOOK! IS THAT LEGAL? I THREW MY SPOON AT IT BUT IT FLEW OFF. OTHERWISETHE TOURNAMENT WOULD’VE BEEN IN THE BAG... 
PLENTY OF TIME FOR NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS FISHING TRIP. THIS IS A HORSESHOE CRAB SHELL AND SOME SEAWEED AND SOME OTHER CRAP. 
WELL,THE FISHING WAS A WASH BUT THE NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY WAS ABUNDANT... 
OK. In all honesty, I have caught some fish on the Capt Mikes Spoon. Fishing the day before this tournament in my home waters I managed to catch a grip of ladyfish and trout which is much more fun than not catching anything. Here’s some shots from the day before...
SEE?! FISH EAT SPOONS. DOGS EAT CAT POOP. LIFE IS WEIRD. 
WHEN YOU ARE SICK OF PUTTING NEW PLASTIC LURES ON, A SPOON IS A GOOD OPTION. 
LADYFISH ARE FUN TO CATCH AND A SPOON SELDOM WEARS OUT... AND YOU COULD PROBABLY OPEN A CORONA WITH ONE IF YOU HAD TO... 
I CAUGHT SO MANY FISH ON THIS SPOON THAT IT SELF DESTRUCTED. THERE’S A SMALL SCREW THAT HOLDS THE WHOLE THING TOGETHER.. WHEN THIS HAPPENS YOU SHOULD HANG IT ON YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE. IT EARNED IT. 
That was a true fishing report because there was so little catching. I used to be really good at fishing. Then I learned all about it and started to suck. I am trying to forget everything I’ve learned because it will make the baits look stupid and injured which fish really, really like. As you get better at fishing the baits start to show it. I'm going to switch all my reels over to left handed... Fin.
_________________
http://www.hornetbear.com
“I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are.”
- Marge Simpson
