Florida Fishing Reports

July 17, 2007 - Night Snook - Trout Aplenty - Atmospheric Hippy Shots

People say that Florida is flat. This is because it is quite flat. However, when you take into account the massive thunderheads that form in the summer, you can get quite a range of visual topography. It rivals any mountain range in the world. I've been fishing and watching these massive storms boil on the horizon. It's amazing and constantly in flux.

The fishing has been status quo. Lots of snook at night. Lots of trout all day. Catfish, redifish, and ladyfish spread around the flats. It's hot by 10:00 am and you don't want to go back out there til' at least 6:00 pm unless it gets overcast. Nothing really amazing in terms of fishing, just nice steady action.

You hippies will be just pleased as punch about this report. It's more colorful than a tie-dye and has more nature and landscape shots than a Greenpeace brochure. So, tie back your dreadlocks, grab a handful of sprouts, throw on that Enya album and enjoy, dirtbag!

See? Every day it gets like this.


I've been watching these mangroves grow for like 10 years. It's not the fastest process, mangrove growth.


As you can see, I caught this redfish on a black and white clouser I tied myself. The pinnacle of angling achievement. I am awesome.


The anvil tops of thunderheads are from scraping against high winds as they expand upwards.


Hippy photography discussion: "Whoa." "Dude." "Whoa." "Dude." (repeat 10x)


I tried and tried to revive this fish. Finally, I just added it to my creel.


If you look closely you'll see the paragliders.


I like to fish lures until they're completely torn apart. A lure without a tail is just a shorter lure with less action. It's all about presentation!


This is a 280 lb. tarpon. I caught it with a purple and white deceiver I tied from my own hair. I used a fly rod I built out of bamboo. I grew the bamboo myself and watered it with tears. I spun the line out of lawn clippings and spider silk. This photo is actually a drawing so the fish would not be harmed in any way. I am such a tool.


Millions of these under the lights and out on the flats at night. I need to start bringing out a big rod with a circle hook. Ladyfish are incredible bait.


These were swarming through the lights and jumping in the boat from all over the place. I found one in my shirt pocket!


Artsy!


This snook was actually not under the lights but hanging out on a oyster bed in the dark.


Snappah!


Hippy shot 27411.


Hippy shot 27412.


Trout on strike king jerkbait with cloud reflection.


Oysters are sharp but quite tasty.


Abstract trippyness.


Nice cool blue sky. Ironically it's about 95 degrees out.


Ye ole' seatrout shot.


I love the fishing and weather in July. Amazing time to be anglin' in Sarasota.
_________________
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

May 29 - Giant Trout - Sea Monsters - Hippy Shots - Night Snook

My buddy Randy from La Jolla was in town for the memorial day weekend and we managed to get in some fishing while he was here. I'd been chanting how much better the fishing is in Florida than in San Diego so the pressure was kind of on to put my friend into some fish or risk looking like a real idiot. We managed to catch a huge variety and number of fish which made me pretty happy. The species count while he was here included redfish, bluefish, snook, trout, ladyfish, lizardfish, mangrove snapper, and the wily sailcat. Randy totally outfished me but when you're guiding it's better to focus on your guest. In fact, some people claim that its HARDER to guide someone to fish than to actually catch fish. This must be the case because god knows I'm a much better fisherman than Randy. Report follows.

How's this trophy trout? The trout fishing was completely off the chain.


We were in fish right from the first cast which was a huge relief considering I'd mentioned how good the fishing would be like 400 times the night before.


You have to give this needlefish points for trying. How are the teeth on these things?


Sadly, at the end of the day, Randy was eaten by a huge lizardfish. That's what happens when you outfish the Hornetbear. Really bad stuff. Remember this at tournaments.


I styled this osprey with a hairdrier to get this shot. Notice how nice and poofy he looks.


I told randy this was a huge snook and to pose for a picture with it. Joke's on you buddy.


Action! Non Stop Action!


Pretty nice flounder! This flounder was lucky I didn't have a cooler or ice wih me. I think if you don't have ice to preserve the fish you're being a real putz by keeping it. keeping a dead fish on a stringer or cooking in the Florida sun is a great way to make them taste like crap. The secret to preserving fish is mix the ice with sea water. This makes a super cooled salt slurry which makes the fish preserve perfectly. Seriously. It's the best way to ice down a fish.


You just never know what you're gonna get out there...


Hippys love sunrises. They also love goofy hats. Therefore they love this photo.


Got out night fishing too. Didn't get anything huge but had some really big blowups. Actually, the night fishing was the toughest of all the  fishing we did. Night fishing is usually a total slam dunk but it was pretty tough going.


Another massive trophy fish for Randy. Well... He though it was.


Lots of mullet under the lights, too. Lights with lots of mullet don't seem to have that many snook.


Tons of bait everywhere but the snook just were not there yet. The tide was the last part of a incoming which just wasn't doing it. I think outgoing is better at night.


That was it for the fishing. I am going to say we pretty much scored. Super steady fishing and lots of variety. Now to dazzle you with some Jacques Costeau style stuff. read on!

the conditions were quite clear in this spot.


You hippys know you're all freaked out over this shot. You love it.


I felt pretty safe even though these were everywhere...


Sawfish! You never see those. What a tremendously skilled diver I am.


Jacks everywhere! What an incredible dive.


Whale Shark! Amazing! This is the dive of a lifetime!


Hey! What the hell are all these people doing standing around 50 feet under water? I've discovered Atlantis!

_________________
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

September 10 - Big Redfish - Night Snook - Excellent Fishing

Aloha anglin' afficinados. Fishing has been hot. Check it out.

The sun rises...


More primo habitat.


Trout have been hitting well all over the bay.


The Marina has finally been torn down. Now, I kinda miss it.


There have been thousands and thousands of mullet everywhere lately. You tend to get excited when you see mullet because they're so active on the surface.  I mean, if you see mullet, it means there's some fish out there. Mullet = not a total dead zone. You can cast lures into mullet all day and catch nothing. Fun.


An interesting juxtaposition of sea and land or my camera went off by accident... not sure...


Dock Light Fishing: This picture shows how far away from a dock light you should be to catch fish. Get too close, no fishes. I've found you should just cast right at the light and hopefully go past it. Lately, the edges haven't produced like right in the middle of the light. Also, pausing your retrieve doesn't work for me. Once you stop a quick retrieve the fish are like "Woah dude, that's a piece of plastic." you have to create competition under the light and a quick and getting quicker retrieve helps.


Good casts make it happen. Once you get good at skipping your lure way up under the dock,you will start really catching fish. When your first cast wraps around the dock light it just ruins your mojo.


Hippy shots are everywhere.


Cast into about 20 wakes and felt the lure being knocked around. This sweet redfish finally smacked it. 30.5" was the measurement. That's the biggest redfish I've ever caught on a jerkbait.


Thats it!
_________________
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

AUG 13 – SLAM – WIDE OPEN FISHING – REDS – SNOOK – TROUT

Hey dudes and dudettes. I’ve been night fishing and it’s been pretty amazing. The heat of the day dissipates and the fishing really turns on. Just plain old wide open fishing, non stop. Fish jumping in the boat, monster fish spooked in 8 inches of water, can’t stop catching ladyfish good. The tides have been ripping and when you get to the spots where there’s some flow, lookout. It’s pretty crazy, actually. You start out and the water is completely still. Paddle about a mile to a narrow spot in the intercoastal and…blam. Fish everywhere.

A quick note about dock lights. Dock lights here are tough to fish with lures. In my experience, these snook usually are fat and happy. A little glow in the dark piece of plastic is a hard sell. You’ll get some half hearted strikes but, really, the legend of just pulling snook after snook up from beneath the lights is just that, a fantasy. The reality is the little buggers are easy to spook and surrounded with perfect little shrimp to eat. Hucking and chumming white bait works, of course, but that’s really not very sporting. Chumming for snook is easy. If I ran a charter I'd do it all day long. Fat Jimmy Johnson from Newark needs to catch a fish... However, as a sportsman from Sarasota, I refrain.

I know the snook lights within a mile of my house well and, man, it’s hard work to pull a snook out. You basically get 1-3 chances to present your lures and then its pencils down, they’re on to you, move on.

Headed out at sunset… tide was medium, zipping out, heading to an extreme low @ midnight. Wind was out of the north/variable @ about 10 knots. I headed out and went straight to my spot where the tide moves the fastest. Hooked up right away and there was a ton of surface action. It was mostly ladyfish (I think) but I caught a potpourri of fishes and quickly rang up an inshore slam. The wind and the tide were balanced almost perfectly and I was able to just sit in the same spot without drifting or even changing position. I moved around from boil to boil catching fish everywhere. 

Well. Lets get to it.

Hippy! Front and center! This picture is crazier than that time you were camping in Oregon and found that driftwood that looked like Jerry Garcia riding on a giraffe! Check it out.


This is a hot spot for snook. Don’t paddle under it, though. I predict the whole thing will be just below sea level in about 2 months. A couple weeks ago it didn’t look like this. It’s so decrepit that I don’t like to get close to it. You can watch it slump more and cave in more every day. I’ll start taking pictures of it and we can have a marina collapse pool. I’m predicting hurricane Helene, Sept 25 takes her out. Place your bets!


Redfish! Caught a bunch of these up to about 20 inches. They were hitting right on the surface, shouldering the ladyfish out of the way. It was hard to catch big fish because there were so many small, angry fish.


Terpo! On the davits! You’re for real. Don’t forget your friends. You’d never get this photo because it’s your boat. I love that hull style.


Wouldn't be a fishing report without a catfish...


Mangrove snappers were freaking everywhere too. I caught one that had to be about 3 inches long. I should’ve kept them because there were so many. Cleaning fish at 1:30 AM in the dark with mosquitos is just not worth it.


Hey hippy! The compost pile is doing fine and your ladybugs seem to be controlling the aphids. Now look at this freaking photo! I know. I know. The channel marker is manmade. But otherwise it’s nice, right? Play your pan flute to indicate “yes.”


Mirrolure. I like this little lure. It’s a suspending one and though I like the auditory gratification of night fishing with a topwater, this one really catches fish. Same lure was catching snook under dock lights. Solid.


Hippy shots are where you find them. This ladyfish was crawling with hippy mojo.


Snook on a glow shrimp under a docklight. Imagine, if you will, about 20 slot fish all stacked up and Lil’ Dummy here goes for the lure. The big ones are wayyyy beyond this. That’s how they got big.


This is an awesome snook light. It’s amazing, really. Some lights only have mullet. Some are empty. Some are always teeming with snook. This one makes sense to me but many seem to have no rhyme or reason.


Redfish under the lights. This lure had no tail to speak of and still was catching fish. The puppetmaster doesn’t need no stinkin’ tails.


The ladyfish were everywhere and pretty big. I love catching fish. People say they would fish all day and only want to catch one fish if it's a good one. I disagree. I love steady action. Call me crazy.


Caught a bunch of these too. This was a pretty typical one. Had a couple big ones shake off next to the boat. Trouts have soft mouths. You can’t horse them.


Fun night fishing but I’m ready for fall. That’s the best time to be a fisherman in SW Florida or anywhere (besides Antartcia). Gets cooler and all the fish have been getting big all summer. Bring it on.
_________________
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