I received a phone call from my wife at work one day. This day or phone call wasn’t unusual, she calls most days. Wowever, this was no usual conversation that took place. She was explaining about a business conference in Orlando, Florida that she was interested in attending and wanted to know if I would tag along for the ride. I knew she was inviting me because she would not get on the plane if I was not there. She is not a confident flyer. I told her that I would get back to her in a couple hours and set out to see what type of fly fishing I could be doing while she was attending the conference. A few hours later, which is a relatively short time in the research game for fly fishing trips, I had found the guide I wanted to take out. I called my wife back and told her to book the conference. I knew the guide was right for me because the recommendation from a guide who was booked had told me “He was a bit nuts, but knew his stuff when it came to the fly rod.” I talked to Capt. Eric Davis, Owner and head guide of The Back Country in Vero Beach, FL and we decided that it would be best if we fly fished at night. Many thoughts flashed through my mind. ”She’s not going to like this,” was high on the list. So there I was, driving down I-95 from Cocoa Beach in search of a Boat launch on the Sebastian River where Capt Davis would be waiting. I found it no problem and he was indeed ready to shove off. We headed out on the river by 9pm. As an afterthought, he turned to me and asked, “Do you want to catch a Ladyfish?” “Well,” I said, “I’ve never caught a Ladyfish, so sure.” He handed me the six weight fly rod with a white shrimp pattern and I cast towards the dark shoreline. 1 strip, 2 strips…bang! Fish-on, multiple runs and jumps! So, I quickly learned what Ladyfish were all about. What a blast! With 2 Ladyfish under our belt we continued on to find some Snook, and I was already satisfied. We hit the dock-lights for a while and only had some follows to show for our efforts. So, we decided to change locations. The next dock light we came to had one shape under it. A long dark creature roamed the outer rims of the darkness and came closer to inspect what I had dropped in his territory. The line tightened and time stopped. When you hook fish under the dock lights, you must get the fish away from the dock or the game will be over quickly. We used 30lb leaders and clamped down on the hook-set while Eric used a trolling motor to pull us away. After the initial battle, if the fish is still on, you can fight the fish with the drag. I fought this fish away from the pillars and when he came near the skiff, the guide started freaking out. That’s a huge Sea Trout! His excitement started making me nervous. This was my first encounter with a Sea Trout and I thought it was large. However, when the guide who fly fishes the river every day gets excited, well, things get interesting. Somehow, we won the tug of war and got some nice pictures. We moved to another light, which yielded my second trout of the night and my first 3 Snook ever. 3 firsts and it was only 11pm. After hitting more docks and losing count of the number of follows, break-offs and landed Snook he turned to me and suggested that we hit “the mother load.” Umm, if what we were doing wasn’t the mother load then it was about to get really interesting. However, when we got there, we couldn’t hook-up on the countless Snook we could see. Then I threw the shrimp pattern in among the dark shapes and let it sink. As the fly drifted into the depths the line jolted tight and the fight was on. The fish took off fast enough to cut my finger and Eric gunned the engine in reverse. I knew I had a King Salmon on my line, just knew it. We backed away from the dock and he told me I could let the fish run now and I gave him some line, then more line, then backing. I said, “Eric, he’s at the dock again.” Eric yelled, “Pull him out!” and we backed out again. Finally the big Snook came to the boat and we had another picture fest. We took some more Snook on the docks and about 1am we headed to the bridges. The Boats that had staked claim on the bridges when we started were gone and we would cast our flies into the lighted areas and let the tide drift them into the darkness under the bridge. On the fifth cast, everything exploded. A dark torpedo skied out of the air 3 times in 1 second and broke my 30 lb leader. I looked back at Eric. He only had one word to say,”Tarpon.” Back into the game after a brief re-tie and the line was tight again. This time I got the upper hand on the smaller tarpon and brought my first Tarpon to hand. One more Tarpon was lost this night and we Hooked, Landed, Broke off or missed Snook every fifth or sixth cast. At 5:30am, we called it quits. I had to get the car back to my wife so she could attend the conference at 8:30am. Otherwise, we would have continued our fly fishing adventure. I want to thank Capt. Eric for the great time and introduction to the fishery. It left this Salmon/Steelhead addict bruised, sore, cut and in awe.
Book
- Alaska
- Guide & Fisherman
- Guiding: Choosing Your Guide And Choosing Your Customer
- Guiding: Do It Yourself With A Guide
- Guiding: Evolution Of A Guide
- Guiding: Freshwater, More Than Meets The Eye
- Guiding: Friends For Life
- Guiding: Know Where You Are
- Guiding: More Than Just A Fisherman
- Guiding: Mystery Of The Fisherman
- Guiding: Payment
- Guiding: Saltwater, A Different World
- Rough Fish
- Fly Fishing For Rough Fish: Why Do It?
- Introduced Rough Fish: The Carps & Other Invasive Species
- Methodology: Gear & Tactics For Pursuing Roughfish On A Fly
- More Roughfish: Bullheads, Whitefish, Goldeye, Burbot & Drum
- Rough Fish Environments: Where To Look For Rough Fish?
- Rough Fish Species: The Suckers
- Rough fish: A Lifetime Of Learning
- Rough Fish: Fishing For Dinosaurs (Gars & Bowfin)
- Rough Fish: What Are They?
- The Hook: Some Common Rough Fish Fly Patterns
- Spey
- Spey: Applications, Where Can You Do It?
- Spey: Atlantic Salmon, A Significant Fish
- Spey: Defined And Demystified
- Spey: Gear, The Nuts And Bolts
- Spey: Lines, They Are That Important
- Spey: Steelhead, New Traditions & A Modern Movement
- Spey: The Energy
- Spey: The Flies
- Spey: The Swing
- Spey: Two Critical Casts
- Striped Bass
- Striped Bass: Fishing Rocky Shorelines
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Beaches
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Flats
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Reefs
- Striped Bass: Fishing Tidal Rivers
- Striped Bass: Flatwing Swing
- Striped Bass: Fly Line Options & Choices
- Striped Bass: Gear, The Nuts & Bolts
- Striped Bass: Migration Patterns
- Striped Bass: What They Eat
- The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: A Natural Drug
- Fly Fishing: A Validation Of Freedom
- Fly Fishing: Don’t Fight The Current
- Fly Fishing: It Is What It Is
- Fly Fishing: Socialization For Asocial Individuals
- Fly Fishing: The Allure Of The Fish
- Fly Fishing: The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: The Simplicity Of It All
- Fly Fishing: Time Flies
- Fly Fishing: Times You Remember & Try To Forget
SWEEEET! .. nice work shaq .. a true fly fishing modern day cowboy … tying in a killer fly fishing trip within the spaces of business conventions and all that nonsense .. love it! that’s what it is all about for me … everywhere i travel for work .. is an opportunity for me to take a few casts somewhere .. for some sort of species … i travel allot for work .. and have yet to experience a business trip where the airplane doesn’t break, the meeting doesn’t get rescheduled, i have to stay a day later or get there a day earlier .. all of those are perfect opportunities for me to take a few casts … and looking back over the last 10 years of my life … i have fly fished some of the most amazing places in the world ….. and most of the time … “fly fishing” was never my reason for being their in the first place … but ironically … its the only thing i remember ….. shaking hands, and selling this or that and long dinners, and working on code and powerpoint presentations and big conferences and speaking engagements. .. all those things are easily forgotten .. but the short impromptu fly fishing adventures that i somehow weave into my business trips … are the things that last a lifetime .
i really enjoyed this fish-tale for those reasons … and of course for the nice fish you locked horns with … awesome work … i am not a big fan of “night” fly fishing .. however.. i am a huge fan of florida night fly fishing ..because the snook lights make it almost better than the day … i REALLY like to be able to see .. and sight is one of the senses that is important to me … so, casting into shear blackness in the open ocean .. doesn’t really float my boat … but florida .. oh man, its like sight fishing at night under those lights and when i go down there .. i go on these night fly fishing binges … start at 6 pm roaming the docks like a vagrant looking for the perfect snook lights … (getting kicked out of many places and off many docks, but thats fine by me … i just move on … no different than any sales job) .. … anyway, its so addicting for me .. that many times .. i look at my watch and its 4am or worse/better yet .. the sun starts to come up …
so, some people go down to florida for rest and relaxation and come home feeling refreshed .. i usually go down there and never sleep .. and come home totally exhausted and wiped out … wouldn’t want it any other way …
thanks shaq .. great fish-tale.
PS – IF YOU LIKE THE FLORIDA snook lights .. you might like the northeast bluefish lights .. same premise. this picture is from one of my most recent business/non-fishing related trips with my wife that i “tied in fly fishing” .. i am always pulling these antics … and she now knows that no matter where we go .. even if its in the middle of the arizona desert (and that is true) .. i will sniff out water and if i find the water .. i will somehow (usually out of sheer obsessive determination) sniff out something with fins… in this instance i was catching bluefish and stripers in between coctail weenies and shrimp and small talk about the weather and all that nonsense .. then when the sun went down and the tikki bar cleared out and everyone went to bed .. i would make the transformation from tux into headlamp and stripping basket and cast off the lighted hotel docks into pods of greedy bluefish …. so point being .. i already forgot why i was “really” there .. and all the cocktail weenies and shrimp and small talk about the weather and all that nonsense is dust in the wind .. but boy do i remember those bluefish fighting for my fly and tearing line off my reel….
oh yah.. by the way .. dude, that is a HUGE sea trout .. not that i am a florida expert or even close … but for what its worth .. i have never seen a sea trout remotely close to that size .. i think my biggest is like 16 inches or so .. that is crazy big … did the guide mention if he often sees sea trout THAT big?
Shaq, those are some serious snook. Nice strip sets as well. It always takes me a few fish to get that hook set down after a long steel/trout season. Well done.
Shaq, great video with incredible non-stop action. Made me jealous as hell that I wasn’t throwing those flies to those fish. What a trip, the kind that most people dream of. My folks now live in Fl, but I am only there in the winter time so one of these days I will have to venture down at a different time of year to see what I can tie into. That close up ot the sea trout looks like some prehistoric fish from eras gone by. By the way did I mention great video!!!!
Shaq,
INSANE!!! Looks like a killer trip! Those are the trips that are worth every penny. I imagine you will be reliving that night for some time. Jeremy is right. That speck is HUGE! The area of FL that I have fished has trout, and the big ones they call gators. But I’ve never even heard of anything like that. I wish my wife traveled for work!!!
Keith
Shaq- Nice work down in FLA. Those were some big snook and that sea trout was a mammouth. My folks live down there and ocassionally I get the chance to cast under the lights. It’s fun watching those snook explode. Great video.
Thank you guys, To all the ?’s about the trout. Did the guide tell me? Well, when a guide who has a passion for the fishery, owned a flyshop for 14 years in the area and as you can hear in the vid, gets a bit excited when we hook-up starts to freak out because you have a fish on the line…yes, he indicated that I had something special on the line…haha. That made me a bit nervous too. Nice to see a bunch of good comments when I got back from vaca. Thanks again.