When I recieved news that my family was going to Sarasota, Florida, all I could think about was fly fishing in the salt for the first time. I knew that Marshall D was down there and guiding, but my parents just said “no, you can’t get a guided trip.” How mean was that!?!?! So I gather up all the info I can. I would e-mail guys with so many questions that they didn’t even reply back, it was that bad. So I head down to florida, very skeptical that I would catch any fish at all, not even bait. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing, and to top it off my parents and friends doubted me catching fish. They would often change the topic of conversation when I asked them if I would catch a fish.So I arrive in FL and get to the resort. The wind is howling like mad and it’s just my luck. To top that off I never saw one fly fisherman when I was down there! So I had no help whatsoever. They all threw bait. Just peachy! So what did I do? Well, I made friends with them (lol). So the 1st day I gathered up all the info I could from the bait chuckers. People would stare at me like I was loony carying a fly rod. So next off, I used Jeremy’s tip. Everyone I saw fishing I would come up to them and say “hey, I’m a fly fisherman from Maine and i’m looking to catch a few fish, what do I need to do?” The replies I got were- “you’ll go hungry fishing with a fly rod down here” or “DYNAMITE!” and of course with my luck the area was in a cold front. Crapollla! It was not untill the 4th day I caught my 1st fish. I was in a big pass and mullet were jumping out of the water. I make a cast and stripped the fly fast keeping it on the surfice where the bait was. Out of the shadows came a jack crevelle, and blasted my fly. I brought him in slow and I was a happy kid, holding my first saltwater fish on a fly. I knew he was small, but geeze, I had been working hard at it, and boy did it pay off. AWWWW, so the presure was off, I would have hated to write a fish tale about no fish. The next day I explored the mangroves, and guess what, I caught a 30 inch snook!!!! Aww just kidding. It was tough wading due to shells under the mud and it reminded me of clam pass Marshall D fishes at. So nothing that day, same with the day after that. I continued to fish my head off everyday despite the sun poisining on my feet and hands. The 3rd to last day I was walking down the beach front when I encountered a whole mess of snook, hundreds of them. Now for those of you who have never fished for snook let me tell you somthing……they are the pickiest fish I have ever fished for in my life. I call them retards because they just don’t eat! I frequently saw ones as big as me swimming by! I have heard people say that it’s early morning or nothing, but they would only come out in the day because the water was so warm by that time. I heard from a guy that after a really cold night you could walk out on the beach and see them belly up on top, but they spook if you walk close enough. Cool! I wish I were a snook!!!! On the last day the beach was booming early morning, unlike the other days. Schools of small jacks would come running by 60 feet out and I caught 2 small ones by casting a schminnow into the schools. It was combat fishing! You gotta wonder what the people were thinking when I was sprinting by them to get to another school. Man they move fast! In the last hours of the trip a guy walked up to me and said “hey, I saw you yesterday, I think you know what your doing(ya right!). There was a guy down there who just caught a 12 pound Jack Crevelle” “Thanks” I said, and I started running. I reached the guy and he said it took him 30 minutes to land it. Than, out of knowere, a dark shadow appered 200′ out. “oh my god” I said, they were gigantic jacks. Everyone was screaming “sharks!” and “you better wade out deeper boy!” or “common Austin! Go get em’!” And than it happened…. they moved towards me, within 95 feet. I make a cast and missed them by 5 feet, man that sucked. The spin fisherman bairly reached them and he had one on, saying “aww, there big jacks” and than he broke off. That was my chance for a big mama and I blew it, next year for sure.Thanks to all the bait fisherman for sharing their tips and tricks with meThanks to s2ary from another forum for letting my borrow his reelAnd thanks to Marshall D, Jeremy, and Titleguy(ffo website) for all their help.Well, now spring has come in Maine and I just picked up my new waders. I look forward to a fantastic new season.Tight linesAustin
You are certainly a “hardcore” fly fisherman. A lot of people i fish with probably would have thrown in the towel after the second day. Your perseverence paid off and you didn’t get skunked. Great story and don’t ever let your passion for a bent fly rod snuff out.
Whipp’
We’ll , I would not call the Snooks retards. That title would be more suitable for the suckers like you and me that are after them 🙂 Those beach snook are very wary about what is going on around them. Sometimes they get greedy though!
The Jacks are normally not that picky about flies but they do run fast. You do not get much chances once they are running along the beach. Sometimes they stay and hang around at passes or seawalls though.
I am sure next time you will do a lot better in the salt, congrats with the fish.
Snook patrolling the beach.
After several casts finally a hookup.
Jacks running under Naples pier.
A Jack from Doctors Pass, Naples
Howdy!
Hi Marcel. The snook were just shocking because I had never seen somthing so picky in my life. They actually are probaly so full of instinct that they can smell fear a mile away. I had one snook on, and a follow up from another. That was at the end of 3 hours for fishing for them. I was so concentrated on them that when a big permit swam by I keeped concentrated on the snook. The hard part was getting them not to spook away once I cast 15 feet inrfont of a cruising pod. Thanks for the compliments. Tight lines
Austin
The thing that kills me is when the Snook actually will follow the fly and let you retrieve it all the way onto the beach. They just stop, see you and move away.
My MO is normally to seek out fish that are cruising parallel to the beach. I will use a clear flyline and put the fly way in front of their path. When I think the fish are in range I will start retrieving the fly. Sometimes that works.
If there the Snook travel in numbers than there might be a competition who get´s the snack first so I presume they are more inclined to take the fly.
Austin,
Congratulations on a successful salt trip. Sure, you didn’t always ‘hookup’, but it’s the fishing day that’s important, what you see, what you learn, that is the essence of going fishing. I personally hate to hire a guide…..but, sometimes it’s the only way.
I like the fact that you are determined to “learn for yourself”. That quality will make you a top-notch fisherman before you’re 20. If I can give you some advice, I’d say, read, read, read. Matter of fact, in a day or so, I’m bringing 50-70 back issues of fly fisherman, fly rod and reel, american angler, etc. to Kathy Scott, the Librarian-fly fishing teacher at Lawrence JHS. I’ll be happy to save you out some copies if you like.
hey austin
how cool is that, you did it!!
sounds like you had a great time and even though the fish werent biting like in all the stories i am sure it still ment alot.
You really should get out to wyoming man
we would nock em dead!
let me know
kray trout bum 101
great post Austin, Marshall nailed it with his comments. You fished your a$$ off, you saw some really cool things, and you learned a lot. Even without the fish you caught (jacks are a blast on a fly rod) you had a sucessful trip. Congratulations!
Howdy!
Hi Marshall, thanks for the compliments. I would love to take some of those magazines off your hands. Don’t worry about mailing them to me, I should be able to pick them up next time I go fishing up there witch will be pretty soon. Thanks a whole lot and say hi to Kathy for me!
The thing that amazes me about fishing down there is there is so much to learn, so much to do. One time you go out onto the beach and everything is dead and then the next morning jacks are breaking the surface and snook are moping around. It is just like you said, it’s all about the experiences. I was amazed at how many cool bird I saw while exploring grass flats. All in the while you can see hotels and buildings in the back of the thick brush. Truly amazing. Thanks again for the compliments. Tight lines
Austin
Congrats austin, hopefully you will be able to make the trip to naples wiht me in a month for some awesome fishing! Can you email the pics of those fish to [email protected]? I would love to see them.
Caleb