I recently returned from an awesome week in Key Largo, took the opportunity to go out with a guide for a couple of days of backcountry fishing for reds in the flats.
I've never done that kind of fishing before, all sight casting to fish. It's different, and I wouldn't say it took me long to get the idea, I'd just say that I'm not a particularly accurate caster. I told my guide ahead of time that he would need to have a lot of patience with me, and he did.
He put me on fish, and I screwed most of them up. I had a knack for landing flies and line right over the top of the fish, or I'd be 20' away. But hell, when it worked and I could make a proper cast, it was awesome! What a sight to see those big fish gobble a fly and then take off.
I managed to land a few and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Can't wait to get back and do it again.
Saw quite a few large snook as well, even managed to have one take a fly, only to get way too excited and yank it out of it's mouth with what my guide described as 'an excellent NW trout hook set.' Also got a small speckled trout and caught a few small barracuda from the dock where I was staying.
Other sightings included some bottle nose dolphins chasing schools of mullet, quite a few manatees and some large sting rays. I also rented a kayak and paddled myself around John Pennekamp State Park, where I saw a nice tarpon cruising through the mangroves and a green sea turtle swam along beside me for a while.
I've never done that kind of fishing before, all sight casting to fish. It's different, and I wouldn't say it took me long to get the idea, I'd just say that I'm not a particularly accurate caster. I told my guide ahead of time that he would need to have a lot of patience with me, and he did.
He put me on fish, and I screwed most of them up. I had a knack for landing flies and line right over the top of the fish, or I'd be 20' away. But hell, when it worked and I could make a proper cast, it was awesome! What a sight to see those big fish gobble a fly and then take off.
I managed to land a few and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Can't wait to get back and do it again.
Saw quite a few large snook as well, even managed to have one take a fly, only to get way too excited and yank it out of it's mouth with what my guide described as 'an excellent NW trout hook set.' Also got a small speckled trout and caught a few small barracuda from the dock where I was staying.
Other sightings included some bottle nose dolphins chasing schools of mullet, quite a few manatees and some large sting rays. I also rented a kayak and paddled myself around John Pennekamp State Park, where I saw a nice tarpon cruising through the mangroves and a green sea turtle swam along beside me for a while.