Posts tagged “Florida

FLORIDA: Drought

Posted on April 20th, 2009

Work last week brought me down to South Florida and then up the Space Coast and  into Central Florida, and the signs of drought are obvious. Old ditches on the roster are currently unfishable due to the dropping water levels. Central Florida seems to have it the worst. “We could really use a hurricane this year,” one of my fishing accomplices remarked, “only without the destruction. Maybe a tropical depression.” He was hoping for something to fill Lake Okeechobee again, like Fay did last September, so that the State doesn’t have a mad rush over the diminishing freshwater supply. It has been the third driest dry season on record since 1932. There are too many stresses on Florida’s fresh water supply as is. With…

Save the World Links

Posted on January 13th, 2009

Tarbone sends a letter to Florida Fish and Wildlife asking for better bonefish, tarpon, and permit protections. Capt. Gordon sends word of more news in his battle against Carolina gill nets. Coastal Voices blog has a link to a map showing the extent of human impact on the oceans. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has a petition to the EPA to keep its promise to clean up the bay by 2010.

Bombs and Butterfly Peacocks

Posted on February 28th, 2008

The power outage that rippled north from Turkey Point on Tuesday did not slow down the peacock bass fishing. I also got the chance to test a version of the bass fly bendback tied with a Gamakatsu bass hook. I couldn’t get it to work with any weight whatsoever but got it to swim decently with an expoy head and a long length of super hair. Both largemouth and peacock bass hit it, so that was encouraging, but I’d like to see someone with some aptitude at the vise give it a go.

FLORIDA: Gators, Big Cats, and Other People’s Poons

Posted on January 17th, 2008

THE TRAIL: I stood on shore with my feet nearly touching the water, totally engrossed in the act of tying on a new fly. Then I felt the sensation of being watched. I looked up to see an alligator floating in front of me, close enough to lean down and touch. It hadn’t been there a minute ago, but now it sat motionless, staring. Instinct took over and I pulled out my Glock and busted a cap in its ass stood there frozen like a total idiot. Then I came to my senses and thought, I should take its picture. The gator must not have liked the sound of the zipper opening on my camera case, because it turned tail and swam away. I…

FLORIDA: Bud’s Lives

Posted on January 7th, 2008

I stopped by the Ole Florida Fly Shop to pick up some eat-mes and ditch flies, and realized the bomb shelter where I mispent many nights of my youth was practically next door. What is now the Boca Bar & Grill was once the palace known as Bud’s Lounge of 6299 Federal Highway, where an 18-year-old without proper identification could rightly go in and buy a five-dollar pitcher of PBR and play bumper pool. The bumper pool table is long gone, as are the Melvin Bratton posters, but the Pabst still flows.

VIDEO: Cold Florida

Posted on January 7th, 2008

I got a Sanyo Xacti waterproof digital camcorder for Christmas and plan on using it to put forth some hackitube–crappy amateur footage posted to Youtube. This first one is some salty and fresh footage from my last trip. A few things: –To any chrome addicts, I realize this is balmy for you. But it’s FLORIDA. –The salty fish are jack crevalle. We chased them in schools consisting of 5-8 pounders, 10-12 pounders, 15 pounders, and 20-25 pounders. The 20-25 pounders kicked our asses. –The salty guide’s name is Scott Hamilton, a bluewater fly fishing pioneer in South Florida, and the inventor of the Eat-Me fly. –The fish chasing the fly at the end is a rat bastard snakehead called “Grandad.” –The song is “Bottomless…

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 30 other followers