Fish Catching Travel

I might ever throw the Redfish Magic some today!

First I want to say a big Happy Birthday to my dad, Dean Coppernoll.  One of the truly great men in this world, he worked his ass off to feed and clothe 5 kids.  And through it all he never faltered.  So thanks Dad, the world would be a better place if there were more like you.  And you don’t look a day over 87!

I got this comment from Evan which made me laugh.

The man writes an online blog to share his fishing adventures and he stays at probably one of the few places in the USA that doesn’t offer Wifi.

I’m not sure which is worse – Waiting for Blue Bell to return to the shelves or waiting to read your next fishing report (with pics of course!).

The anticipation builds.

-Evan

Well here you go Evan.  If you are anticipating you can’t imagine how I feel every morning.  It is 5 am right now, and I am up an hour before the alarm.  The thought of catching a big tarpon or snook has me wanting to hit the water this morning.  After yesterday you can see why.

All the planning, the expense, and time and effort is all worth it when this happen!

My life time best.  Quick CPR and back in she went.

This snook is the reason I go.  In the many trips I have taken to Florida I have hooked a few like this, but have never had it work out.  So when it happened today my trip was made.  Hopefully a few other fantastic things will happen, but no matter what this is what I came for.  This fish made what for me has become my big fish measuring stick.  We did not weight or measure her, who cares, she is just plain big by any standard.

We headed out Saturday at 7:30 with high hopes.  We started in a large bay as the tide finished coming up, and it was around 9 before Shoedog boated a keeper sized trout on topwater.  The trout are responding to the topwater, but so far we have not boated a snook on one in spite of a couple of bites.  We saw several tarpon rolling this morning, but did not get a bite.  Then I had an epiphany, if the tide was up we needed to head to this really flat bank we skipped over yesterday.

It had lots of oyster pads here and there along a really flat bank in a large cove right off the pass.  The reason I chose it was the tide was up, it was really flat with oysters, and they could not easily access it at low tide.  I really learned something today, if the tide is high, look for those places and the fish just may be there.

I was tossing a white with a Chartreuse tail Hackberry Hustler on a 1/8th ounce head.  We were in about 1 foot so I tossed back into maybe a foot and a half, and felt something heavy.  At first I thought it was a tarpon, but she did not jump.  It just wallowed like a pig and then the fight was on.  Shoedog did a good job with the trolling motor and we had quite the tussle.  She finally headed for the mangroves and it was put a stop to it or it would be over.  I stopped her as she wallowed like the hog she was, and we finally got her in the net.  Words can not describe how I felt.  There are few fish that put up the fight these things do.  My trip is made.

From that point we fished and fished and fished, and just could not get anything going.  We went way back, and I mean way back, following a channel in the mangrove islands and small lakes, but other than Shoedog catching another nice trout, we stuck out.  For occasional visitors a GPS is mandatory.  This place reminds me of Lake of the Woods, go a little ways and turn around, it all looks the same. The fish just do not appear to be in the back areas, or we have not hit the right one yet.

Shoedog with a good one on topwater.

All five trout we have caught the last 2 days have been nice keepers.  With Pine Island Sound coming next we will probably not do any specific trout fishing here, but if we did we could probably catch a nice mess.  But with snook and tarpon to be caught hard it is hard to go trout fishing.  And today we saw maybe 5 or 6 tarpon and were able to cast to a couple, but no takers.  They are a fickle fish.  My first trip here over 10 years ago they smashed a topwater, so it will happen.

After we finally gave up on the real back country stuff as the tide was just getting up so it was back to the bank I caught the big one on.  The flat was flooded over the scattered oysters and the mullet were everywhere.  I stayed with the plastic and Shoedog of course was throwing his Skitter Walk.

This thing just smoked that topwater.

The Everglades had a big snook kill a few years ago and according to what I had read the redfish population had really grown.  And snook like the big one are survivors of that kill.  I was wondering why we had not caught a red, but here he is.

So for the day it was only 4 fish, but no complaints from me.  It is a big learning curve and it is what these trips are all about.  To go some place as wild and big as this, and figure it out, is no small feat.  Being here is not all about the catching, what a place.  So tonight we will look at the map, cross reference the tide tables, and make a plan.  But today I learned something, those flooded flats have fish on them for a short window at a time when on the deeper banks the fish vacate it for the mangroves, which adds another piece of the puzzle to the fishing day.  The tide is such a deal here, and being at the right place, at the right time, is everything.  We are excited about the possibilities.

A big thanks to my buddy Chris, who if you read me regularly know he is one of my fishing buds.  He made me that great 3 ounce rod to spinnerbait for reds.  Well Chris, it stopped that big snook with a full head of steam as she streaked to the mangroves.  That is one great rod.  Can’t wait to try it on a tarpon.  And just for you all’s information we are fishing either 20lb mono or 35lb braid with 30 and 40lb fluorocarbon leader.  The gills on a snook are razor sharp.  You need it here to stop fish like that, much less a tarpon.

The weather has been in the mid 80’s with 2000% humidity.  It is hot.  But we stayed hydrated so it is not to bad.  We went out last night for a some seafood, which was good.  This area has changed so much.  The day will come it won’t be what is was, it already has, and as I said before I am so lucky to be here.  If you like figuring it out this is the place.  It is a daunting task.  But when you catch a snook like the one above it is worth every bit of it.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines