Mackerel and Bonito - Lemon Bay, Florida

       Back to Lemon Bay for our fall trip - late October and early November. There are usually quite a few options at this time of year - tailing redfish on the flats around low tide, snook along the mangroves and in potholes, trout on the deeper flats. However, fly fishing out in the Gulf is usually limited to pretty calm days, which seem to be pretty rare most of the time, but especially in the fall! One of our favorite fishing activities when it is calm is going out for Spanish Mackerel or Bonitos. Both can be caught on a fly rod and can be a lot of fun, in addition to which the bonito are a real challenge. As a bonus, Spanish mackerel is delicious table fare when properly prepared. The mackerel average 2-4 pounds and are famous for their speed and fighting ability, especially on a 6-8 weight fly rod. Bonito, or little tunny, or false albacore, are quite a bit larger - up to about 20 pounds - and are known for their lightning fast runs. They run in large schools, showing up on the surface with a lot of slashing when feeding on bait, their location given away by circling gulls overhead.

        With this in mind, we went out early one morning and ran out through Stump Pass and north along the beach about two miles, about one mile from shore. It was an incoming tide with just a slight breeze from the north with a few ruffly waves on the surface - another beautiful morning with temperatures in 70s. We saw feeding fish and birds as soon as we got out. Individual splashes indicated feeding mackerel and we were into small schools of them right away. We used 8 weight rods with floating lines, a 9' leader with 12-18" of 30 lb. test shock tippet. My favorite all-purpose fly - a white on white Clouser - closed the deal pretty effectively. The fish were on the smaller side, ranging from 1-2.5 lbs, but took the fly on almost every cast, and we had a couple of double hook-ups. We saved a couple for dinner and then decided to look for more challenging fish.

The bonito are a whole different kettle of fish (so to speak). Even at a distance, we could tell these fish weren't mackerel because although they slash the surface of the water in the same way, the fish are larger and faster, creating a lot more commotion. About two dozen fish moved in tight formation, side by side, creating a phalanx (like the Macedonians), racing first in one direction about 40' and then suddenly pivoting and racing the same distance in the opposite direction. They would keep this zigzag motion up, creating good sized waves. This would keep up for a couple of minutes and then they would disappear beneath the surface, only to reappear a hundred yards further away. Well, we got the boat in good position, trying to anticipate what general direction they were moving and got some good casts in, but their positions changed so quickly it was hard to get the fly going in the right direction. You'd cast ahead of them and then suddenly they turned and the fly was behind them! Talk about frustration! Surrounded by dozens of feeding, slashing fish that were constantly turning their backs on the fly! We both cast like crazy to no avail. Kris finally suggested a different approach- cast the fly behind them, wait for the turn and then start stripping like crazy. They moved with such lightning speed that this was still difficult to accomplish.

                       Finally, however, I did get lucky and one fish took the Clouser. An arm jolting strike followed by 50-75 yards of disappearing backing! The fish then took a 180 degree turn and came right back to the boat! Now this is where a right-handed retrieve for a right-handed person is essential - there's just no way a rightie can retrieve that fast with his left hand. These fish move so fast - not exactly like a bonefish, but pretty snappy. The fish put up a great fight, taking line out a couple of times with strong runs, but I finally got it up to the boat and netted it. A real beauty, weighing about 10 lbs., and then released it. What a great time! The tackle was the same we had used on the mackerel. We chased these guys around a while longer since they kept surfacing, but weren't able to duplicate our luck. We went back the next day when conditions were exactly the same, but you know the old story - not a tunny to be seen! Maybe next time! At least we know they're out there! 

FISHY COMPETITION FOR A FLY

May 25, Lemon Bay, Florida


    My wife and I just returned from a month's vacation in Englewood, Florida, fishing Lemon Bay and the area around Gasparilla. The weather here in Maine has been cold and wet and we were really looking forward to some warm, sunny weather and some good fishing, of any kind. After taking a few days to clean up the place and get some yard work done, we headed out to Lemon Bay to try our luck.

    As usual, when we first go out we don't have a particular plan. We just relax, check out what's going on with the tides, the wind and the weather and try fishing various places, different depths and using different flies. We left the dock around 8 AM. The weather was pretty hot for May - in the low to mid 90's every day - with a Southeast to Southwest wind blowing about 10-15. We fished the first of the incoming tide in the morning, in a couple of usually good locations, but moved on after an hour or so of nothing, not even any fish moving around that we could see. Just those *(#@* mullet everywhere! After a couple of other non-productive spots, since it was getting pretty hot, we decided to take a break and take a swim in Ski Alley.

   Ski Alley is a gorgeous deep, narrow channel, about 100' wide, behind Stump Pass Beach State Park and a bunch of mangrove islands where there are plenty of sandy areas to pull into and swim. There are also some great sandbars at low tide where the locals swim, party and bring their dogs for a little beach time.
Anyway, we had seen some big snook there before, right along the park edge of the channel, just hanging out in the current and thought it might be worth a look to see if anything was happening. We moved along slowly with the trolling motor, peering into the water up near shore. Sure enough, we could see a few big fish lazily swimming, going into the current, in about 3 - 5' of water, within about 10' from shore. The tide was about 1/2 way in, but the current wasn't too quick. We were pretty excited to see them and were getting ready to toss a couple of flies in, but then my wife turned to look up off the bow and shouted, "Oh my God! Look at the fish! There's a whole highway of them up ahead!" Sure enough, the water was dark with what looked like a river of fish coming right down the pike and under the bow of the boat! There must have been hundreds, all swimming in a pretty narrow band of maybe 8' wide, swimming into the current and not in any particular hurry. Well, obviously we got out our flyrods in a hurry and began casting. We tried a white on white Clouser and a black/white Clouser and got a few fish to follow, but no takes. They would follow the fly, make a rush at it, take a good look at it and then turn away. So, maybe something else? Was this frustrating or what? The fish kept coming, although they were starting to decrease in numbers, but still plenty of them left and BIG! They ranged in size all the way up to what looked like about 3-4'!

    I changed my fly to a grey Glass Minnow, size 4. Once again, follows but no takes. However, all of a sudden I had 3 fish rush the fly at once. They had followed the fly a long way until they were only about 15' from the boat and the leader was practically in the tiptop. "Come on, come on", I thought, "someone take it!" Then, strip, strike!, and the fight was on. The fish put on a strong first run, heading right for the mangroves and a fallen tree. I had all I could do with my 8 weight rod to keep him out of that mess, and the fish actually towed the boat in towards shore. He put up a good fight, but after a few minutes we netted the fish and released him back, none the worse for wear. It was a beautiful, heavy, healthy fish, about 9 or 10 lbs. and measuring 30". Gorgeous. What a thrill! Well, you better believe we checked this area out several more times but never saw anything like that again.

    The lesson here is an interesting one, and that is to be persistent and patient and have confidence in your fly. Sometimes we spend too much precious time changing the fly when the fish don't seem interested in what we have to offer. The fish can disappear just as fast as they appear and the chance could be a fleeting one. Just because there are a lot of fish around doesn't mean the fishing will be easy. Most of the fish were interested in our flies, but just weren't taking anything, and maybe no fly would have worked any better than what we had on offer. I think the reason I finally got hooked up is that the game became interesting for them when there was competition for the fly among the three fish, and probably the fly itself was somewhat irrelevant. They were just afraid of losing dinner to their buddies. So sometimes sticking with what you've got is better than wasting a lot of time diddling around with your tackle!

Tight lines!

Hey! Check out our website for a great selection of saltwater flies, leaders and tippet, including the Glass Minnow! http://www.flatsfishingflies.com/

WHITE ON WHITE CLOUSER MINNOW

Cast...strip...strip...strip...BANG! Fish on! The scenario repeated itself over and over again all day long. The season might be different, the sunlight, the wind or the time of day, but the fly didn't change, nor did the results. We caught redfish, as well as sea trout, snook, mangrove snapper, black drum, baby tarpon, bluefish, even Spanish mackerel. All succumbed on our recent trips to Soutwest Florida this year, and all on the same fly......a white on white Clouser minnow, size 2.

We did use other fly patterns and had spotty success with those, but the clear winner, the real go-to fly when things got slow, was the simple Clouser saltwater fly. It was by far the most productive, whether on the beach, in the surf, or on the boat; whether in 6" of water of 10', it was always the first and last fly we would try.

I tie these flies very sparsly using white bucktail, red or yellow lead dumbell eyes and pearl tinsel flash. They don't look like much, but simplicity must be the key because they are the most effective fly I know for all species of fish. I usually add a weed guard when fishing the grass flats.
The retrieve is a quick 6" strip, with a two second pause and then repeat. Strip all the way to the leader connection, since some fish will follow the fly a long way before striking. Fish often take the fly at the end of the pause, so maintain connection with the fly line at all times.

If I could have only one fly to fish with, it would definitely be a white on white #2 Clouser minnow. These are pretty difficult to find since most Clousers come in 2-color combinations, but I tie these myself and they are available at http://www.flatsfishingflies.com/ under the heading "General Purpose Flies". Tight Lines!