Reefs to Mangroves
I can’t say how many times I have been asked something like ‘fly fishing, isn’t that the one you do standing in a river?’ Yes, yes it is… that and so much more! I try to always be patient with questions like these as people often know so little about our sport. The lack of understanding that the non-affiliated often have in regards to fly fishing can be quite astonishing for those of us who are more familiar with our pursuit. Whether in my local reservoir, a whitewater bass river, the Okefenokee swamp or even 100 miles offshore, fly fishing can still be an effective tool for the persistent angler. On our recent trip to South Florida, we put our fly rods to use in some places that the non-fly fishing crowd would likely be surprised by.
On the first full day of our trip we ventured offshore with Captain Scott Hamilton to chase the plethora of interesting species just a short run from the marina. We hoped for barracuda, mahi mahi, various jacks and reef fish as well as migratory spinner sharks if we were lucky enough! We fished all day and tried a variety of different methods but the most effective was to fish a deep sinking line directly below the boat. What we did was first, maneuver up-current of the area we wanted to fish. Once we were over the reef or structure, we looked to mark fish with Scott’s electronics. Once we cut the motor and began our drift, we fed our fast sinking lines on the side of the boat we were drifting away from as this allowed the flies and line to sink deep to the bottom and in the straightest line possible. Depending on where we marked them in the water column, we let our flies sink to the fish and then, as quickly as possible, stripped away from them. Frequently though, we would only strip halfway back up before dropping the fly back to where we were marking the fish. It’s imperative using this method to use heavy leader and flies as well as stout rods as you never know what you may hook into! While actively fishing, keep your rod tip very low and plan to never lift it out of the water until you hook up with a fish. Even then, use the lower half of the rod to fight the fish as that is the strongest part of the rod.
The great thing about the above method is that you can catch an incredible variety of fish with it. Unfortunately, our day was limited entirely to bar jacks! Though these weren’t what we were hoping to catch, they still provided us a great deal of fun on light tackle. Usually what would happen is two of the three of us fishermen would drop the sinking lines down to the marked fish and subsequently hook up. While they were fighting these fish, the third fishermen would have a very lightweight rod ready to sight cast to any followers the hooked fish might bring with it. This was great fun as Scott had us all catching two and three pound bar jacks on a three weight fly rod! For reference, a three weight is the rod I most often use back home for native brook trout in the six to ten inch range! Though we never found our other target species, we wore our arms out catching bar jacks all day long. Who says you can’t fly fish in the “blue water”?
The mangroves of South Florida represent an incredible eco-system home to countless wildlife. They are integral to the health of coastal environments and they protect the shorelines of the coast while also serving as home to a diverse array of plant and animal life. While we were killing time waiting to fish the dock lights one evening, we explored some nearby mangroves and a tidal creek with my old friend Dylan. Dylan is an experienced deck hand for high-end fishing boats and he is as knowledgeable and passionate a fishermen as ever there was. He graciously poled and motored us up the creek the whole while searching for moving fish. At various points we would stop and cast towards small inlets, cuts and creek mouths. Chad experienced our first and best catch of this sojourn when he spotted bait moving over a skinny flat within casting range. He made a couple of quick false casts over his left shoulder and threw his shrimp pattern to the flat at 1 o’clock relative to the bow. He made two quick strips and then fish on! Chad’s hooked snook jumped a few times and was his first example of the species that he had caught. Riding the high of Chad’s catch we continued to patrol the quiet creek in search for anything else that might bite. Oddly enough, the next willing participant came in the form of Florida’s prize fish, the largemouth bass! The pound and a half example that I caught on a small EP style baitfish was a bit of disappointment as I was really hoping to catch something a little more exotic (to me) than a largemouth! As the late afternoon fell into dusk we caught a handful of various snook species on the way out of the mangroves and creeks. These swordspine and fat snook were interesting new catches for our species lists and it was great to finally catch some of these species that fly slightly under the radar. Right at twilight we had a few eats and follows from rolling tarpon. Though we didn’t catch any, it was exhilarating just to see them!
Every night on our trip was spent fishing the dock lights for any fish that would bite. For me this meant fishing the marina we were residing at every night for snook, lookdowns and tarpon. After fishing the mangroves with Dylan we were lucky enough to fish the docks with him that night. Dylan quickly proved his expert hand at this and caught at least a dozen snook on soft plastics while we were throwing flies from the bow of the skiff. Whereas the lakes in my area back home only contain a few fish-attracting dock lights, the area we were in held literally hundreds! In this target rich environment there was no pressure as, if one dock had already been fished, there were plenty more! At least 50% of these lights held visibly feeding snook. We would maneuver into position with the trolling motor, (hopefully) catch a fish or two, and then move onto the next series of docks. The fishing was an absolute blast and is in many ways shockingly easy as the fish are congregated and typically feeding with some abandon. We all caught plenty of snook as we fished from twilight on into the early hours of the morning.
Though we were all thoroughly bushed, I knew that I would be happiest to keep fishing as we wouldn’t soon be back to try our hand at these unique fisheries. So, once we were back to our marina I kept on fishing! The fish at the marina weren’t quite as willing to eat just any old fly but I still managed to catch more snook and lookdown fish. On previous nights we had fished the marina with kayaks as well. Plenty of snook and lookdowns fell victim to our efforts and even the odd catfish and tarpon were fought! This is all to say that fly fishing can take place in many places and in many forms. As I’ve voiced before, “if a fish can be caught with an artificial, it can be caught on fly.” The diverse fisheries of Florida are an excellent place to play with a fly rod. Inshore and offshore, tidal creeks and dock lights all serve as excellent fishing opportunities for the willing fly angler.