Selfish Celebration
Have you ever sat around trying to decide what to get your best friend for his wedding? An electric chainsaw, a Home Depot gift card, some kind of accessory for his pampered pup? All good ideas but none of them seemed adequate to me. So when it came time to present Collin with his gift it occurred to me that I should give him something unique, memorable and above all, interesting; a day stuck with me on a boat ticked all the boxes! And though my own fiancé pointed out the possibility of flaws in my logic, I never did hear a single complaint from Collin that I can remember.
So, after his wedding, Collin and I went through a long planning phase. We discussed various trips close to home but then decided we wanted to do something a bit more exotic as we can figure out our nearby fisheries ourselves. We talked about False Albacore in the Carolinas and Redfish in Louisiana before finally deciding on the hodgepodge of targetable species off of Florida’s Atlantic coast. With a bit of research we learned that Captain Scott Hamilton was the guy to fish with if you wanted an exciting day on the water with the potential for myriad species on the fly. Both Captain Scott and his website were full of helpful advice regarding what species we could hope to catch throughout the year. We eventually landed on a mid-March trip as Scott may be foremost known for his propensity for putting clients on acrobatic Spinner sharks on a fly during this time!
To further cap off our excitement, our mutual friend Chad was along for the ride to test out his fish-fighting abilities and catch something other than the endemic Redeye bass of his native Birmingham, Alabama. After months of eagerly anticipating our trip we finally found ourselves in a seedy motel on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale with an early wake up call and big fish on the mind.
We met up with Captain Scott near Jupiter at a well-known ramp. After multiple days of a hard East wind, our trip had unfortunately been put in some amount of jeopardy by factors beyond any of our control. Fortunately, our weather permitted us a shot at getting just off shore even if it would still complicate the fishing. With bright skies and a growing breeze in our faces, we pushed off from the dock.
I believe it was less than 20 minutes later when Collin, the whole excuse for the trip, found himself targeting large Barracuda in the corner of a nearby sea wall. High sun and crystal clear water allowed us to clearly see and target individual fish from their unique ambush points. Throwing a concoction of Scott’s, really a 12 inch long chartreuse tube with a stinger hook, Collin stripped as fast as he possibly could to arise the ire of the lightning fast predators. Blitzing chases were closely followed by hammering strikes and suddenly we were hooked up! A few moments of chaos ensued as the ‘Cuda raced around the boat hoping to evade capture. Steady as ever when tied into a fish, Collin kept intense pressure on our quarry and pulled it boat side after a few moments for a quick picture and a safe release. A great start to a day so long awaited!
Just a few casts later I found myself tied into a remarkable, toothy fish on the end of my line. Another Barracuda that put on a display of its explosive power! Chad, though armed with a capable cast and good fishing instincts, just couldn’t manage to hook the beasts we were after. Time and again he found our prey, made the right cast, ripped a fast enough retrieve only to have a fish come unbuttoned within the first few seconds of the fight, Dang! The tension was palpable in the warm, salty air and there was no chance that Chad could possibly want to catch the Barracuda as much as his companions wanted it for him. Sometimes though, things just don’t come together the way you want. With the conditions turning we found ourselves running out the inlet in pursuit of new quarry.
We spent much of the rest of the morning patrolling nearby beaches hunting for schools of Spinner sharks in their annual migration. While we were always on lookout, Scott regaled us with tales of great fish caught and other memorable exploits from his 30 year career. We did manage to find some sharks as well as some schools of massive tarpon. Scott though, really wanted to find larger groups of fish instead of the dozen or so we ran across periodically. And though we did find some fish, they were extremely close to shore as that stiff East wind had pushed them further towards the beaches than we would have hoped.
Looking to bend our fly rods again we made a short run to nearby reefs and offshore structure to spend much of our remaining day targeting a little bit of everything. Yes, you heard that right, fly fishing reefs and structure 50-100ft below the surface. This may seem impossible with your normal fly tackle but Captain Scott has this fishery dialed with specialized rods, reels, and most importantly fly lines to help get the fly down in such great depths. We successfully hit some schools of Bar Jacks while in search of False Albacore, Mackerel and anything else that might bite our feathery concoctions. We all caught some quality fish in this time while hooking into even larger fish of unknown make. At one memorable point, Chad found himself deep dredging a reef when his fly line was ripped from his hands by some fish 50 or 60 feet down. The fight was on and Chad was quickly put in his backing for the first time while battling our mystery fish. Full of excitement for our friend to land his largest fish ever, Collin and I eagerly looked on and snapped photos from the stern of the boat. The line continued to fly jerkily out of the guides before coming to a sudden and heartbreaking stop, the fish was gone. We’ll never know what Chad hooked into but it will provide ample reason for us to return and fish with Scott again. Was it a King Mackerel that bit through the stout leader or perhaps the 9 foot Bull shark we discovered circling the boat not 10 minutes later? These are the questions that keep us coming back!
Throughout the rest of the early afternoon we fished reef after reef while hoping to hook back into something as memorable as Chad’s near catch. Collin caught some massive Blue Runner and Scott even got in on the fun at our request with a glowing Rainbow Runner. Chad boated a handsome Yellowtail Snapper and I myself landed a beautiful little Strawberry Grouper. We chased the sunset along the beach again in search of sharks and trolling one of Scott’s massive shark flies in hopes of finding a willing customer. It wasn’t meant to be though and we finished the days with a few more casts at Barracuda. Though Chad had two more bites here, the Barracuda will probably haunt his dreams until he finds himself back along the sandy shores of his neighboring state.
So whenever your friends get married, remember this; if you really like them, force them to spend a day fishing with you and see if you can get away with calling it a gift.
Words by Jake Eanes
Photos: Collin Fuller & Chad Hoffman
Guide: Captain Scott Hamilton
Links
CH Creative (Chad Hoffman) - Hamilton Fly Fishing Charters - Fly Fishing Extremes