Afishionado Posted June 23, 2016 Posted June 23, 2016 On a whim this morning I decided to go hit it... Left the spin gear at home and only brought the whip to try to keep that thing in my hands more and learn more about it rather than taking it out once every 3 months.. I was hoping to encounter the same tailing drum that I found on saturday.. Launched at gray dawn and paddled into my target area.. It was blowing SE 8-10 pretty much the entire paddle but about the time I got there, the wind laid down, and the fish started doing their thing.. Had 4 separate pods of drum out in front of me so I staked out and jumped out since I'm horrible at fly casting in the kayak itself.. They were in about a foot of water, tipping and tailing, exposing their entire backs.. I slowly waded up to them trying not to make too much noise and then just behind them I see a couple red brooms pop up.. Really nice reds.. At this point, I didn't even care about those drum.. Was able to get within 30-40 feet of the tails and laid one in right in the sweet spot on the first cast.. He wasted no time pouncing on it and in a heartbeat the line was getting ripped out of my hands, he got me down to the reel and took all 90 feet of fly line in about 10 seconds.. I'm watching my backing just rip off the 8wt as the fish is throwing up a monster headwake out on the flat, schools of mullet panicking and jumping out of it's way.. I was shaking at this point and absolutely stoked.. He finally calmed down, and I began to gain some line, got back on the fly line and got about half of it back before he decided to make another monster run.. Got 3 good runs out of him before he finally came to me floating on his side.. When I got it in my hands I was just off the walls... Can't believe I landed it! I didn't measure him but it's hands down my biggest red on fly.. Actually it's only my 3rd red on fly A few minutes after I get a nice little drum as well.. The lull in the wind lasted less than an hour, and in this spot once the east coast seabreeze kicks in, the tails go bye bye.. And at that point usually so do I... Short trip with no big numbers but you can't wipe the smile off my face right now!! 6 Quote
Super User buzzed bait Posted June 23, 2016 Super User Posted June 23, 2016 nice catch man, sounds like fun! 1 Quote
Super User Darren. Posted June 23, 2016 Super User Posted June 23, 2016 Wow, sweet catch, and love the pic with the fly-stache 1 Quote
Turkey sandwich Posted June 23, 2016 Posted June 23, 2016 Congrats! I'm trying to force myself to use the fly rod more this summer and this is certainly motivation. 1 Quote
Super User A-Jay Posted June 23, 2016 Super User Posted June 23, 2016 Very Nice & Cool Pics Congrats A-Jay 1 Quote
avidone1 Posted June 25, 2016 Posted June 25, 2016 Beautiful redfish. Your stories of your catches are a very exciting read....You have a future as an outdoor writer. I'm planning a guide trip for after the 4th and spoke with Captain Brian Clancy out of Oak Hill. He says the trout bite is on fire and there are some reds on the flats, but he suggested I wait till the fall for the big tailing redfish. I should have told him to call you LOL anyway, looks like I may head south for some tarpon. I do really enjoy reading your reports and seeing the pictures of your catches. Keep em coming 1 Quote
Afishionado Posted June 26, 2016 Author Posted June 26, 2016 8 hours ago, avidone1 said: Beautiful redfish. Your stories of your catches are a very exciting read....You have a future as an outdoor writer. I'm planning a guide trip for after the 4th and spoke with Captain Brian Clancy out of Oak Hill. He says the trout bite is on fire and there are some reds on the flats, but he suggested I wait till the fall for the big tailing redfish. I should have told him to call you LOL anyway, looks like I may head south for some tarpon. I do really enjoy reading your reports and seeing the pictures of your catches. Keep em coming haha I've been down the outdoor journalism road.. and the sponsorship road.. and the kayak team road... not for me I pulled out of the "professional" industry completely.. I don't feel any pressure to produce fish anymore and honestly it makes me fish better.. Brian Clancy is a great guide, among many here on the space coast.. The fall is a great time to fish the space coast, namely the indian river... This is where the monster reds spawn and if you know where to go you can find schools of monster bulls 2000+ deep... it's like a religious experience throwing a topwater into a school of reds like that.. you'll have a dozen of them as long as your leg fighting over it.. Only problem is this is when the googans who can't catch a big fish the rest of the year come out of the woodworks and hammer these spawning fish.. I call it the redfish rodeo, and it can get downright sickening.. Improper release practices account for many deaths of big broodstock reds ... about august you'll start seeing floaters.. What I like to do is get out there really early and find them before anyone hits them at all.. catch one fish for each person on the boat and then move on to the flats to hunt the slotties.. Definitely find you a guide who covers the indian river in the titusville /port st john area during the months of august-october and you will have a great shot at finding one of these epic schools .. nothing like 2000 bull reds in 3 feet of water, there is nothing that comes close.. I'm trying to get some bow time on them this year and stick one on fly 2 Quote
avidone1 Posted June 29, 2016 Posted June 29, 2016 On 6/26/2016 at 2:27 AM, Afishionado said: haha I've been down the outdoor journalism road.. and the sponsorship road.. and the kayak team road... not for me I pulled out of the "professional" industry completely.. I don't feel any pressure to produce fish anymore and honestly it makes me fish better.. Brian Clancy is a great guide, among many here on the space coast.. The fall is a great time to fish the space coast, namely the indian river... This is where the monster reds spawn and if you know where to go you can find schools of monster bulls 2000+ deep... it's like a religious experience throwing a topwater into a school of reds like that.. you'll have a dozen of them as long as your leg fighting over it.. Only problem is this is when the googans who can't catch a big fish the rest of the year come out of the woodworks and hammer these spawning fish.. I call it the redfish rodeo, and it can get downright sickening.. Improper release practices account for many deaths of big broodstock reds ... about august you'll start seeing floaters.. What I like to do is get out there really early and find them before anyone hits them at all.. catch one fish for each person on the boat and then move on to the flats to hunt the slotties.. Definitely find you a guide who covers the indian river in the titusville /port st john area during the months of august-october and you will have a great shot at finding one of these epic schools .. nothing like 2000 bull reds in 3 feet of water, there is nothing that comes close.. I'm trying to get some bow time on them this year and stick one on fly sounds really exciting. I booked a charter out of Stuart for Thursday morning seeking tarpon and snook. I'll post a report. Cap'n Clancy suggested November for the reds in mosquito lagoon. Maybe the worst of the jerks are finished by then?.....I dunno...I hate that crap, but I want to fish the lagoon and that was he suggested so that's when I'll call him. I like the fact that he is affiliated with fish camps where I can stay and get that 'old florida" experience. It's great living in the fishing capital of the world eh? Quote
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