Greetings from the sunny westside…
My apologies for MIA over the last several weeks. The move from Colorado to Tampa was a bitch and it took 5 long arduous days to get here, but 4 weeks later we are settling in nicely. Once we finally arrived it was time we got acclimated to the new southern planet, and what a change from Colorado. I did a great deal of scouting around the South Tampa area to first look at what kind of fresh water opportunities I could get into. Let me say…There is water everywhere and aside from gators being in every baby pool size pocket of water, there is also an abundance of weird ass critters. I’ve got Cain toads in my backyard and lizards and geckos running everywhere, not to mention every freakin bug you could imagine. I got stung by a few fire ants and my foot swelled up like a fat mans belly at a Las Vegas buffet. I learned my lesson about meandering through the swamp areas wearing flip flops…I stepped on a 6 foot long water moccasin and this fucker was AGGRRO!!!!, he reared up an started hissing at me really loud (I rank the experience a pucker factor of 10). I abruptly put the freshwater excursions on hold until further notice.
The next action item on my wish list was to start re-educating myself with my saltwater roots. A couple of my buddies took me on an inshore trip outside of Crystal river and we banged grouper all day.
The inshore trip was sweet but I was still itching to get a line wet out on the flats and being a new kid in a new town…I was short on resources. I decided it was time to upgrade to my next vessel…The Stinky Pinky VER. 2.0.
Over the last few weeks Erin and I have been exploring all over Tampa bay and trying to seek out new “Spots”. We have fished at Weedon Island, Alafia River, Cockroach bay, Fort Desoto and a few other backcountry mangrove channels. I have to admit, I am in no way, shape , or form, a good flats fisherman…quite frankly I suck! I give the flats guys down here a shit ton of credit, not only to brave the skinny water, but also catch fish consistently,… it’s a big challenge. I need a lot of practice here, there is something to be said about running 45-50 Mph in 9 inches of water knowing good and well that your boat drafts 10 inches at rest. It only takes one oyster bed to fuck up your day royally and when you’re running fast back into the mangrove channels you gotta commit to the throttle and stay up on plane. Spooky.
This past week Erin and I fished Captiva and Pine Island in the Fort Myers area and this place is generally on fire. Unfortunately we only had 2 tides that day, which I have come to learn provides only marginal fishing and the days with 3-4 tides can be like ringing a chow bell. Incidentally, I managed to land this nice speckled trout on a Gummi Minnow.
Anyway, I am going to continue my studies of the local marine life and I’ll make sure to keep you kids in the loop.
We miss all you guys and its real lonely sometimes when we are just hangin out at the pool sippin martinis and heading out on the flats to stick salty smelly.
Come to Florida, the spare room is usually vacant. (Tits, Butters, Gracie, Alex, Barry, Fwimp, Crims, Seems, Blake, Eburt, Pat, Zwick, Wells, and all you other fly fishy bitches).
