My family went to Dunedin, Florida last week and I was able to get some fishing in. The highlight of the trip was fishing with this great guide I discovered, name of Capt. Jim Kammel.* Since he was booked during the day, we squeezed in a few hours of night fishing over two nights.
The first night we hit a mangrove shoreline looking for snook just before sunset. No luck there, but after sunset we headed out to fish some of the many lighted docks in the area. We found one that was full of ladyfish - we brought three or four to the boat, including the biggest I have ever seen. I also hooked what was probably a large redfish - we never saw him, and he took out a good amount of line before spitting out the fly. All fish were caught on shrimp flies.
The second night, we went to a flat that held redfish earlier in the day. No luck there, but soon the sun set and it was back to the dock lights. We found a light that had small ladyfish and some good redfish - we could see them swimming over the submerged light. In fact, we could see the reds swim up to the fly, look at it, and swim away. My dad doesn't fly fish, so he was using a DOA shrimp - that also was refused. It was like watching trout refuse dry flies. Jim happened to have some (ahem) naturals on board from a previous client, so we tried those. The redfish only bit if the natural was presented in a very specific slot between the light and the dock. We brought four reds to boat, including one slot-size keeper (see super blurry photo) that we let go. We also got one small ladyfish on fly. After the reds, we went in search of sea trout and/or snook. We tried a couple more docks before finding one with a school of small trout. These fish went stupid for the shrimp fly, and I caught about a half-dozen before it was time for us to head back for the dock.
This may sound like modest success, but keep in mind that this part of the Gulf coast was thoroughly blown out by the tropical storm a couple days before we arrived. Still, Jim found fish - and we had a great time. If you are ever headed to the Tampa Bay area, I recommend looking him up. His website is www.thecatcherandthefly.com. I also have some business cards I'll try to bring to Beer Tie.
-Miles
*Jim was a long-time and active member of TPFR, before moving to Dunedin. I've been out of the loop, so I only learned that he was down there from searching this forum.
-- The first night we hit a mangrove shoreline looking for snook just before sunset. No luck there, but after sunset we headed out to fish some of the many lighted docks in the area. We found one that was full of ladyfish - we brought three or four to the boat, including the biggest I have ever seen. I also hooked what was probably a large redfish - we never saw him, and he took out a good amount of line before spitting out the fly. All fish were caught on shrimp flies.
The second night, we went to a flat that held redfish earlier in the day. No luck there, but soon the sun set and it was back to the dock lights. We found a light that had small ladyfish and some good redfish - we could see them swimming over the submerged light. In fact, we could see the reds swim up to the fly, look at it, and swim away. My dad doesn't fly fish, so he was using a DOA shrimp - that also was refused. It was like watching trout refuse dry flies. Jim happened to have some (ahem) naturals on board from a previous client, so we tried those. The redfish only bit if the natural was presented in a very specific slot between the light and the dock. We brought four reds to boat, including one slot-size keeper (see super blurry photo) that we let go. We also got one small ladyfish on fly. After the reds, we went in search of sea trout and/or snook. We tried a couple more docks before finding one with a school of small trout. These fish went stupid for the shrimp fly, and I caught about a half-dozen before it was time for us to head back for the dock.
This may sound like modest success, but keep in mind that this part of the Gulf coast was thoroughly blown out by the tropical storm a couple days before we arrived. Still, Jim found fish - and we had a great time. If you are ever headed to the Tampa Bay area, I recommend looking him up. His website is www.thecatcherandthefly.com. I also have some business cards I'll try to bring to Beer Tie.
-Miles
*Jim was a long-time and active member of TPFR, before moving to Dunedin. I've been out of the loop, so I only learned that he was down there from searching this forum.
http://www.tpfr.org
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