jon the fisherman
Well-known member
Well, my wife and I are back, and we had a great time in the keys. We stayed at the Pines and Palms Resort, which is on the Atlantic side of Upper Matacumbe Key. I did alot of fishing and wildlife viewing. We started out in the upper Everglades on Loop Road off highway 41. This is a gravel road with lots of wildlife and some of the most beautiful scenery in Florida. Lots of birds and alligators along this route, and most can be seen from the road. We did the Key West trip next, and I was not all that thrilled with it, but I don't do the bars anymore, and that is pretty much what that place revolves around. I did check out Earnest Hemmingway's place and some of the historic landmarks which was pretty cool. I spent the rest of the time fishing, I fished the docks in the resort (they were right out my back door), I fished the local bridges, and I had a backcountry guide on Thursday. I caught a bunch of small baracuda off the dock in the daytime with a kastmaster spoon, then at night, I caught small mangrove snappers, grunts, pinfish, and some things that I have no clue as to what they were. Around the bridges, I caught some Jacks, which I think were crevelle, but maybe someone here knows for sure. I hooked a nice tarpon that looked to be about forty pounds, but he jumped and went through the bridge pilings and was gone with my bait. The highlight of my trip was the back country guide. Capt. Barry Hoffman was my guide, and he was great. We started out after some bonefish, but the wind was up a little and it was cloudy so we opted to head into Florida Bay to see what we could find. Capt Barry is very knowledgeable about the area, and amazed me with the 45 min trip into the bay. I would surely get lost in there without GPS. The average depth is three feet, and at times, we were running in 8" of water. We caught some ladyfish, trout, and bluefish(not sure if that was the exact name). The sun finally came out and the winds died, so we went after redfish on the flats. We found them feeding in the grass, in about 6" of water and could see their tails out of the water. I threw a TR berkly gulp shrimp with no wieght past them, and then would reel it back on top of the water until it was right on top of them, then let it sink. I would give it a few twitches and would feel a slight tick. Rare back and set the hook and they were gone. Fun fish I must say. They fight extremely hard, and it is such a rush seeing them run with your bait in six inches of water. I landed 6 in all, and casted at about ten of them. Capt Barry was very patient with me and was extremeley good at sneaking up on them with the push pole. At about three, we called it a day because I was burnt to a crisp. While we were out there, we saw a number of sharks that were up to 8' long, we saw dolphins, we saw manatees, and he told me about some of the ecology of the area. He also took some water samples for the park service, to get counts on algea and water quality. He was extremely professional, and I would recommend him if any of you go to the upper keys. You have to book early, because he is booked up through spring and early summer. Weather was perfect with highs in the upper 70's all week and lows in the lower 70's. Water was extremely clear everywhere except in the back country, and temps were from 72-79. Here are some pics I took, so I hope you guys enjoy them.
http://www.flatsguide.com/
http://www.flatsguide.com/
