Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Thinghy Before The Dinghy 2023

 

We spent some time hanging out at the Marine Discovery Center for the Tailer Trash Fly Fishing Thinghy Before The Dinghy waiting for the IF4 to start! 

Floyd Skiff Co. brought out a selection of their killer skiffs for everyone to ogle before the film festival!

Canaveral National Seashore

Overlooking the Mosquito Lagoon Aquatic Preserve from the Turtle Mound observation deck in Canaveral National Seashore. 

Exploring Lake George

Checking out a small craft launch on Florida's second largest lake. This is a stunning spot and, according to the internet (so it must be true!), home to the largest concentration of bald eagles outside of Alaska! Wonder how the concentration of bluegill measures up?

Sanibel Island Trip 2015

Editor's Note:

   This is an incomplete article I wrote following our 2015 trip to Sanibel Island.  I ran across it this morning and decided to publish as-is after the devastation brought to Sanibel Island and the surrounding area by Hurricane Ian on September 28, 2022.

Evenin' Folks,
  I had the opportunity recently to visit the south west coast of Florida and I've gotten to the point lately that if I'm going to visit somewhere new with lots of water, I'm going to take a fly rod and try to do some fishing!  We stayed in a town called Port Charlotte, a bit north of Ft. Meyers and Naples.  Our hotel was just about a 30 minute drive from world renown Sanibel Island.
  When the Little Girl and I travel, we tend to leave home very early in the morning so we don't waste a whole day driving.  We got down to the hotel in the very early afternoon, so we decided to drive over to Sanibel to check out the area and, perhaps, sit on the beach a little while.  I had done some research before we left home, got some advice from author and friend Steve Hudson on where to fish in the area and an internet search turned me on to a local fly shop.  Norm Zeigler's Fly Shop is a great little local shop and Norm is an incredible wealth of information drawing on decades of fly fishing experience around the world.  Norm gave me some great advice on where to go, what flies to use, how to fish them and, really saving me, he let me rent a Redington Crosswater reel to use with the loaner rod I got from Thomas & Thomas.
  We drove around for a little while, checking out the island, then decided to head to the beach so the Little Girl could enjoy the sun and surf and I could make some practice casts with the Thomas & Thomas Solar 9' 8-weight rod.  We pumped the parking meter with enough quarters to last us several hours and headed down the board walk under a canopy of trees and brush to the beach.  Just before reaching the dunes, a rumble of thunder told us that we may have fed the meter a little too much a little too quickly.  We got onto the beach just in time to see some very dark clouds rolling in and beach goers packing up their towels and heading to the parking lot.  

  We ended up leaving the beach for a while, cruising around the island exploring.  The storm ended after about an hour or so, so we headed back to the beach.  I got to make some casts with the T&T rod, and I gotta say, as much as I love my ultralights, casting the big fly rod was an absolute blast!  We were there during the outgoing tide, but because of all the wind and rain the water was pretty churned up and muddy.  I didn't get a single bite, but I had a lot of fun out there blasting casts into the surf.  So much fun, in fact, that I didn't notice the dark clouds rolling back in.  Another rumble of thunder and we decided to call it a night, grab some dinner and head back to the hotel.  

  On Saturday morning we headed out early (after some cinnamon rolls from the Holiday Inn Express breakfast bar!!!) and went to the first beach on Captiva Island, literally!  I made some casts from the rocks toward the bridge that links Sanibel and Captiva.  The water was still pretty dirty from the rain the night before, even the bait guys weren't getting any bites.  I ended up giving up on fishing after a couple hours or so, I was really concerned the someone might walk into my back cast and more than once a swimmer swam way to close to my fly for my comfort.  After relaxing on the beach a little longer we packed up the car and went for a drive.

  We decided to drive through the J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge in hopes of spotting some interesting wildlife.  After driving for a little while we stumbled upon the realization that we weren't going to see much from the car.  Along the roads for most of the refuge, all you really see are trees and mangroves.  Most of the spots big enough to pull the car over and look around were full and there were a lot of people out fishing in all of the open spots along the road.  We found an empty pull off and got out.  There was a board walk that lead to a fishing platform over the water.  At the urging of the Little Girl, I grabbed the Solar rod out of the back of the car and we headed to the platform.  The fishing platform was surrounded on three sides with dense mangroves, but in front of the deck was a gorgeous little cove.  The length of the 9' Solar rod gave me the reach I needed to make some side casts over the railing and into the lagoon.  I was amazed by the number of fish we could see swimming around in the water.  I'm pretty sure I saw a school of redfish hugging the bottom within easy casting distance.  The were unfazed by the Norm Zeilger Crystal Schminnow that I was throwing to them.  I cast a few (dozen) more times, then cast the fly out one more time so I could load the line back on the reel and we could retreat back to the air conditioning of the car.  With my line out in the water, I stood there a moment talking with the Little Girl, laughing about how much fun she was having taking "selfies" with my phone, when my line tightened and took off across the lagoon.  

Good Morning!

There's a pod of dolphins in the river during this foggy sunrise.

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MCFF Tying Meeting - January 2020

Tonight's MCFF Tying Meeting featured a Zonker Minnow demonstrated by Phil Ewaniciki. Phil explained the basic techniques required to tie this simple fly, then went on to describe a few of the many variations possible with different tail materials and different cuts of the rabbit strips. It was a fun tie tonight and I'll be adding a few more of these (and some variants) to my flyboxes!

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Florida morning

The pre-dawn glow over the Atlantic and Halifax on a clear, cool Florida morning.

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Paddle Battle on the Halifax 2018

We walked down to the park this morning to check out the first Paddle Battle on the Halifax. A 3- and 6-mile paddle board race in the Halifax River. I still haven't set foot on one of these things yet, so figured I'd hold off on entering until next year...maybe. It would have been a good venue to introduce folks to flyfishing, so there might have to be a Suburban Angler booth next year!

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Crested Caracara

We feel incredibly fortunate to have spotted two Crested Caracara driving through the orange groves and cattle farms on our way home from the tractor show last night!! Their numbers have greatly declined since the 1960s due to habitat loss, but, thanks to state and federal Fish and Wildlife departments, their numbers are improving. They are striking looking raptors, we're so glad we got to see them!!! This is a royalty free stock photo, I couldn't get a picture myself.

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Stormy Days!

Doing a little casting between storm warnings. Stay safe out there, friends!!

IFTD Demo Day 2016

Afternoon Folks!
  The day before the opening of the IFTD/ICAST Show in Orlando, the folks from the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (who put on the IFTD Show) hosted a day on the water for show attendees to get products in hand under actual fishing conditions.  Although temperatures were pushing 100 degrees by lunchtime, we couldn't have asked for a prettier day to be fly fishing on a golf course!  It was so much fun, and such a great way to experience new fly fishing products, we can't wait to do it again next year!  Here's some photos from the day.  Enjoy!

Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, Orlando, Florida

The coffee and pastry gathering before the shotgun start.

An incredibly beautiful course, we felt very fortunate to be able to fish such a gorgeous setting.  We were even issued a golf cart to cruise around the course between vendor tents.

 Flymen Fishing Co.

Surface Seducer Double Barrel Poppers

The first stop of the day was with the Flymen Fishing Co. and a chance to fish for trophy bass with their new Surface Seducer Double Barrel Poppers.  I'm a huge fan of fishing for bluegill and bass with poppers and these new ones did not disappoint.  The double barrel shape and deep concavity made these poppers "pop" better than any I've used before!

The water hazards at the Ritz Carlton Orlando Grade Lakes are actually trophy managed bass ponds.  And, since they were in the middle of the roughs and greens of a golf course, there was almost always plenty of back casting room.

Douglas Outdoors

Sky Series Rods

Our next stop was the Douglas Outdoors station where they were demoing their new Sky series of fly rods.  The 2 weight had a great feel to it and cast very smoothly.  Unfortunately I hung my fly on the weeds you can see in the background and snapped it off before I could really get some good fishing in!  I enjoyed using the Douglas Sky and hope to get a chance to try it again!

G. Loomis

 

My apologies to my readers (and the folks at G. Loomis) for the terrible picture quality! It was such a bright sunny day that my cell phone camera was struggling and I couldn't see the screen to QC the pictures as I took them.  I don't like to use stock photos, though, so we're stuck with these! 

 G. Loomis had the new Asquith rods at their station.  Designed by casting champion Steve Rajeff, the Asquith rods are touted as the fly rod of the future.  Featuring titanium guides, Shimano's Spiral X blank, light weight and a fast action, these new rods are all about high line speeds.

They also let me cast a PRO 4x Shortstix rod.  These short, but quick loading rods are designed to put a big, bulky fly exactly where you want it, FAST!!!  You might see one added to my new saltwater arsenal before too long!

Scientific Anglers

The Scientific Anglers booth had a full complement of lines, leaders and tippets to try on the pond.  I tested one of the new textured shooting lines and was definitely impressed by the smoothness.  The sound from the line running through the guides, though, made me think the line needed cleaning!!

Hardy Fly Fishing

Sirrus Glass Rod

I really enjoyed fishing this little 6' 2 weight Hardy Sirrus Sintrix Glass rod.  I don't have a whole lot of experience with the new fiberglass rods that have emerged, but I think Hardy did something right with this one.  It's has such a smooth, relaxed cast and excellent accuracy and presentation. This was also the only station of the day where I got a bite!  I wish I could've hooked him, so I could fight a fish with this great little rod.  This would be a fantastic choice for the little North Georgia native brook trout!!!

Rio Products & Sage Fly Fish

Summer Redfish Fly Line & The X Rod

Rio and Sage partnered together on a station to demonstrate the new Sage X rods with Rio's Summer Redfish line.  With temps pushing 100 degrees, fishing conditions were right in the Redfish line's wheelhouse!  The flyline is weighted and tapered to facilitate accuracy on short casts while maintaining a delicate presentation for spooky fish.  The stiff core and Tropical line coating ensure that the line won't wilt under hot sunny conditions.  The Sage X rods new fast-actions taper keeps loops tight and recovery times quick to get that next cast in the water fast.

Just me.  Doing what I love and feeling very fortunate for the opportunities and places I get to cast a line.

Had a little lunchbreak casting practice between showers!

Had a little lunchbreak casting practice between showers!

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Harry Goode's Outdoor Shop

Stopped in to check out the shop sponsor of tonight's F3T. Harry Goode's is a great shop with a long history in Melbourne! Check them out and thank Richard for bringing the F3T to central Florida!

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Getting ready...

Getting ready to head down to Melbourne for the Fly Fishing Film Tour 2017! This promises to be a great night of fantastic fly fishing filmography!!

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Stunning day at the boat ramp!

Stunning day at the boat ramp at lunchtime today! I actually took a few minutes to make some casts with the Redington Path I picked up last week. For a hundred dollar, 8 weight, saltwater flyrod, I was pleasantly surprised. Seemed to cast pretty smooth. More opinions to come!!

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Sunrise lasts a long time...

Sunrise lasts a long time around here. This was taken at 6:10 this morning, official sunrise isn't until 6:51. Wow.

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More exploring!

More exploring of our new home today. This time we made it over to Blue Spring State Park in Orange City. Such an incredible thing to see, the water was crystal clear with a blue/green tint. You could see schools of 2 and 3 foot gar, large catfish and bass swimming by and we were even priviledged with sighting a small pod of manatees with calves! Unfortunately, fishing isn't allowed along the spring run and there's no room for a back cast along the main river. Definitely a natural wonder!

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Here's a shot of the aforementioned trophy bass lake, Lake Dora. #LakeDora #MountDora #Florida #FloridaLife #FloridaOutdoors #TrophyBass #TrophyBassLake #fishing #flyfishing #flyfishinglifestyle #103

Here's a shot of the aforementioned trophy bass lake, Lake Dora.

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Bank Lunch

We had an excellent lunch today on the banks of the Tomoka River!!! This would be an incredible spot for the kayaks, but the signs warning of alligators put us off the idea. Perhaps we need to think about getting a skiff for next year!!

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Who's up for a blackwater paddle?

Who's up for a blackwater paddle?

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