I went fishing today with a good friend Captain Eric. I meet Eric many years back as we were both members of The Backcountry Flyfishing Association club. He is a guide in Alaska during the summer and works the winter months in the Florida Keys as a bonefish guide. We caught up and made a canoe on a beautiful Central Florida day.
The day was great weather wise… sunny with the winds never over 10 miles per hour. I must laugh though…north winds as we paddled north and south winds as we returned. Only in the NMZ. And as you can probably guess with the coldest winter on record behind us, the water was crystal clear, slightly warming, with a lot of new sea grass growth just breaking the bottom’s surface.
Yes, there are still Snook in the area. Eric landed 2 beautiful Snook. I was so happy for both of us. I always hope that the guests that I fish with catch fish & catch them early in the day. It takes the pressure off. Eric made a couple accurate casts and Wham…Bam… the fishing day was off and rolling.
Eric & I changed positions and I was on the deck. I had a few casts at some smaller Redfish. I had a follow…but most were very spooky and decided to stick with their diet.
We then came across some muddied up water and were on alert for the cause of the disturbance. Enter Mr. Black Drum. Quietly Eric backed the canoe as we were on top of a nice sized school of Drum.
I’m not sure how many attempts it took, but I finally presented a Merkin Crab to a happy & hungry fish. Drum are a blast to catch. They know how to bend a rod. We landed the fish, took a couple photos, and rested a few minutes to allow the churned up water and fish to settle.
We expected to find the Drum after we rested, but to no avail. They were off the radar. We cast to more Reds as we returned. A few sniffed the fly. A few spooked. We both caught great fish. We returned back to the cars…and I would dare say, “It was a good day.” I look forward to the next trip that we will both share a boat.
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