February 10, 2013 - February 16, 2013 Fishing Report

WHAT GUESTS WERE CATCHING:

BONES: Ed landed a HUGE bonefish with Captain Cesar. See photos! 20 inch girth, measured, tagged with Bonefish Tarpon Trust tag and released. First bonefish for several of the group Leyland brought from Seattle. Big smiles for Annie and Derek, Tito, Leon, Dan, Joe, Eric, Christoph, Bruce, Ron, Jack, and Reggie. Len and Ron had some nice bonefishing as well. Nice job everyone, it was windy, and you made it happen!

PERMIT:Reggie landed a beautiful 20 lb permit on fly with Captain Cesar. Check it out….they had picky permit, really? Picky permit? But they continued to change flies, and when they layed out a white crazy Charlie – no eyes – the big permit came over and grabbed it! See photos! Leyland landed a cute little permit his first day out with Captain Emir. But when he saw the big ones, 20 – 40 lb permit, he became obsessed. See you soon Leyland – permit fishing with a fly is addictive, especially once you see what you saw! Bill landed a nice 8 lb permit on fly with Captain Erlindo, and Howard landed a 10 lb permit on live crab.

TARPON: Thursday was the day. Several boats saw “hundreds” of tarpon on Savannah Flats. Reggie had two bites – oops, trout set! Leyland and Howard also saw a ton of tarpon with Captain Kechu. No tarpon landed this week, but we sure had fun trying!

OTHER SPECIES: no other species targeted this week

FLIES THAT WORKED

Bonefish: Gotcha, Crazy Charlie’s in tan or white, just about anything would work – mostly size 8 and 6, some with weedguards.
Permit: Our standard never gives up: Orange Christmas Island Special in size 4 or 6, Avalon in size 4, and Gotcha’s in size 4 or 6. Some crabs in 6, tan. Mantis shrimp, tan and bead chain eyes – it works.
Tarpon: Chartreuse toad, slow easy twitchy retrieve – depends on what the fish is doing. Watch and listen. On Savannah we are using 40 and 50 lb shock. Let the fly settle, then move it. White, tan, pink – bunnies and toads. . Really fun tarpon fishing in skinny water right now! Favorite color – white.

GUIDE OF THE WEEK

Captain Cesar for getting Reggie into his first permit ever. Patience, persistence and permit!

REPORT SUMMARY:

Leyland M. brought a nice group from his Orvis Bellevue Store. Reggie showed up fired up casting to the bonefish in front of the lodge before he had time to unpack. We had big wind and changing wind, but each day the boats came back with incredible stories. We had a lot of beginners to the salt this week – and now these anglers have just upped their game. It’s fun to talk about steelhead that are scattered about in the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, and the difference between casting to water you believe a fish lives vs. a permit or tarpon coming mock speed to you and you need to get the cast there, and now! This fishing brings about personality changes. I’m proud of our adult learners. Keeping it fresh is about learning and challenging ourselves. Once again casting out a line brings in more than we ever expected. Thanks for a fabulous week of fun.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please email us at [email protected]. Happy fishing!