Chasing Tunny Tuna

Spent a great day out on the water with Steve Traves owner of AMI Outfitters and Capt. Rusty Chinnis on his boat chasing tunny tuna (false albacore).
We met up with Rusty at Mar Vista and then headed out through Longboat Pass into the gulf searching for diving birds and explosions of fish.

This was a first time experience for me fishing off a flats boat and on that I was really looking forward to.

Steve with his Tunny Tuna. Photo courtesy of Rusty Chinnis.

The day was hot & clear and the sea looked flat but as soon as we got off shore the swell picked up and made life interesting. We chased pods of fish for a good while but infuriatingly as soon as we got into casting position they went down, eventually Steve managed to get one to stick for a while before it broke free. I managed to get a couple of fish to have a good look at the fly and briefly had a small one  before it broke free. A change of fly to a top water gurgler and Steve was in again this time he managed to get the fish to the boat.
We kept chasing the pods which seemed to be getting smaller and I managed to bring to the boat a Spanish mackerel, not what I really wanted but still a tug on the line.

It's been a great learning experience for me today, the need to speed up my initial cast to try and get the best shot and probably more important how to cast better from a rolling boat. I definitely will be having another shot at this when I'm back next year

A few days left before I head back home across the pond after another great three weeks here on Anna Maria Island with new friends made.

Tight Lines.

A Day out On The Water

Well what can I say, just been out with captain Chad Gamble of Hook & Ladder Charters and yet another memorable day we've had, there is always something different about our trips.

Met up  at Coquina South boat fish ramp just after lunch, 82 degrees, overcast and very little breeze should be good out there.

Went looking for some action with the snook who had played out in the morning but were not on a cooperative way in the afternoon.

Moved a few times and tried various methods and began picking up fish, speckled trout, slot sized came to the boat, numerous nice size jacks and ladyfish but the best was yet to come. We finally managed to get a school of red fish on the feed and managed to hook into and land some nice fish.
Infuriatingly I managed to loose the 2 best fish of the day both of which were considerably over the 'slot' size - ah well that's fishing.

We were just about to move to another spot when we notice that we could no longer see Sarasota due to the wall of heavy rain that was bearing down, so an extremely quick run for home was in order with us all donning waterproof jackets but too late was the cry it hit us and we were all soaked but hey it's just another adventure with our good friend Captain Chad Gamble.

As aside I also lost bragging rights to my wife Joyce who managed more trout than me as well as the biggest red fish to be landed - drat the ones that got away.

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Ladyfish Galore

Heavy rain has hindered the fishing but luckily that seems to have now passed trough and the last couple of days has shown an increase in catches of various species but mainly ladyfish, great sport on the fly. Some of the fish have been over 2lb but trying to keep them on when the just love to jump, twist and turn is something else.

Rip tides are forecast for tomorrow so extra care needs to be taken whilst I'm out.

Good friends Gordon & Sharon arrive tomorrow so they'll be some company when fishing, though I'm sure he'll be after far far bigger fish than me - Sharks. No doubt we'll spend a few evenings on the beach together seeing what we can get.

Sunday morning  is catch up time with Captain Chad Gamble of Hook & Ladder Charters great fun to be out on the water with, will post how we get on.

Tight Lines to all those fishing this weekend.