Had a great day on the water testing out a few things on the big boat getting ready for Tarpon Season. I started out on the low incoming tide so i ran over to check out some redfish that i need for Sundays charter i show up and a mullet boat was working the area but still got one on the jig none on the fly so we started to hit the trout spots and we were getting 10 here and 10 there till we hit the last place and we must have caught 200 in a hour and a half on jigs and fly. I just hope it holds out for the next week.
Winter Time Sight Casting for Redfish Seminar at West Marine Tampa, Fl
Winter Time Sight Casting for Redfish Seminar at West Marine
Thursday, January 19, 2012 6:30pm until 8:00pm West Marine Tampa, FL
Learn winter time sight casting with Capt. Jim Lemke with more than 25 years of fly and sight casting fishing experience as a full time guide in the waters in and around the Tampa Bay area. Capt. Jim specializes in Light Tackle Sight Casting and Fly Fishing Charters for Snook, Redfish, and Trout in the winter and Tarpon in the summer. Capt. Jim Lemke guides on the inshore waters of Tampa Bay, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, St. Petersburg, and everywhere in between.
Capt. Jim Lemke
813 917 4989
www.flyfishingtampa.com
www.tarponfishingtampa.com
www.lighttackleadventures.com
Tampa Bay is Seeing Red Redfish that is
I met up with a friend of mine and fellow Capt Harrison Hodges to take a crack at filming some Redfish on fly. We meet up at the boat ramp at 9:30am after traffic died down. I put the Maverick in and tied on a new shrimp pattern on then Harrison showed up and we headed off to the first flat i got up on the platform and stared to pole down the flat the tide was still going out and the water was a little dirty from all the mullet
that dumped off the flat. We poled down a few 100 feet and spooked up a small school of good Redfish. The reds on this flat are so spooky they reminded me of the Islamorada downtown Bonefish so we decide to get out and wade and i saw a few tailers and put the fly in front of them and one of them jumped on that Shrimp pattern and a few minutes later a nice 26 inch Redfish got released. The tide went slack so we ran down the bay to a new flat and i got up on the platform and poled down to some mullet working and Harrison put a crab fly right in front of the Redfish and H was on after a 5 minute fight Harrison released a 25 inch Red. I told him there was a good size school coming at him at 11 o’clock he landed the fly 5 feet in front of them and let it sit till the fish got to the fly than gave it a strip and fish on another Redfish about the same size. Now it was my turn to take a few shots at these fish. The clouds started rolling in making it hard to sight cast to them but when the sun would pop out you had to be ready as soon as the cloud passed bye Harrison goes Redfish at 10 o’clock 10 feet i was still out after blind casting so i striped it in made a cast to him and he ate it fish on, We landed the Redfish got a few photos and released him and decided that it was a good way to end a great day fly fishing on Tampa Bay.
Pre Front Tampa Bay Redfish on Fly
With a cold front moving in late today and a negative tide it made the perfect recipe for lots of Redfish on the long rod. I was so excited about going to throw the fly with fellow Capt. Harrison Hodges that i got up at 4am and head to the ramp to check out the bridge for some late season Tarpon. I put in and made the short run to the bridge and got setup just to find a few Tarpon moving up and down the light line and got a few shots at them but no hookups so i went back to the ramp to pick up Harrison and head to the flat to chase a the Redfish around at low tide and after a hour of poling down the flat where we have been having killing the Redfish on fly only to get a few shots and 1 24in redfish. We picked up and headed south to try a different flat on the west side of Tampa Bay and stared poling down the shore line in a foot of water and found a steady flow of big Redfish going by so i put down the Power Pole and tied on a small crab fly on that has been working great.
I made 10 good shots with no takers so we started to change up flies from different crab and shrimp patterns and finally found one that worked a new shrimp pattern that my friend Ron Cavalier just tied the other day and after a few more shots i connected to a nice tournament size Redfish 26 3/4 inch’s long and than the wind stared to pick up and made sight casting hard so we made the run back to the ramp and put the boat on the trailer and get ready for the next few days.
Capt. Jim Lemke
813 917 4989