September 5, 2005 — Vacation’s Over

Sadly, all good things come to an end!  Mom and Dad come home, offshore adventure excursions are over, and baseball season is coming to a close.  Luckily, special south zone hunting starts, fantastic fall fishing will start warming up as the air cools down, and the Astro's are still deep in the hunt for the playoffs!  Man what a mixed bag of emotions are at hand.  As far as the fishing the last week has gone,  man oh man was it on fire. 

Offshore was simply again world class.  If you have never fished offshore on the fly you are simply missing a thing of beauty and a spectacle of nature like you have never seen before.  Sight casting to 20+ pound kings, dorado, sharks, and lings and watching them eat is a worth a lifetime of fishing on the flats.  Still though, no jacks.  However, the entry to the jetties has been on fire with very large, 3 to 5 pound ladyfish and massive schools of careening spanish maks.  The triumphant return of Mr. Jack can not be too far off.

Captain Ted reports the bay fishing and trout are absolutely firing up to best one of the best falls ever.  Even with the infuriating boat traffic of Labor Day Weekend, he and longtime family friend Sherrill Thorne, we able to limit all four days on trout and reds and still have time to sneak off for some early season bird hunting.  One of the other great benefits of living in the valley.  Trout are holding south along the outside edges of grass pockets with a few making their moves back up into the shallows.  Topwaters are the name of the game and should be walked along grasslines for the highest strike probability.

Reds are still giving themselves away in water knee to ankle deep and should remain there for the remainder of the season with greater numbers of schools starting to mill around north of the port.  Look for the Pamplona-esque bull-run to start any day now with the abundance of baitfish at the mouth of the jetties.  2005 is gonna see some big reds on fly.

Also, we are happy to report Captain Dan Coley's surgery was a great success and doctors report that they removed all cancer material from his lung.  He will be starting radiation treatments soon and please keep him and the lovely bride Joyce in your closest thoughts.

Looking forward to cast and blast this year and only have room for one foursome on a Monday Tuesday hunt so call soon.