Not so cool breeze!!!

Been a while since I've written on the Blog. Truth is not much to write about, much to thank the steady 20 Kt. breeze that simply will not go away. For the past month or so the fishing has been tough out there. The bait is scattered and tough to come by and the bonefish scarce on the flats. They must be hangging out with the Tarpon, who are also keeping their distance. Such is the sport we love, some days you cath'em and some days you talk about catchin'em! Its what keeps us going back to find them. As I'm sure you know, one of the best things the Lord made was one day after the next. So when I see the sunrise tomorrow with the renewed hope that only daybreak can porovide, it just might be the day they decide to tangle with us again!

Keep 'em tight!!

Franco

Back from Georgia and what a day!!!!!

As I wrote the last time I was on my way to Georgia to go trout fishing for the first time. Let me just say that I was in for an incredible day plus a great learning experience!
It all starts with a cool and foggy morning in the Blue Ridge mountains of Georgia. We arrived at Black Hawk Fly Fishing, who are the owners and outfitters of the section of the Soque river that we would be fishing. 7:30 AM I meet my guide Andy and the owners John and Abby. Being a salt water fly angler I really had no idea of what to expect or do so I asked Abby to set me up, the works! The works meant that this Bonefish guide was up to his chest in waders, felt bottom boots to fit a giant ,had a small box of flies I'd only heard of and never seen(Cadis,Prince Nymphs,Wooly Buggers and such)and a six weight rod with a strike indicator and a tandem rig. The tandem rig was a pink worm and a weighted Cadis on the bottom. I don't know if the strike indicator is for rookies but what I do know is that without it I would have missed an even higher amount of fish.
Andy goes over the game plan with me and we head towards the river. Andy was a Tarpon guide in the Keys for many years, so we hit it off instantly. It was obvious that his knowledge of Trout was as if not more extensive to his knowledge of Tarpon. Once in the river and the 63 degree water was runnig past my waders I knew the game was on! The game was opposite to everything we do in salt water,obviously, but I mean more to striking the fish. That was the first lesson,watching that indicator and striking the fish,no room for error. I learned that one quickly. I had told myself that if I left the river with 6-8 Trout and possibly one close to 18 inches I'd be happy,I'd be happy anyway but you all know what I mean. How little did I know about Trout fishing in Georgia and the kind of day I would have!
After some trial and plenty of errors with the hook setting I manged to land a few in the 12-14 inch range. Then I saw it,strike indicator down and a large boil under it, the one I had read were out here! I couldn't tell exactly the size but knew it was big. After a good battle we finally got it in the net and it was all of a 24 inch Rainbow Trout! Quick picture with the beauty and off she went head first to the oncoming river. The rest of the morning was filled with non-stop action with many fish from 14-20 inches and we capped it of with another 24 inch Rainbow. The total for the morning was 30 fish!
After a quick and appetizing lunch we headed back to another section of the river. Andy was telling me during lunch that it might slow down in the afternoon due to water temperature and clarity.To his surprise and my delight we picked up right where we left off. Cought 15 back to back in the first stretch we fished. I forgot to mention that we had turned trout fishing to a spectator sport, my nephew Nick and my father Alex wer both watching from the river bank and and were keeping track of all the fish we cought,hence the numbers.Boy what a long day it would have been for them had the fishing not been out of this world. And it was, because in the afternon we cought many more 18-20 inchers plus a 25 and my last fish of the day was a whoping 27 inch long Rainbow.The tally for the afternoon was 31 for a total of 61 for the day!!!!
This day was definately one of the best days of fishing I ever had.I know the trophy fish are those 24 and up but my best battles were all those in the 18-20 inch range.I was amazed by their strength and stamina and how they would figtht not only me but running river. The strength and absolute beauty of these fish is something that I will never forget. Many thanks to Abby for setting me up and many more to Andy whos knowledge of Trout was the key to the day we had.

Going out of my element!

This one goes out to all those trout fly anglers that have braved the Bonefish flats with me for the first time. I am about to head out to north Georgia for my first trout fishing experience. All I have read says that Georgia holds some monster trout,I'm all for that!! The other things I've read is the tricky wading,the heavy foliage and the many roll casts. Sure I can cast it far enough in high wind with some precision but how will I do with a short cast surrounded by trees or a roll cast, again surrounded by trees. It is time for me to be in the receiving end of all the instructions and mess ups. But i will take all the patience and determination my trout angler clients have shown me and hopefully come out with one of those world class trouts I've reading about that live in north Georgia.

I'll let you know how I do when I get back!

Keep 'em tight!!!

Franco


P.S. The baby Tarpon have been munching minnows in Punta Arena and cooperating nicely with a little glass minnow I've been tying! Thought you'like to know!!

Two words, Diamond jigs!!!!!!!!

I was fishing the other day in Fajardo with my good friend Capt. Marcos ,took my boat over to do a charter , and was introduced to the wonderfull world of diamond jigs. I'm sure a lot of you already know how deadly they can be but for me it was a whole new experience. Capt. Marcos was kind enough to let me borrow a couple ,since I had non in the boat, and was insatantly sold on them from my first cast. The mach 1 retrieve with the Bonito was tiring but very effective. That day I also realized that inshore fishing in Fajardo is tricky and had I been sent out on my own in those waters thats probably all we would have seen,WATER!! Its like Marcos told me "the fish around here are not where they are supposed to be". That afternoon we not only cought Bonito but also Tarpon and Yellow tail.
After that trip I went out and bought every single diamond jig I could find and brought them over to Vieques. And wouldn't you know it that the Bonito over here love those too! I also found out, for myself ofcourse I'm sure its well known else where, that a lot of other fish like those diamond jigs too!
My hats off to Capt. Marcos for the tough but very productive fishing he does in Fajardo. I will also be ever gratefull for showing me around the waters around Fajardo and for opening me eyes to Diamond jigs!! Many thanks!!!

Keep 'em tight!!!

Franco

Info from one of our faithfull readers (Niner)

Just the other day I was speaking to "Niner" ,long time reader and supporter. He was recounting his trip to the North Drop in the hunt for Blue Marlin. He spent 5 days up in the virging islands with a great rising moon and found it to be on the slow side. I mean they cought a couple of fish but yet the "Drop" was lacking the excitement that brings boats from around the world to this area of the Virgin Islands. What was funny is that they came back to PR and they trolled the "backyard" of Vieques. I like to call the south side of the island which has a nice little drop of its own! This is an area that we used to fish a lot when we had our Bertram and did a whole lot of trolling.Saw and released many fish during that time and it was great to hear they are still out there. In just a short time trolling the boys hooked what they estimated to be a 400# Blue Marlin that gave them all they could handle!! After an hour and a half fight the Blue was releaded and sent on his way! This is just more incentive for us to get back out there and chase those beauties once again!!

Keep'em tight!!!!!

Franco

Back from the B.V.I.

What a good trip we had to the BVI. Anegada , always a thrill! Accompanied by two good friends we gave Anegada a good go around. Between the three of us we landed 14 Bones and that with some heavy overcast on saturday, which makes it almost impossible to see the fish. We were able to capitalize when the clouds would give us a windwow and show us the schools of fish moving through the huge white sand flat. The Bones would look like a school of torpedoes moving across the flat, just a spectacular sight! By mid day on sunday one of our crew left by plane and just me and the mullet man were left to take the boat from Anegada to Culebra, quite a trek. This was made very easy while visiting the flats along the way. Mainly in Vigin Gorda and Tortola. The flat at Mosquito in the Gorda sound was quite impressive. When we got there on sunday afternoon we were received by a huge school of trigger fish with quite a few Permit in the mix. With plenty of shots made by both of us and no fish wanting to play we kept walking the highly flooded flat,which we thought would translate to only Permit. What we did not know was that the flat would get shallower. This was made clear by the huge school of Bones that we spotted. With two very syncronized casts placed the result was a double hook up with plenty of hoots and smiles. We managed the same feat about five minutes after we realeased our fish about 5 pounds a piece ,very nice! We saw the other school and again like two syncronized casters, we placed our casts two strips and we were both clearing lines again!! With those two we called it a day and spent the night on the beach chairs at the Bitter End yacht club. By 5:45AM on
monday we were aleady on the mosquito flat. I know this will sound redundant but as soon as we saw the first school we did it again and doubled up again! Perfect compliment to our OJ and crackers breakfast. After release and some pics we decided to head to Tortola and scope the flats. We visited two flats in Tortola one which had a few Permit but got no shots and the other one by the airport but saw nothing but the potential there. We gassed up at the west end and headed for Culebra. The weather cooprated nicely and about an hour and half later the 16 ft. Silver King flat boat ,also known as the "poon killa" made it to Culebra Puerto Rico. Another great fishing trip in the books and anxiously waiting for the next one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Testing and up coming trip

This is my first posting of the Captains log. A- just wanted to see if it worked and B- Three days away from embarking on a short but exciting trip to the island of Anegada on the BVI, north of Virgin Gorda, to chase Bonefish. Anegada is a world class destination for Bones so I am anxiously waiting my departure.
As for Vieques fishing, the Tarpon are still cooperating nicely with the live baits and also eating flies which is a good thing! Their average has been in the 10 - 20 pound range but have cought some bigger ones (50-60#). Yeaterday we saw 11 bones with no takers and one permit who of course did not eat, but so it goes.
I'll keep you posted once I get back from Anegada. Can't wait!!

Keep ém tight!!!

Franco

Bones on the fly in Vieques

Thank you for allowing me to put my “two cents” in about the fishing frontiers of Vieques and say something positive about our precious island.

My most recent trip was to a little flat on the south side of the island. My girlfriend and I went to spend the night on the boat, and fish that afternoon and the next morning.

When we got there that afternoon there were Bonefish feeding all over the flat. We could see them from the boat! I rowed in and five minutes after stepping on the flat, I had my first bonefish! A few seconds later he spit the hook out. It hurt.

I kept walking and a few minutes later I was stalking another fish. He was a single and from the size of his tail it seemed to have shoulders the size of mine. I put the fly in his face and he chased but did not take. I picked the line back up and placed a second cast. The same thing happened.

On the third cast, I hit him on the head with the fly and instead of being spooked away, he jumped on it. The next thing I know, I am clearing my fly line and once I had him on the reel he took of with about 100 yards of baking which quickly became 175 when he decided to stop. This began our tug of war. I would bring him close until he would turn and run and take 50 yards; this went on for about 15 minutes. When he finally came to my hands and I picked him up, he was about 9-10 pounds of spectacular bonefish. After letting him catch his breath for a few moments I released him to fight another day. By this time it was almost dark and after wiping the tears from my face, I decided to call it a day.

That night fishing of the boat my lovely girlfriend caught a few snappers, including a big mutton snapper in the 6-7 pound range. She also released a small lemon shark.

The next morning we walked the flat and saw some bonefish, but they were not in casting range. After about three hours, the tide started going out and I thought it was all over until I saw a big patch of muddy water. (Bonefish are known for creating these patches when feeding in deeper waters.) In doing this, they stir up the bottom digging for food. This is known as “mudding”. Once I spotted this, I ventured out to about 3 feet of water and began to cast.
On my second cast, they let me know they were thereby breaking me off in a second. Again it hurt, but I wasted no time and tied another fly – a leaded “Brown Crazy Charlie”.

After I dropped it in the muddy water, let it sink and gave it a few short strips, he took it. Line sped through my fingers until I got him to the reel. All I could hear was the sound of the screaming reel, and what a lovely sound it is.
In true bonefish form, he sped out in seconds with about 130 yards of my baking. This fish gave me three good runs, all of them having him at my feet and he would suddenly head for the horizon.

To my surprise when I landed him, he was a bit smaller than the one the day before, yet he still had 6-7 pounds on him. Before release, we took a few pictures for the archives and I held on to him until he fully recovered, so the bull shark in the perimeter would not get him. He kicked hard out of my hands and I sent him on his way.

It was a great overnight trip filled with fish and good company. To end this fishing report I will just say that there are plenty of bonefish in Vieques and their size is nothing to be taken lightly
.
Keep ‘em tight!!!
Capt. Franco Gonzalez