A good friend of ours Andy Fish out of Port Canaveral, Florida shot this video. In it you can see somewhere around 100 or more large red snapper swimming around the top and in a very common public wreck sunk in 100 feet of water. The video was made April 24th, 2010 only a few months after a complete East Coast closure on red snapper. We have heard many similar reports of mass amounts of red snapper on public reefs and wrecks up and down the coast. I’m not sure a full closure is really necessary and surely is not good for the economy.
If Florida wasn’t already one of the best places to plan a fishing vacation, here is yet another reason. A potential new cobia record just came in to the IGFA in the 50-lb line class category! Capt. Jimbo Thomas had been scoping the buoys of Government Cut in Miami, Florida, USA, for days with his brother Rick on their charter Thomas Flyer. “We kept seeing this monster cobia at the buoys and got a bunch of 40 pounders on the lines,” but the big one evaded the Thomas brothers until this past Friday, April 16, 2010. Out fishing for bait before the morning’s first charter trip, but with a big rod waiting ready just in case the giant showed, the brothers spotted the fish waiting by the buoy. Rick threw the bait, and the battle was on!
“The crazy thing is that if we had come up on the cobia while we were fishing during a charter, it might not have counted for a record because sometimes more than one charter client will put their hands on the rods.” According to IGFA world record rules, no one but the angler may touch the rod, reel, or line from the time a fish strikes or takes the bait or lure, until the fish is either landed or released.
Weighing in at 121.2 lbs, Rick’s cobia challenges the previous cobia record set at 116.5 lbs in June 2006 by Billy Ray Lucas, Jr., of Wilson, North Carolina, USA.
Despite some challenging cold fronts and a few bouts of poor weather, the fly-fishing action for big Louisiana redfish continues to be among the country’s best. In January, we logged some amazing fishing including a 32-pound redfish caught by Cary Kresge. We changed up the pattern a bit to get the big fish biting after a hard freeze in the early part of the year and it paid off with nice action on big redfish and black drum as well. A day on the water with a new fly angler, Kyle from Houston, showed us what makes this game so great. Kyle has only been fly-fishing for about a year and he lit it up, enjoying shot after shot with reds up to 40 pounds. It was a shooting gallery out there! We boated eight redfish over 25 pounds, including a monster double-header. It was one of those spectacular days in the Louisiana marsh that you just can’t forget.
A guide’s day off in February turned into one of the best fishing days I’ve had in a long time. Capt. Travis Holeman and I went to a top-secret spot where the big reds had been hanging out and decided to tie on a 4-pound IGFA tippet and my Hudini Crab in purple. We waited till we saw a big fish and when it appeared, Travis laid out a perfect 60-foot cast. The big red pounced on the fly and after a very careful 20-minute fight the fish came to the boat. I laid a gorilla grip on its tail so it wouldn’t get away. It was a good fish and we knew he had a shot to break the current 29-pound world record. The fish had a 25-inch girth and 42.5-inch length. The BogaGrip showed the big red weighing between 29.5 and 30 pounds. We submitted everything to the IGFA so cross your fingers! We also caught a 43-pound black drum on 8-pound tippet but that didn’t come close to the thrill of landing a potential world record fish!
I got to enjoy some more great Louisiana fishing with the traveling anglers from the Spring Valley Angler club. We landed some more big ones, including fish of 27 and 33 pounds. I also fished with my friend Mark B. Hatter who writes and takes great photography for many publications including Fly Fishing in Salt Waters Magazine. Mark landed his personal best redfish on 4-pound tippet, a nice 25-pounder. He even poled me around so I could catch a few. The big reds are still in the marsh and we have finally received some good weather from the man upstairs. The fishing is starting to stabilize and we’re still getting consistent shots at big redfish and black drum and the 5- to 15-pound fish are everywhere. I am excited to get into the spring pattern and the fishing will be incredible. There really is no other place quite like the Louisiana marsh come springtime.
One annoying thing about the internet versus a magazine is images like this that get passed anonymously around the net. This is a stunning photo that I wish I knew who took it! Most of the times you get some crazy picture with a misleading story to go with it. If you know where this picture originated drop us a line.
We just got some cool news from Tropic Star Lodge in Panama. Tropic Star has teamed up with the International Game Fish Association to introduce more kids to our wonderful sport of fishing! Raleigh Werking from TSL tells us this June -August if you plan a trip you can bring your kids FREE! (1 kid per fishing adult)
Find out more about this exciting program to get our youth outdoors!
On your fishing trip out of country your passport is the most valuable document you will carry abroad. It confirms your U.S. citizenship. Guard it carefully!
It is your best form of identification. You will need it when you pick up mail or check into hotels, embassies or consulates.
When entering some countries or registering at hotels, you may be asked to fill out a police card listing your name, passport number, destination, local address, and reason for traveling. You may be required to leave your passport at the hotel reception desk overnight so it may be checked by local police officials. These are normal procedures required by local laws. If your passport is not returned the following morning, immediately report the impoundment to local police authorities and the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
PASSPORT FRAUD
Law enforcement records show that U.S. passports are sometimes used for illegal entry into the United States or by criminals abroad seeking to establish another identity. This can cause embarrassment to innocent citizens whose names become associated with illegal activities. To protect the integrity of the U.S. passport and the security of the person bearing it, consular officers overseas have found it necessary to take precautions in processing lost passport cases. These precautions may involve some delay before a new passport is issued.
Until recently, Cabo San Lucas was regarded as the sport fishing capital of Mexico. However, the secret is now out and sports fishermen from around the world have figured out Puerto Vallarta is the real big fish hotspot. Large schools of giant Yellowfin Tuna, hefty Blue and Black Marlin, Sailfish, and Dorado, pile up and pile on off the beautiful coast of Puerto Vallarta.
One boat taking advantage of the incredible fishery in Puerto Vallarta is the brand new El Matador captained by Manny Ocaranza.
Landing a sailfish or two on any day is good, but how about landing 20 or even 40? The International Game Fish Association is heading up its first expedition to Casa Vieja Lodge in Guatemala, where Capt. Ron Hamlin reports that 20 sail days not only happen – they are the typical average per boat! The sailfish are so plentiful off Guatemala’s west coast that the Lodge sees 40+ sail release days happen every month of the year. Not only that, but when you throw in the abundance of marlin, dolphin, yellowfin tuna, and roosterfish, you’ll hardly be able to cast your lines fast enough!
Guatemala is a billfisherman’s paradise, and the fleet at Casa Vieja fishes the Pacific like none other. The country holds conservation first and foremost, and so the Casa Vieja captains became innovators in using circle hooks with bait long before it was popular. Being conservation-minded doesn’t seem to stop the fish from biting – in 2006, fly tosser Jim Turner let 57 sails go in one day while on board the Release, all while conforming to IGFA rules and regulations.
High up in the mountains of North Georgia where the spring fed trout streams run clear and cold year round, there is a two mile catch and release section of trophy trout water that offers fly anglers unbelievable dry fly hopper fishing during the summer months. This secret trout stream is Noontootla Creek, located in Fannin County Georgia, and it produces brilliant colored rainbow and brown trout consistently in the 20 inch range. The crazy thing about this is there are much bigger trout in this section of river. That twenty inch mark is about our average size trout that comes up and inhale’s our foam hopper and beetle patterns.
The two-mile stretch of trophy trout water sits on a 1500 acre private preserve that’s been unavailable to the public for well over fifty years. A pure genetic line of rainbow and brown trout has been passed down from the 1960s when the Georgia DNR ceased trout stockings on Noontootla Creek. Since then this pure genetic line has been protected and passed down from generation to generation through natural reproduction in the stream.
Generally you don’t see this kind of great hopper fishing in the higher elevation trout streams of the Appalachian mountains. The reason you see it on Noontootla Creek inside the preserve, is the farming of corn and milo on the property. This provides exceptional habitat and food for the land born terrestrials (Grasshoppers, Beetles, Ants) that end up in huge numbers floating down the stream and eventually in the stomachs of the resident trout. The trophy trout on the preserve gorge themselves on this available food source just like they do out west during the summer months.
This epic terrestrial fishing starts mid-June and runs through September every year, and it offers fly fishermen some of the most exciting hopper fishing on the east coast for trophy trout. If you like seeing explosive strikes, toilet bowl flushes, and giant white mouths sucking in dry flies this is a place you need to check out.
If this testimony doesn’t convince you, take a couple minutes to check out this video that was filmed last year on Noontootla Creek during the hopper season.
If your serious about fishing this pristine trout stream during this amazing annual event, please contact Capt. Kent Klewein with Reel Job Fishing to set up your fishing trip reservations. He lives two miles from this stream and is the local guide and expert on this killer trout water.
Don’t make the mistake of waiting until the last minute to book your trip. To ensure you get in on the action during the terrestrial feeding frenzy, you’ll need to start looking at booking your trip the month of March or April.
For more information on Booking Reservations on Noontootla Creek Farms please visit or contact:
Capt. Kent Klewein
Reel Job Fishing, LLC www.kent-klewein.com
info@kent-klewein.com
770-330-7583
It was only week 3 in the year 2010 and vacationing in Panama, at Tropic Star Lodge proved to be a perfect way to start the year for some visitors. Mark and Cathy Hamilton, were at Pinas Bay for the week and landed some pretty amazing fish. Cathy caught and released her first Pacific Blue Marlin estimated at 400lbs, another first was a Black Marlin around 450lbs and her first Pacific Sailfish for a week’s slam. Her husband Mark, released his first Black Marlin estimated around 450lbs.
The Blue Marlin were feeding in the bait schools and were caught off Jacque, a town further south of Pinas Bay, which they typically roam the 100 fathom curve offshore. There was great action while the schools of dorado were invading the territory while waiting on the bills to show up. It’s always interesting to see what will be encountered, like the monster sailfish that was released and estimated at 180lbs. All the sails were rather large, which is unusual for this time of year. Here are some more folks the same week that scored big, like the Hamilton’s.
Dan Spalding released his first Pacific Blue Marlin, estimated at 350 lbs. Pete Holehouse also got his first Pacific Blue Marlin around 280 lbs and Art Lancaster released his first Pacific Blue Marlin.
Elias Zaher released his first Black Marlin on their first day of fishing, estimated at 500 lbs. George Zaher also released his first Black Marlin the same week, a decent 350 lb fish. John Robinson released his first Black Marlin around 300 lbs, John Siegrist released his first Black Marlin around 250 lbs and Dave Copeland also released his first Black Marlin.
Ed Reeves, Jimmy Stockton and Dale Cochrane all released a Black Marlin, Pacific Blue Marlin and a Pacific Sailfish for a week’s Slam. Now that is some good Panama fishing, congratulations to everyone!!!
