FishnDave

Houndfish I had a stingray on the line, and it made a straight beeline down the shoreline and eventually cut the line on coral. I caught a bunch of these White Grunts. Which, as it turns out, are not white. The inside of their mouth is often very red, however. I caught a couple Bermuda Chubs

Day 6 is "saltwater fishing day" down in the Keys. I caught 3 Flyfers at the first spot, and added 6 more Flyfers at the 2nd spot. Not easy fishing. Big flies got nothing at all for me. Microjigs and egg patterns took nearly all my fish. So, 9 more Flyfers brings me to 21 Flyfers for the trip! This was all new stuff for me. I had a lot of help from @Johnsfolly and @Ham in identifying these fish. Thanks fellas!! 👍 French Grunt Sailors Choice Bluestriped Grunt

Also at this spot, I landed another Plecostomus, 17", foul-hooked. At a different location, I worked a long time on a Tilapia. Then I switched fly color and immediately got an eat! Spotted Tilapia, 12", not a Flyfer, but maybe a new PB.

I also caught my first Peacock Bass of the trip. Not a Flyfer. But I think its a new PB for me. AND, I caught it on a topwater!! If they show even the slightest interest in a fly, just keep casting it beyond them and work it past. They will chase, bump, charge....and (hopefully) eventually CRUSH the fly!

Day 5 We were targeting Bullseye Snakeheads. We saw some, I had at least one follow, maybe 2, but overall they were not interested in playing along. Instead, I caught some sizable Mayans. Mayans can definitely be a nuisance, but I think their numbers are down after this winter's cold snap. They are a very pretty fish, very strong, and the DIRTIEST dang fighters I think I've ever seen. They will charge full speed into ANYTHING that will give them a chance to tangle your line or cut it. Dirty fighters!!!! But really fun!

Now, our guide liked me OK at first. He was very helpful with keeping my chewed up bite tippet fresh, landing my fish, etc. Until I made one comment that I thought was HILARIOUS. He didn't really talk to me after that, and he left me alone and became Hamilton's best buddy instead. His wife had sort of been helping Hamilton. She was fishing with spinning gear with frog patterns trying to get the Barramundi fired up. She has lots of skills, including bowfishing, target shooting, flyfishing, etc. He was patting himself on the back about some things, which was totally fine. At one point he said something like, "My clients know who ties the best knots and who puts them on big fish." And I said, "Yeah, and they know her husband, too!" And that ended our blossoming friendship. 😅 I also caught a few Florida Largemouth Bass there. We had a longshot opportunity for Redbreast Sunfish. High on my wishlist, but low on my expectations for this trip. But the tip Hamilton got from our guide was rock solid, and after weeding through numerous Spotted Sunfish, I finally caught a half dozen or so BEAUTIFUL Redbreast Sunfish! Flyfer #12! Spotted Sunfish: Warmouth

Day 4 Barramundi Day. We had like 3 hours to fish, and I didn't catch any for the first 1.75 hours. Ugh. I was getting nervous. But I finally caught one, and then the floodgates opened. I ended up catching 11, with nearly half on TOPWATER, which was HUGELY fun! These fish are incredibly strong AND acrobatic! Our guide/host tied 50 lb bite tippet on our rods for us, and each fish just SHREDDED IT!! Barramundi. Flyfer #11! My biggest was 5.5 lb to 6 lb range.

Well, no good deed or bit of luck goes unpunished, so I finally, for the first time ever.... managed to bury a heavy fly in the top of my ear on a cast. Maybe we should have taken a picture, but we didn't. My ear was bleeding, but I figured the ear doesn't have a lot of nerve endings in it, so I tugged and pushed and RIPPED the fly out of my ear. The bleeding stopped almost immediately. WHAT?? Oh... I forgot to mention...on DAY 1, I broke to tip off my 6 wt while trying to get my fly out of a bush. So I was down to a 7 wt and 9 wt for the rest of the trip! Anyway....with the ear episode over, I got back to fishing, and Hamilton pointed out some Florida Gar. I finally got one! Flyfer #10! We'd seen MANY others, and lost a few...but mostly couldn't get them to bite. But now...having caught one... We spent the evening hours trying for Tarpon & Snook. So of course I caught 3 more Florida Gar instead. I was trying to land and unhook this one while Hamilton was battling a nice Tarpon.

In the late afternoon, I managed to get another of the priority fish on my Wish List....Ruddy Bowfin! Flyfer #9! What a beauty! 26". I didn't see it before it hit, and wasn't fishing for them at the time. She bolted downstream, but I kept calm steady pressure and worked her back upstream. Near shore, though, she FREAKED and show us her tailwalking skills several times. Tense moments for sure, hoping she wouldn't throw the hook. @Ham helped a brother out with the landing....getting his shoe wet in the process. We didn't have a landing net with us at the moment, and it likely would have been too small anyway. I spotted a male Ruddy Bowfin within easy reach, and had Hamilton take his shot at it. He placed the fly carefully and PERFECTLY. The fish must have been napping. As it woke up, its dorsal fin started undulating excitedly. But it never would strike Ham's fly, and eventually swam away. BUMMER!

We went to the Petting Zoo to give our new lizardy pals some chin rubs. I'm just kidding. Hamilton wouldn't let me go to the petting zoo.

We moved on to other spots. I caught more Florida Largemouth Bass Coppernose Bluegill A BUNCH of beautiful Spotted Sunfish Mayan Cichlids and Warmouth

We've noticed that its often a real struggle to catch your first fish of a new species. But once you finally catch one, you start to catch more, whether you want to or not. Day 3 started off pretty slow. At one spot, I caught 2 more African Jewelfish And a Crested Goby. Flyfer #8!

I didn't expect to catch these, but did anyway...caught 2 African Jewelfish. Flyfer #7!

Ah, I forgot to mention... While trying for those bowfin.... I saw this big Plecostomus feeding in about 4' of water, so I dropped my bowfin fly down near it. It turned and swam right over to the fly and hit it! Flyfer #6!

And we saw some large lizardy-things. Not sure what they are. Long-snouted Snappers? Chime in if you know what they are... 😜 This big gal had babies along the shoreline and under the trees.

We moved along to other spots. We fished a spot that definitely had Ruddy Bowfin. I think I had one on, but we definitely didn't catch any of them. I caught more Mayans More Warmouth And more Spotted Sunfish

Day 2 saw us embark on fishing along the Tamiami Trail. First stop, I caught some Mayan Cichlids (not a Flyfer for me). I caught a couple Coppernose Bluegill here. Flyfer #5! I also caught some Florida Largemouth Bass and Warmouth here.

I want to give credit where it is due... @Ham spent many months researching this trip, looking for access spots, soliciting advice and tips from locals and folks who have fished the areas we wanted to hit, and looking for the species we wanted. HUGE KUDOS to Hamilton!! He put us on fish all week! And when he'd catch something he knew I didn't have yet, he'd call me over and help me try to catch them on flies. Such a great teammate! THANKS, HAMILTON!!

Picked up Ham at the airport. We found a take-out Chinese Food spot to grab some lunch. We got SCREAMED at by the chef. Several times. We were confused by what he was trying to tell us. And there was a language barrier. Apparently I wasn't allowed to order certain items on the menu. Great start to the trip! 😅 Our first fishing spot was pretty cool. Saw some fish that wouldn't bite. Our lunch came with white rice we didn't want to eat. We ended up using it as chum. These fish can't possibly have seen rice before. But it worked really well. Caught some NICE Zebra Tilapia, up to 14"! Flyfer #3! Very strong fish, a LOT of fun to catch. Even the little ones were cool. I put on a Micro Gamechanger and caught a couple Florida Largemouth Bass. Flyfer #4!

Alright.... I didn't get on OAF while we were on the trip, so I'll play "catch-up" now. Got up around 2 am. Flew in to Miami on Wednesday morning. Got the rental car (Toyota ForeRunner), and had a couple hours to kill, waiting for Hamilton to arrive. I figured I'd just get my fly rods assembled and chill out, so I didn't PLAN on anything. But we texted, and Ham told me to go catch something, so I started looking at Google Maps for some water near the airport. First spot was a bust, no parking, no access. 2nd spot had parking and access. Goofed around on a canal for awhile. Didn't see any fish. Bummer. But I eventually caught THE fish I wanted most on this trip... Spotted Sunfish! Little one, and I didn't know I was going to be catching a buttload of them later. Flyfer #1 of the trip! I was excited! Found a huge culvert with current. I dropped a fly in front of it, a small fish came out, then a bigger one darted out, and I was able to catch that fish. Flyfer #2! Jaguar Guapote!

Thanks! I'd like to keep @Ham around for a long time. Any gator is gonna experience a really bad day if it tries for us. I absolutely respect them, I don't fear them. I'm happy to let them be, but if one volunteers to become a nice pair of boots, I'll oblige.

Which truck stop restroom is she going to? Or wait.... is it the city Library?

That would be something! I'll be happy with each new Flyfer. And its been quite a few years since I've caught Peacocks, Oscar, Spotted Tilapia, and Mayans. It'd be nice to get some updated pics on those. But mostly I'll be laser-focused on getting the world's first hybrid Whale Shark X Narwhal (aka "Sharkicorn") on fly.

Thanks John! That Black Bullhead put me at 30 species on the fly so far in 2023.

I REACHED MY GOAL! ... of catching 100 bowfin on a fly. I needed 4 today to reach that goal, and I caught 6. From the first to the last, it took less than a year. In fact, not including the first one I caught in AR last June, I caught 101 in MO over a span of just 2.5 months...or about 10 weeks. I caught them from August 28 to October 9 (less than 1.5 months) last Fall, and then March 12-April 15 (just over a month) this year. I'm blown away... this was a crazy goal I never expected to reach, but am really excited I did. Bowfin are a flat out amazing, fun, and interesting fish to catch! I really love these fish! Here's some of the ones caught on the 15th.: I also caught a Black Bullhead: I tossed a fly into a pod of Grass Carp. The fly sank. Then my line started to move... a Common Carp had eaten the fly!