I'm sweating as I type this in my air conditioned living room, and dreading (well not really but you know... drama and stuff reads better so for the sake of the article and your enjoyment, just imagine me as a curmudgeon who doesn't like spending time outside with super fun clients. Never mind that nice smile and the cold beer I tossed in the cooler for you) getting ready for my charter this evening.
Dock lights rule year round and I haven't had one of those trips in a minute so I'm pretty pumped. A little more on that later. As for "hot and fast" I'm going to relate it to barbecue and fishing, mostly fishing for this months article but if anyone is bored and wants me to do a cooking tutorial for next month email me an idea! I'll need an excuse to stand by a fire next to Satan and throw meat at his minions dwelling in the coal bed of my smoker (the real key is to baste with angel tears).
August is a month of the year that I'm trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Generally I've fished between five and six days a week from mid March through the end of July so some couch time with the dog is very welcomed.
BUT when I am out on the water it's either really early, or really late. As most of the larger tarpon have gone to Valhalla to await slightly cooler temperatures before returning to our rivers for the winter, I'm focusing almost exclusively on the juvies in the back country right now.
The mornings sound masochistic if you like sleeping in, but for a crazy idiot (such as myself) there's something quite pleasing about driving to the boat ramp in the quiet hours between four and five AM with your windows down, nobody on the road, and hopefully "Coast to Coast with George Noory" in your ears talking about lizard people and ferries.
That show is how I learned "The Pied Piper" was a total fuuhhreak. To be fair the villagers screwed him over. Thus begins your deep dive into "Ferry lore" while you watch the sun rise and hope a baby tarpon rolls. You're welcome.
While showing up ready to roll at the ramp around 5 AM isn't for everybody, it sure does beat floating around under the noon sun hoping for one single fish to come down the sandbar. The first four hours of the day in late summer offer extremely fun and quiet fishing for rolling tarpon. I like to find a calm shoreline while the tide is moving and pole in slowly to watch the show as the sun comes up.
Most of these fish will be 5-10lbs but every now and then you get a surprise 30-50lb fish that pops up so be ready. I like to start with a small black fly and as the sun comes up I'll usually switch to white or chartreuse and see what happens.
The REALLY great thing about starting to fish so early (or late) is that you can be off the water in just a couple hours of hard fishing and go about your day/date night and not be completely drained. Gotta fish "hot and fast" and get home after the bite dies down. When that water temp gets up around 90 degrees even "Captain Al" can feel it, just think about the fish. More on that later.
The early evening bite can be off the charts if you get lucky and time it with a moving tide and one of our famous heavy late afternoon storms comes through. That extra bit of oxygen and slightly cooler water will usually get juvenile tarpon rolling to turbo charge for the long night ahead when there's no photosynthesis going on (chlorophyll... more like borophyll).
If you aren't seeing any fish roll and the light is dwindling, this is an excellent time to throw on a topwater plug or fly (we all know what I prefer but do you kiddo, I just want you to smile). I'll try and find shorelines with current and little micro baits being swept into a wall. Small gurglers slapped into the mangroves can be deadly for snook as the sun says goodnight, and nothing compares to a topwater eat when you least expect it.
Speaking of low light! My dock light trip yesterday/this morning went great. The fish were fired up after all the rain, we had plenty of eats, only a couple came tight but it was enough for my clients to offer me a cigar (not a usual thing for me but sometimes you gotta tell potential oral cancer it can kick rocks because #YOLO). We did have some difficulty figuring out retrieves and fly patterns on this night however, which is something you should always keep in mind.
For instance, there were lights stacked with micro bait, we tossed the same size/color/shape and got nothing. Different retrieves weren't getting results so then it was time to go WAY outside the box and get goofy. Black and olive, purple, orange, you name it. All of a sudden we start getting some action. One of the best things about the night fishing (other than not getting beat up by the sun) is that it's super laid back so you can try new fly patterns and see some shooting stars. Keep your flies small though. I generally won't toss anything above a 1/0 and even that is very rare.
So back to "Hot and Fast". Right now it's very important to take care of the fish you land. With the oxygen levels being low and the water so warm every fish you're hooking is building up lactic acid ridiculously fast, which is why I make sure I have appropriate leaders and tackle to get them to the boat as quickly as possible. Use leaders that are light enough to get the bite but still give you the upper hand (30lb test is my go to bite tippet for back water fishing). You owe it to the fish to handle them properly for giving you, your son/daughter, wife, grandpa, grandma (whoever) a great big smile and fun memory.
Try to keep them close to the water while you remove the hook, always handle them with wet hands, and please have the camera ready before all of the unhooking handling happens. Taking a couple moments extra to revive them is worth the "no see em'" bites I promise.
Okay, not sure how those ramblings were but the good news is you'll have a whole new month to wait and see if/what/when I cook something or decide to try a new fly with you all. If you want to give an early morning, evening, mid day, night, or whenever trip a shot I'm just a phone call away!
Until next month, stay hydrated, remember that turn signals are actually a thing that comes with your vehicle (the fluid to refill them is free too!), and you still shouldn't eat the yellow snow.
Capt. Alex Moran
Spiritfly Fishing Charters
SW Florida
