Winter Opening Hours...

Here are the winter opening hours:

Opening hours:

Monday - Friday      10.00 - 6.00

Saturday                    9.00 - 6.00

Sundays and Bank Holidays          CLOSED

The evenings are shorter and we might be waking up to frost however it is not all doom and gloom. This is the time the big bass show up along our coastline. We have got some great reports in over the past few days with some seriously tidy fish being landed.

Here is just one of those "big" fish. Kenny, Johnny and Steven were down from Northern Ireland and to be fair the weather didn't play ball for the majority of their trip however the wind swung into the SW on their last day and they made the most of it. Kenny landed this superb 11lb bass along the copper coast to make their long trip down worth while.

Montana For Sale ??

DID YOU SEE FRONTLINE ?

So, You Think Stream Access Is Important?
what about political access ?

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try this link:

====>http://mtcowgirl.com/2012/10/30/watch-frontline-expose-big-sky-big-money-online-here/

.. Unless, of course, you happen to believe that PBS is a communist, pinko, stupid bit of wasteful, government fluff.
.. Do you know what a 501 (c) (4) is? Is Montana being bought. Get in on the bandwagon.
.. Quickly send lots of money to the newly incorporated, independent, issue oriented, 501 (c) (4), organization entitled:

 "BLOG AND DEFEND AMERICAN SOCIAL SYSTEMS"

.. This organization is designed to provide issue oriented information about the secret workings of fly fishing - - - among other things.
.. All donations are exempt from reporting to any governmental agency, (local, state, federal,) and are confidential and may be used anywhere at any time for whatever issue is at hand. You can just sit back and watch your money at work  - view the results with impunity and anonymity.
.. Yea team !!

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Don't point that thing at me, alive and well in Baja

Walking the beach near my home in Buena Vista I encountered Noe Ariza harvesting turtle eggs from a nest he had just found.  He patrols the beach every morning from north of Palmas de Cortez, Playa del Sol and Los Barriles to south of Hotel Rancho Leonero toward La Ribera.  He told me that to date this season they have harvested more than 34,000 yes, thirty-four thousand turtle eggs from more than 320 nests and transferred them to a nursery in Buenos Aires.  At the Nursery the eggs are safe until they hatch and then the baby turtles are released into the Sea of Cortez.

Many of us believe our government doesn't do a lot of things right but I have to say the efforts to save the endangered sea turtles has been an incredible success.  Several years ago there was a huge campaign with notices posted, television ads and radio spots run with the message "take a turtle and go to jail".  The Feds have been very serious and vigilant.  I think a pedophile would have a less severe penalty then a turtle poacher from what I have seen.

Now sea turtles are alive, well and abundant in the Sea of Cortez. It is not an unusual sight several in a day while we are out fishing.

Speaking of fishing.  Our season is winding down to a close.  The north wind that haunts us all winter has already reared its ugly head.  Wind surfers and kite boarders have stood on the side lines waiting and are getting a taste of conditions favorable for their sport.  Fishermen are starting to get their teeth rattled from E ticket boat rides and are picking their days more carefully now since they can't count on calm seas.

The changing season has made the bite very unpredictable.  Some days game fish will play ball but some days it is hard ball.  Even when the bite is tough being on the water beats fighting freeways or listening to the phone ring.  The magnificent Sea of Cortez is rich with life and when rods are not bent we are sighting an array of bird life, whales, porpoise, turtles and other creatures of the sea that keep it interesting.

New born turtles ready for adventure

Noe Ariza hard at work protecting sea turtles

The East Cape sea turtle nursery

Sea turtle sightings are common

Don't point that thing at me!  Wiring sailfish can be dicey

Don't point that thing at me!! Doña Cha Cha with a gun in her hand got my attention.  Even if it was a flare gun to start the Tuna Shoot Out.

Still a few blue marlin around.  Robert Jordan's buddies snapped this quick photo before the release.

Below is a little sailfish porn I captured this week.

For the latest East Cape conditions "like" 

www.facebook.com/JenWrenSportfishing

Mark Rayor

teamjenwren.com

markrayor.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/JenWrenSportfishing

US cell 310 308 5841

October What a Great Months Fishing!

I really dont know where to start this month i have caught alot of good fish, but i have been fishing a fair bit too! But you really do have to fish like 3 or 4 times a week even if its for 2 Hours and your in with a chance of catching some really good fish :)

33lb Eel took the tail end of a Mackerel at a new spot i have never fished before with Scott. Was pretty hard condition was hard to hold bottom due to the Tide and Deep water put none the less it put up a Great scrap we left soon after very short session felt good :) 

This next fish is my 2nd Best Eel of the year and my 3rd eel over 35lb from the Shore on the scales went 35lb and tail was still on ground was a very very long fish! i managed to gaff this Eel myself too and there was a bit of swell. It was my First Cast again using Cuttle fish for bait! was 20 mins into darkness! (Jammy git eh ;) ) Was only only fish of session was home and in bed by 9pm lol! 

This was yet another great session met up with Gareth and ventured on down to a new spot for me that i have always wanted to fish just never got round to it. And as Gareth Suggested it i was very keen :)
and way around 1 hour into the session i managed a Small Eye Ray around 5lb took sand-eel & squid on running ledger.  

I put a Conger rod out and withing 10 mins i had one playing around with my bait. After a good solid pull down i Striked to find my self into a Snag! Bugger in the end i lost my gear on that cast.

another 2 hours went by with not much action and Screaming run on Gareths Rod Strikes it and knew it was decent, as was on Ray gear thought might be a Blonde Ray. But after very very good fight he was playing very well and it did mess us around alot. Gaffing it was quite difficult but we did it in the end :) 

His P.B Conger of 38lb 

And one day after work me and Gareth tried to find some more Eels and we got a couple. 

Popped out after work met up with Scott, Ritchie & Hannah for a spot of Wrasse Bashing i was eager to get down the rocks everything looked perfect! i got the first cast in water and before you know it within 30 secs of fishing ZZZZzzz screaming run i locked up thinking big Wrasse and turned it, now i can feel head shakes (this aint no Wrasse) got it closer and saw the head on it and flash of Silver its a Bass, got it in the net and in a safe place to Measure and get a Picture. It had something wrong with it by its Head maybe got spear fished and got away or netted. But it was hungry for my Reins Pumpkin Shad :)

Weighed 5lb 9oz and measured 67cm not a bad start! 

All in all between us managed around 10 Wrasse on SPs my luck wasn't so great after that Bass just had the 1 Wrasse haha. & Managed to snap Hannah's pink rod pulling it out a snag WOOPS :)

So Myself and Gareth decided to go for Eels on a Friday night. We arrived at the spot and it looked perfect it was still light so i whacked out a sand-eel on a running ledger and after 10 mins had a screaming run, ran over striked and wasn't there. Gutted oh well getting dark now time for the conger traces to come on! and out they went with some Cuttle out and sand-eel. Wasn't long before my rod started to pull down and i was into my first Eel of the night as i was playing this fish Gareth also hooked into one on his rod with the Ray gear on, Double hook up!! so as i was playing my one in i got down to waters edge and managed to Trace the eel and pulled it up on the rocks and ran over to help Gareth with the gaff. as this was happening my other Rod screamed off nearly went in! Ran Over to that one Striked that and had to get that one in too! bloody hell any way we landed all 3 eels in the space of 5/10mins! all of them in-between 15lb and 20lb :)

So after the pics and releasing all 3 Eels it was time to get rods back out sweating like Jimmy Saville in a Nusery i was as was wearing that many layers of clothes lol! any way about 1 hour passed with out i bite (Whats going on) and as soon as i was thinking that Boom Eel on again. But was on Gareth Ray gear again! It was a very big fish he was saying i could see it was stripping the line of his reel, but couldn't put to much pressure on it as using the weaker line. After 5 mins of fighting this one unforgettably snapped the line :( 

He had another one anyway:

I ended up getting 1 more Eel too so 5 Eels between us..Pretty Good session :)

Went with Alex for a couple hours on a Sunday night here is him with his First Shore Caught Blonde Ray he wont shut up about as i have never had one of shore lol ;)

He had a Tiny Small Eye too! his 2nd one ever (he thought both these fish was like 30lb! haha)

Went on a session with Leigh Mullins to a spot he suggested he told me where ti was and i had never fished this spot either but always wanted to give it ago. So as i finished work earlier than him i found my own way down and hoped it was the right spot lol! I was still my first cast with a Sand-eel on for Bait when my rod screamed off and i landed this fine Bass of 6lb 15oz :) Lee rocked up just before i had this.

After a hour or 2 of not much action i went to check my bait as i noticed my line was not in the direction i casted it and thought it was tide which pulled my gripper out of bottom. half way through reeling it in thinking i had a lump of weed on i felt a bit of a head shake from a fish . got it to Surface and saw it was decent bass tried netting it but was hard in the swell so just winched it up the rocks :) This one was 8lb 1oz currently my best Bass so far this year :) 

David took me out for a Bass :) Ventured out with David on Sunday afternoon for few Hours fishing was hard after catching few Snipe and Pollock we found the Bass on way back into the Harbor ..his was decent weight 4lb 12oz on a hard lure :) mine was wee baby. 1lb 9oz on Savage gear lucky i had small stinger on it seemed to be hooking most the fish.

Highlight of the afternoon was still getting towed in though haha :)

After a day of struggling to find a Bass me and Gareth decided to do a bit of Wrassing they wasn't touching the lures so tried a little secret trick when they aint biting the lures they will bite the Bait knocked limpets of the rocks and put them onto our jig heads straight away started catching fish :)
Gareth with a Wrasse weighing 4lb 12oz :)

Here is my Best fish of the short session going 4lb 

Bass Competition 2012 

Had this one all Planned out my plan was i needed to win it simple as not going to lie haha :) So the Friday night was very hard going with the strong winds the tides was not great either very hard to fish! Maybe made the wrong move with the fishing spot but we had to try, I managed a small Rockling and Gareth had Pollock just under 3lb, Packed up and got to sleep at home for 2.30am after around 3 hours sleep we had to get lure fishing! the wind was outrages! cut a long story short was a rubbish day only had wrasse on lures and Gareth lost a Bass on the Lure! went to sleep at 7pm and went back out for 12.30am. And luckily we did as Gareth managed to pull out the Biggest fish of the Competition which went 9lb 15oz at the weigh in 15 hours after he had it. Giving him 10lb 3oz for this fish :) Well done mate! 

Sunday weather was alot better we went up and down alot of spots with the lures just couldn't find any Bass at the 4th Spot i had a Pollock of 2lb 10oz

 and Gareth lost a Bass trying to pull it up on rocks with the swell but it came off lol! Gareth getting too old for all this climbing ;) so he called it a day around 11/12am ! My mission was still to get one of like 7lb so we had chance winning the Team prize..went down one final spot for the incoming for 2/3 hours as soon as that tide turned the fish started biting had around 7 Wrasse on the savage gears getting pissed off with them as thought they were Bass haha! and Finally managed a Bass of 2lb 9oz when i saw it i was very happy! was quite far away from my bag where my scales where my bait rod was with big bait on it so ran over and weighed it for moment of truth bugger! carried on having 2 more follows from bass (one looked 4lbish GRRR) didn't get any pictures of last session as left my camera in the van in most of the sessions i did when there was a bit of a trek involved i cba to carry it around its quite chunky lol! I had to call it a weekend. Enjoyed a few drinks at the Shakespeare later on that evening :)

So thanks for reading once again ignore all the grammar and spelling mistakes no one is perfect. I aint the kind of guy to waste my time reading it back to check for them haha. Tight lines all, see you next time. I am having a bit of time off fishing & to relax and chill at home like normal people do lol!

It's time for flounder around Southwest Florida

This beefy flounder was taken on fly in the surf off Manasota Key.

               I love when I’m out fishing and floundering.

                Now, that doesn’t mean for a second that I’m not succeeding or just aimlessly casting a lure. Not at all.

                What it means is that I’m targeting flounder,  a strange looking fish that’s both a strong fighter and delicious. There aren’t many fish around that can top flounder on the table.

                Most people don’t think you can purposely fish for flounder in this part of the world. But, obviously, you can.

                I learned about targeting flounder when I first arrived in Florida in 1971. I would fish the waters in and around East Pass near Destin. I figured out that if you drag anything tasty slowly along the bottom, sooner of later and flounder would latch onto it.

                And that’s particularly true in November when the flat fish gather in numbers along sand bottoms on the edge of grass flats, channel and potholes.

                For this type of fishing, I prefer to use a combination of light jig heads and soft plastics. I most often will use a D.O.A. CAL 1/16-ounce jig head with a D.O.A. paddle tail or MirrOlure Little John.

                Key to success is allowing the lure to drop to the bottom and s-l-o-w-l-y retrieving it; the slower the better.

                When a flounder takes your lure, it will feel as if you’re hung up. Your instinct is jerk your lure loose from the snag.

                Don’t!

                Simply pull back slowly. Most often, the flounder will respond by pulling back, too. That’s when you set the hook.

                The battle won’t start until the flounder sees the kayak. When it does, it will dig for the bottom and pull line from the reel.

                You can identify a flounder long before you see it by its fight. The fish will stay deep and hug the bottom. At first, it will come in easily.

                Flounder are ambush attackers. They lie along the bottom and attack unsuspecting prey as it swims by. Flounder are naturally camouflaged and blend into the sand, grass or gravel nicely.

                I prefer to use medium-light to medium spinning rods. I like braided line because of its sensitivity. I like 8- or 10-pound PowerPro or Fins.

                In southwest Florida, we have two species of flounder: summer and gulf. Summer flounder are the most common. They’re also the largest species, averaging 2-4 pounds. Florida and world record is 20 pounds, 9 ounces.

                Gulf flounder can easily be identified by three distinctive eye-like spots on its back. Southern flounder do not have these “eye” spots. Gulf flounder average a pound and reach 5 pounds or slightly larger.

                No matter what species you catch, flounder are arguably the tastiest fish in our bays. Of course, they’re great fried, but I try to stay away from fried food.

                I prefer to sauté fillets in olive oil with lemon juice, garlic and chopped onion.

                It’s flounder time in southwest Florida.

Do It Right Now

BIG FISH FISHING

Little Fish Fishing

it's all good for five more days

Fishing With Bobber & Spinning Rig Is legal If There Is A Fly At The End Of Your Line.

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.. Join  the fun. Drive in the slush, and ice, and sleet, and rain, and snow, and enjoy the clouds and sun and wind and everything about the next few days. Soon we'll be counting down the 200+ days until we enter the fray of swollen rivers, mud, and potholes. All too soon this year will fade. All too soon the fish will grow and the pain subside.

.. The bite is on like in days of yore and even the Chamber of Commerce can't find words glowing enough.
.. The snows have come: wet, intermittent, slushy, and warm. This is typical for the Fall to Winter transition. It's a bit late this year but not out of the window.
.. The good thing is that the roads in Yellowstone National Park are mostly clear of the white stuff for propitious amounts of time. BUT: be prepared with tire chains and/or snow tires. A couple of more days of balmy 40's and 50's then some grunge for the weekend. How usual.

.. We're in the standard "Late Fishing Frenzy" mode. Folks are anxious and antsy about getting in a few more days of fishing. The fish are agitated and vigorously perusing their sexual mandate.
.. Park staff is eager to leave their summer posts and get gone to warmer climes.
.. Seasonal counter clerks, some on commission, are busy selling wash tubs for nets in an effort get the necessary gas money for a quick getaway on November 6. The scene is hardly that of the post cards portraying the idyllic fishing behavior that is rumored to exist in Yellowstone National Park.
.. There are places where fish are easy to catch. There are places where big fish can be caught. The two are seldom the same. Plan on wearing your cocoon outfit. Plan on cold fingers and the occasional frozen guide, (of the human and chrome and tungsten variety.)

.. There is fantastic surface action on the Firehole River with the Baetis imitation of your choice, (when the little darlings hatch in the dreary overcast fog.) Try BWO and CDC patterns in the smaller sizes = 16 - 20. We like the dinkers tied for the guys at Buzz Basini's shop.
.. When the bugs are not on the top the fish are still eating at a glutinously rate. Use a drowned Baetis and a Prince Nymph of the appropriate size, (= small!)
.. Of course the head hunters of the Madison River are out in force. Many are sporting double fisted Spey Rods that are useful for casting to the pools a full 30 and 40 feet away. It's not a herculean effort since the rod usually covers half the distance to the fish.
.. Most of these fishers have perfected the art of walking right through the deep dark water and kicking the fish in their belly. This is a technique rumored to produce greater spunk and fight in the submarines hiding in the deep spots.
.. Many of the neighbors are seeking fish away from the crowds. Up on the Gallatin River, (which is way too cold to fish,) there are places where only the bears and fishers go. The bears run from the boisterous neighbors and their raunchy limericks. The fish seem to run toward the screaming noises.
.. Try it: "There once was a bear from I stuck it . . ." etc. Best sung in a loud and lilting contralto.
.. Or, the neighborhood favorite: "Here bear! Hear Bear!" it seems that the bears do things opposite from folks.
.. We've been fishing and catching in none of the above mentioned places in Yellowstone National Park. They are not places worth mentioning because folks just don't fish there. So we do.
.. We like the idea of catching several dozen brightly-colored feisty Brook Trout that willingly come to whatever bits of fluff we happen to have. We like the idea of being shielded from the biting winds by a tunnel in the Lodgepole Pines. We enjoy getting in the car with no waders and no cold, wet boots. We enjoy getting home and popping a cold one without the hassle of undressing and re-dressing. We seem to have weird priorities. It must come with age and decrepitude.

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FISH THE WEEDS !!

Gator trout, big flounder expected in November

Vinny Caruso of Sarasota with one of several big flounder taken on jigs in an hour near Buttonwood Harbor.
 

                Big spotted seatrout showed up in good numbers in Sarasota Bay just as expected.

                And that’s good news. We anticipate good action on big trout through April.

                From Jan. 1 until now, Southern Drawl clients and myself have caught a total of 35 trout weighing 5 pounds of more from Sarasota Bay. The largest trout of the year was a 9-pounder.

                “Gator” trout are among the most fun fish to catch. They’re unlike our typical “school” trout. These big fish are wary and fight impressively when hooked on suitable tackle.

                For bigger trout, we like to use a variety of artificial, including D.O.A. Shrimp, MirrOlure MirrOdines and topwater plugs.

                The best spot are along the west side of Sarasota Bay near Buttonwood Harbor.

                Fly angler Chuck Dodd joined me for a day on Sarasota Bay and did fair. Dodd managed a number of seatrout and a snook and jack crevalle on Clouser Deep Minnows.

                An old buddy of mine, Frank Ross of Ocala, formerly a photographer at the Sarasota Journal, joined me for a day on the bay . He brought along one of his old Navy buddies, Dave Love of Pennsylvania. We caught nearly a dozen species of fish, including spotted seatrout, snook, flounder, mangrove snapper, jack crevalle and bluefish. Most of the fish were caught on light jig heads and 4-inch MirrOlure Little Johns.

                Vinny Caruso of Sarasota fished with me on two occasions. The first outing was his first fly-fishing outing. We fished Lake Manatee and totaled 80 bluegill. Most of the fish were taken on No. 12 and No. 14 nymphs under a strike indicator.

                Patrick O’Connor of Rotonda fished Lake Manatee with me and did very well. Using a variety of nymphs, we caught a mess of bluegill and a pair of hard-fishing channel catfish.

                Lake Manatee produced nicely for me during the month. I caught big bluegill, bass to 4 pounds, shellcracker to 1½ pounds, speckled perch, channel catfish and tilapia. Most of the fish were caught on nymphs, but we also used No. 10 popping bugs and my Myakka Minnow.

                We had some negative low tides earlier in the month and found tailing redfish in Palma Sola Bay. First time out, I caught one red on a topwater plug. The next day, I flyfished and landed three reds on a Gurgler. In addition, I caught seatrout, flounder and jack crevalle.

                I made a solo trip to the Long Bar area of Sarasota Bay and had a fair day. It’s a 45-minute paddle, but often is well worth the effort.  This day was only so-so. I caught a pair of reds, a snook, 10 trout and a couple of jack crevalle.

                On his second trip of the month, Vinny Caruso and I did well. We landed 25 trout to 5 pounds, redfish to 27 inches, a 25-inch snook and 11 doormat flounder.

                It’s getting the time of year when you can go out and target flounder. They’re plentiful on sand edges and will hit most any soft plastic on a light jig head. 

                I fished the 8^th annual Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers/Sarasota Coastal Conservation Association Fall Fly Fishing Challenge and again won a division. Despite 25 mph wind and rough conditions, I caught 67.75 inches of trout for the victory. I would have had well more than 100 inches of trout had I not released the first five I caught, thinking they were too small to fool with!

                If we get some negative low tides, Pine Island Sound (all-day trips only) will give anglers at shot  at tailing redfish, snook, spotted seatrout and tarpon. It’s the best chance of a Grand Slam that we have.

                We’ve had some windy conditions caused by Hurricane Irene. The big storm didn’t do any damage here, but did produce some win. We expect conditions to settle.

BEST BETS FOR NOVEMBER:

1.       Large spotted seatrout;

2.       Flounder;

3.       Redfish;

4.       Snook at night;

5.       Bluegill;

6.       Speckled perch.

 

Steve Gibson

Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing

www.kayakfishingsarasota.com

(941) 284-3406

Pisces Weekly Fish Report

PISCES FISH REPORT

OCTOBER 20^TH TO 26^TH, 2012

Overall Catch Success Rate 89%

BILLFISH: What a week! One of the most important tournaments worldwide and the richest one just took place in Cabo, the Bisbee’s Black & Blue 2012, with 107 teams and over 700 anglers. Unfortunately there were not many fish worth taking back to the weight station, with a minimum 300lbs weight limit, anything smaller would have been disqualified and the team penalized. With a total of 67 billfish caught, 64 of them were released, 3 were brought to the weight station, unfortunately, 2 of them were below the limit and the fish was disqualified. As on day one there were no qualifying fish brought to scale, the $711,000 jackpot was rolled over to the second day, adding up to a $1.4 million dollar price to whoever brought in the biggest catch, lucky team Frantic Pace (fishing the tournament for the very first time) brought in their blue marlin to be weighed and scored 465lbs, with no other fish caught that day, they took home the jackpot. At the end of the 3^rdday, there was no other qualifying fish brought to the station, and Team Frantic Pace being the only team presenting a qualified catch, they earned the full jackpot, $2.4 million dollars for this first timers, I think we will be seeing them a lot around here from now on.

On our regular report, not too much action on billfish, “Tracy Ann” released 2 striped marlin and landed 4 dorado for Clint Lord from Phoenix AZ on the 23^rd and then another 2 stripeys for Christopher Klekar from Halletsville TX and also 13 dorados. “Bill Collector” caught a 270 lbs Black Marlin for Matthew Rainwater from Forth Worth TX. 31% of the boats caught billfish this week, a total of 18 striped marlin were caught, 17 were released, 3 pacific sailfish, all released, 4 blue marlin, 3 of them released, and a 270 lbs black marlin.

OTHER CATCHES: It’s all about the Dorado, hundreds of them! Seems like we will be having mahi-mahi for a while. 89% of the boats caught at least one of this guys. Most of the catches were between 3 and 7 fish, but there were some really nice ones, starting with Bill Collector, with 15 dorados between 20 – 25lbs caught at Pozo Cota for Eric Katajamaki from BC Canada, La Brisa with 13 for Brian O’neil from Berlin NJ, Rebecca & Tracy Ann are tied with 12 dorados for Sean Patterson from Little Elm TX (Rebecca) and Jim Jandrain from Austin TX. The catch of the week however goes to “Ruthless” with Captain Leon Camacho, with 20 dorados caught at Migriño for Dennis Wyssbrod’s party from Florida. We are still waiting on the yellow fin tunas to arrive, we have the Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot closing in and only 4 boats of our fleet caught tuna.

LOCATION: Migriño, Los Arcos, Pozo Cota, Margaritas.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Clear sunny sky.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 86 F

BEST LURES: Caballito, assorted lures.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Jorge Narro