When the wind is in the East............

Z Fish Report (10/8/10)

A couple of decent things are happening this week. In just the last couple of days, the 86° blue water has moved in to about the 15 mile mark. This is mostly due to the rains letting up and winding down for the year. And, nice sized dorado, from 15 to 30 pounds are making a very good showing.

Andre Padovani and a couple of friends from British Columbia, Canada fished with Mike Bulkley and Francisco on the super panga Huntress yesterday (Thursday) catching 12 of the nice sized dorado. They were mostly caught trolling, but Andre did manage 2 with the fly rod after spotting them under some floating debris which had been pushed out of the rivers.

About the only inshore action going on is with the huge amount of black skipjack tuna we have here now. Santiago, on the panga Gitana, had a fly fishing client earlier in the week who wore himself out catching the barriletes (black skipjacks) using an 8wt fly rod.

Ed Kunze

Slow down for fast fishing action

This is a perfect place to cast a popping bug or other fly on sprawling Lake Manatee.

You pass DeSoto Memorial Speedway, home of the Snowbird Nationals, on your way to Lake Manatee.

This gorgeous Lake Manatee bluegill fell for a No. 10 popping bug.

The drag strip is home of testosterone and high speed.

But when you get to Lake Manatee, it’s time to slow down. Way down. The slower you fish, the better you’ll do. I’ve learned this since I began fishing from a kayak years ago.

Capt. Jim Klopfer of Adventure Charters was my guest on Lake Manatee recently and he quickly caught on how slow we were fishing.

“We’ve been here an hour, but we’ve only fished 50 yards,” he said.

The key to success on Lake Manatee and many of Florida’s freshwater lakes and streams is to slow things down. And when you think you’re really fishing slow, then you need to slow it down some more.



Dry flies work well at Lake Manatee.

 My latest outing is a perfect example. I launched my Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 at the Lake Manatee Fish Camp ramp shortly after dawn. I paddled east under the State Road 64 bridge and along the north shoreline for about 15 minutes. My destination was a point just beyond the first island in the lake.

I caught a hand-sized bluegill on my first cast. I was using a No. 10 chartreuse popping bug on a 4-weight rod. I was using a 7 ½-foot leader with a 7X tippet. I concentrated on that area for the first hour, not moving more than 50 feet. The end result was 17 bluegill, most of which were ¾ of a pound to a pound.

I’ve fished Lake Manatee with powerboaters. Most are very good anglers. But most move far too quickly. They’re on the trolling motor continuously. If you don’t hit your target on your first cast, you won’t get another shot because you’ll be well past it by the time you’re ready for another cast.

I’ll pull up to a likely spot in the kayak and fish it slowly and completely. If there’s a pocket in the vegetation, I might make a dozen casts before moving on. I’ll hit every opening along the way.

I’ve found when you fish slow, you fish thoroughly. You don’t miss many spots. You cover your area completely.



This stumpknocker fell for a popping bug.

 Lake Manatee is a tough nut to crack. There are those who fish the lake for the first time and never return. The reason is they catch few fish and can’t figure the old gal out.

Florida anglers are shoreline anglers. That doesn’t mean they fish from land. It means most cast toward the shoreline vegetation. That’s a very good strategy in most Florida lakes and it works in Lake Manatee – if you know what you’re doing.

You can fish some of the shoreline at Lake Manatee, but not all. Reason is that hyacinths float to the shoreline and pile up. Cast to the edge of them and there could be nothing but empty water underneath. The true shoreline might be 10 or 15 feet in back of the hyacinth jam.

So, when fishing the lake, try to find areas void of hyacinth jams. It’s tough, but you can do it if you just open your eyes.

When you see a tree on the shore or a fallen tree, you’re in the right area. And this is where we usually concentrate. I’ll often make a dozen or more casts in such an area. It’s a trick that I learned years ago when competing in bass tournament.



A typical Lake Manatee speckled perch (black crappie).

 When you find fish, don’t leave them. Fish the area until the action stops. I remember winning a bass tournament during which I didn’t leave a 200-yard stretch of hydrilla all day. The fish were there and I was able to catch enough to win the tournament.

I guess an outboard motor and a trolling motor are just the incentive needed to move quickly. If you don’t get a fish on the first cast, just move 100 yards down the lake. If it’s not going on, crank the engine and head 10 miles north, east, south or west. Move because you have the ability.

When you’re fishing from a kayak, you don’t have that ability. You have to fish where you are.

What that means is that you get to know your spots intimately. You learn every inch of the lake, river or bay you’re fishing.

And that means you’re able to fish slowly. You’re able to make repeatedly casts into a spot you think holds fish.

And when you catch a fish around a fallen tree what do you do? Move on?

No.

You make another cast.

If you’re like me, you might make 12 more casts. And there are days when those 12 casts result in several more fish.

Slow down.

You’ve got all day to do it.

Shocking, Stocking, Consulting, and Goose Blinding

I couldn't classify this week as my busiest week ever, but definitely it has to be close. Its Thursday night late and I just finished a lake management plan for a subdivision lake in Bloomington. I am winding down listening to Sportcenter in the background jotting down thoughts for my diary.... This morning started at 5:30 am when I headed out delivering fish and is ending 300 miles and 18 hours later. Technically though when I am writing I am still on the clock.....

Anyhow it seems like we packed a weeks worth of work into every single day this week. Monday started out well before light when we loaded up a fish truck at 5 am and shipped a load of our prized feed trained smallmouth bass down to a client in North Carolina. I still have people from Tennessee that want a load of these special smallmouth, but I wont be able to meet demand this fall. I am completely out. Next year I plan on raising a whole bunch more for sure!

Moving on, we installed this texas hunter deer blind for a client on tuesday and planted a whole bunch of winter wheat for some geese:

Wednesday I did an onsite consultation for heartland hills subdivision lake in Bloomington in the morning and then installed this goose blind with Justin for a client in Fulton County in the afternoon.

Then finished off Wednesday night helping my brother in law get ready to set trusses on his house in Cobblestone estates.

Thursday started well before the sun. Our first stop was to Benningfields lakes where we stocked some rainbow trout, channel catfish, grass carp, and albino catfish. Next stop was to Hidden Lakes Farms where we stocked a whole bunch of rainbow trout in the trout lake, golden shiners in the smallmouth lake, feed trained bass in the trophy lake, and hybrid stripers into the striper lake. Next Justin went to Sherman and Bryant property with a whole tank full of fathead minnows and golden shiners to get their new pond started right while I went to Ted Rigginbach's and Edwin Petersons to stock some big rainbow trout. I put some 4, 5, and even an 8 lb rainbow trout into Edwins small pond for our big ice fishing extravaganza this winter! (if your his friend, hopefully you get invited!!!) Then I met back up with Justin at Doug Oberhelmans trout lake and loaded him up with a tank load of trout for Cullinans trout lake while I stocked Doug's. From their we went to Norris to supplement a few trout and from there Justin went to Gary Glovers lake to stock a whole bunch of hybrid striped bass, albino catfish, channel catfish and rainbow trout. I headed off to White Oak Lake in Germantown Hills to stock hundreds of lbs of golden shiners. I expect great things from that lake in the near future! By about 7 pm I was home and been working on paperwork pretty much ever since.

Some fish stocking pics:

Friday I have some more paperwork to get ready for next weeks fish stockings in the morning, some shipments to get out from online orders and then we will be putting in another Bradley Goose Blind in the afternoon for a client. I am staying at the lake Friday night to get ready for a fishing trip on Saturday. I am taking Fred Funk from Morton and his two boys out walleye fishing saturday morning. Now that is some work I definitely look forward to!

Sunday I will sleep.

Gotta Love It!!

Today I took John and Will Maiden trout fishing on the Little Red River....We had a blast. Will is 9 years old and a great little angler! I'm not sure how many fish the guys caught today,but I'm suspect somewhere around 75...maybe evena few more! I was having way too much fun to try and keep a count. We did a little drift fishing this morning and got em good! After lunch we suited up and did some wading. Both guys crushed em' again. Fall is approaching and we saw lots of big browns moving around but all were still very spooky. John did catch this super nice rainbow towards the end of the afternoon! If you are planning on fishing with me this fall make sure you bring your waders!!!

As We Speak

Hebgen湖からのマス

涼しいマディソン水ではしゃぎまわりなさい

黄色い道は方法を導

" Trout from Hebgen Lake

Cavort in Madison waters cool

a yellow road leads the way. "

The Gambler

It’s been good this week, Blackberry switched off, no Excel and no clients to speak with. Since Friday I have enjoyed a couple of sessions, caught some fish and got some domestic choirs done and have even taken my mother and mother in law out for lunch…check me!

However cant help thinking that if the weather would have played ball I would be in Wexford with Jim, fishing, talking fishing, thinking fishing, learning fishing and quite possibly catching. I have to say that while I am genuinely disappointed that the trip didn’t happen there is a Kenny Rogers song that sums it up.

Next year….