Random July Fishing updates

Well fishing during early July has been well tough for me.  I've had a couple of trips out with one not even making it out to the flat (winds/waves) and a couple with only a few shots a fish.  I did loose a pretty nice snook with Dr. Schuster a few weeks ago after I didn't change out my leader to summer weights i.e. 30lb flouro and that big snook promptly chewed through my leader and took off with my miromullet.  

Tony and I went out a week or so ago and fished a slow outgoing at Weedon and caught one lonely redfish though we saw lots of nice reds they just wouldn't bite.  It's been pretty warm and some crazy weather with some big storms coming through so I guess they were just turned off.

I got to go down to Naples for a conference this past week and got to fish for some beach snook before the sun came up with the fly rod.  The first morning I didn't really know what I was doing and ended up spooking every fish that I casted to.  I just needed a lighter offering as I was fishing with a little bit to much weight and I need a more white colored fly to imitate the bait that was in the water and the snook were keying in on.  So the next morning I had a little more time to fish and I had spent some time with my vise the night before tying a fly with less weight and with a little more white.

Luckily it worked like a charm and the first fish I saw in the morning in the little cut from a little backwater that was flushing on the last of the incoming tide.  I was walking the outside bar and I saw the snook up on the sand coming towards me from the mangroves.  I made a 20 ft cast and at first the snook backed off towards the mangroves but as I started hopping the fly across the sand with the current he charged out and picked it right up and then it was game on.  I eventually got it away from the mangroves and after a couple of quick jumps I got it up to where I could land it and get a release video.