First Osceola

Took my first Osceola turkey this morning around Orlando.  It was my first time out hunting these birds but they didn't seem that different than easterns I've had the chance to hunt.  So we got into the cow pasture and set up along the creek as the sun came up and I could tell my cooperator that I was hunting with had done some scouting and work around this set up and had a pretty good idea that something was going to happen this morning.  Well the first hour or so was quite and we did catch some movement back out in the pasture and saw some hens with and without jakes but never saw a bird to put a move on. 

Eventually we moved around and started seeing some new birds and by 8:45 we were easing back to the truck when we catch movement out in the pasture and Tom gets the binos up to see the hen moving out into the heart of the field.  But as he watches over that hen he notices something further out back towards the hard road.  Two mature gobblers were strutting and feeding around the cows up closer to the gate.  So we put a plan in place and used the fence row to hid our movements as we eased up to close the gap.  Unfortunately, when we got up there the truck was only like 20 yards from our set up....  Well since the birds were already pretty close inside 100 yards and the cows didn't seem to spook them as they were agitated because of us we decided it was now or never.  Then one of the birds gobbled (first gobble of the day) we figured we might be able to trick them into closing the distance.  Tom did some great calling and here they come on a b-line towards us.  I eased up and got a good place to shoot through the bobwire and cabbage palms and waited until they cleared the last few oaks but they turned back to the left still gobbling and competing for that hen they thought they were on.  They crossed back through another opening and luckily they were free of the cows and I was able to take the back bird.  He went right down and the next thing I know was that the other bird hadn't moved at all and had stuck his head even higher to give a look and we were able to re-arrange really quickly so Tom could get a shot off as well.  Well he was successful with his shot as well and we had two great birds on the ground in the matter of 10 seconds.  We got them back to the truck really quickly as it was only like 30 yards away.  Amazing hunt!

It's been a while but living's good

It's been a little while since I've posted but I guess I should update on my fishing and hunting trips.

I fished with Greg a few weeks ago at the Fort and we ended up doing pretty well even though it was a kinda slow tide and subsequent bite.  We started off by drifting a trout flat and caught quite a few trout up top along the pot holes on top water.  Nothing huge but good solid fish on top.  We had a couple of close encounters with some big sharks and had one almost suck down a fly and we saw something very large chase a top water (probably a cobia) but we weren't able to get a good bait out there in front of it to find out.

After drifting for a while we decided to go into the cut and chase some reds and unfortunately we found the kayakers but did find some reds.  First fish came at the first stop along some oyster bars but nothing else.  Then we moved to the back and first cast in the middle of the mullet in the broken water yielded a lower slot fish so we set up and fan casted the pot holes and found a couple of upper slot reds just like the one below. 

That was pretty much it for the day as the tide peaked out and it was time to run back to the house to clean up one of the fish we kept to split for dinner. 


I also went out with Dr. Schuster to Cockroach Bay two weeks ago and it was slow slow slow.  We only caught three fish and I did get the inshore slam the trout was a large as the snook and the red. We never even made it to Schuster's Hole as the weather man lied to us and the waves and wind kicked up so we were pretty much forced to fish the inside areas.  I did find a couple of new spots to look at on some new tides so I will have to check those areas out again as we get into some higher water times. 

Mid-Feb. Fishing with John

Took off with John on this morning on a much needed fishing after spending some time on the road at meetings lately.  We launched at EG Simmons and headed South towards CRB to find some redfish.  There was a light chop on the way south so it was a quick run and I was on the poling platform pretty quickly looking for fish.  It took a little while to find some fish but John got us on the board with a great 25+ inch red that I happened to see out in the hole.

By then we both thought we were in the right zone.  We pushed along that same depth and saw some flashes and more fish and John was slammed by another nice red.

We set up on that hole and it wasn't long before John found another fish that we were able to get a great release video of.

Well a local dolphin had the same idea we did and came through not to long after that fish and after scattering all the reds (they were flying around underneath the boat) we decided to move around and head North to grab lunch and fish Schuster's Hole.

We get back to another flat and start looking for fish but it looked like the tide had already moved in quite a bit so we decided that it was time to head to the mangroves for a little higher water fishing.  We took quite a while to get on the board there and finally I broke the ice with a nice solid red from the front of the hole.  It was a slow bite like the last time I was there and we managed one more fish and a couple of misses as well.

We spent the remainder of the tide at that hole and then got up and out and back to the launch to clean some fish and get home.  We pulled in a total of 5 fish but with the cooler waters and the recent cold front we considered this a success and will be having some fresh fish for dinner. 

Jan '14 Fishing with Doc

Went out last weekend on some low water on the South Shore to find some cold water fish.  We ran out of Cockroach Bay into a chilly morning air and headed north to pick up the last bit of the falling tide.  We worked our way around some pot holes and the sandbar looking for some fish to site cast to.  Well the water was a little cool and the fish weren't really cooperating until Dr. Schuster picked up a small flounder in a deeper cut along a pothole and we started seeing a little more life on the flat.  Next thing we know we feel the water sucking out into the bay like one of those movies about tidal waves.  Well there was large container ship out in the bay and apparently when their wake comes by that flat on a low tide in creates waves that you can surf on.  We floated over those waves and that pretty slowed everything down as the water was all turned up so after missing a couple of trout and getting to a group of ladyfish we pulled up and headed south to another flat.

Not long on that flat with the new incoming we started seeing some fish including some trout and bigger reds.  I scored sightcasting to a smaller red which was pretty cool but we didn't really find much more there other than maybe to much water.  I'll have to take note of that in my tide notes.

We grabbed a lunch and headed back north to the flat that we started the morning on and didn't really find any fish in the zones around the sandbar so we moved 30-50' inside of those sand holes and the trout just started appearing but unfortunately we weren't able to catch any of them as our gear wasn't really set up for that.  They were holding in 2 ft of water over broken bottom and our rigs were getting to much grass on them so we decided to make our way to Schuster's hole.  Well as the story of the day, it was pretty slow in there as well.

We managed to find a handful of fish with Doc getting on the board with the first keeper red of the day and a little while longer I followed up with another keeper with a lot of spots.

We had a couple of missed strikes that were just me forgetting that the bite was slow and every time we would get a bite we would think that it was going to just turn on but it wasn't meant to be.  We ended up the tide and the day with one final solid fish. 

Well though the fishing was a little slow behind these cold fronts the day we were out was light winds and it probably got into the mid 70s which you can't beat during Jan!

Early '14 Fishing

Fished the other weekend with Greg on the South Shore to try to find some low water reds and trout.  Well we started the morning off very slow with little to no action.  We just couldn't find any bites early though we did find a couple fish moving in and around the potholes on the falling tide.  We were throwing artificials and maybe it was just a little cool so we pulled some of our shrimp out of the bait well and Greg quickly missed a red over the sand and then was rewarded with a very nice 23 inch trout. 

Above is the reason we fish during the winter.  You just don't have many shots at fish this size during other times of the year esp. when you are more or less sight fishing.  Well we started seeing some fish but the tide was going to slack so we motored down South to try to catch up with the rising tide.  Well we went further south than I've ever been and we just didn't find the zones that were holding any fish.  So after searching for a little while and grabbing lunch we got back to the spot that we were fishing earlier in the morning and started working pot holes until the tide got right to go to Schuster's Hole.  Well it wasn't very long until we got into some fish.

We started catching them on back to back casts and they seemed to be swimming under the boat to get into the hole.  Like usual the fish seemed to be content laying off the mangroves as the hole extends 20 yards or so off the mangroves.  If you got a good presentation in there you'd usually get a strike and the next couple of videos show that.  We also had a nice double as Greg was getting a bite and said as much then I hooked up and as my fish was moving over his bait he got bit.  Pretty cool. 

From there we ran out of shrimp and the day was winding down so we headed back to the launch to get loaded up and get back to the house.  The days bounty is below.

2013 Year in Review

I spent a day off the water yesterday putting together a video from all of the outdoor adventures of the 2013 season.  Thanks everyone who helped in the videos or pictures as I enjoyed reliving the memories as I was putting this together.  For some reason right now I can't embed the video but follow the link below for the YouTube video.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbjAcRqBz5o

Fishing the Fort in Dec.

Well the first time I've been back in the skiff in a month and a half went pretty well as Kate and I went out for a boat ride and a quick scouting trip for the weekend.  I was looking for pot holes and reds but I found trout instead.  I was pulling them in one after another in a couple of holes with some shrimp and I found a solid 17incher and put it in the cooler for dinner.  After stinging quite a few trout we moved inside the mangroves to look for reds and though we saw some they weren't stacked and they weren't really biting so as the wind kicked up we fired up and headed back to the dock to get back for an afternoon conference call.

John and I fished on Sat and worked the same pattern that Kate and I had figured out the day before, except we started a little while earlier and threw some topwater right off the bat.  Not many casts in we were in the trout and some of them were pretty solid.  We put a few 17 inchers in the boat before they seemed to move off the grass and into the potholes as the tide kept falling.  So we switched tactics a little and threw shrimp on jig heads into some of the larger potholes with some quick and solid action.  As the mullet moved in around us along with some other boats I got a good thump and was rewarded with a nice gator trout. 

Right around that trout I also got another thump along with a quick short run of something a little larger.  I was thinking catfish until it started peeling off line with some heft to it.  It took a little work to get it back closer to the boat and kept it's head buried into the grass before I saw this massive red come up out of the grass.  After a little work around the boat navigating the powerpole and pushpole I was able to land this beast of a red.  It was a little over 32 inches and probably the biggest red I've put in the boat.

After a couple of pictures and quick release we drifted some other holes and ran into the mangroves to look for some other reds and snook.  Although we did find some snook we were unable to get them to bite and after a couple of catfish and ladyfish we decided to call it a day as we had a cooler full of trout and we both wanted to get home to watch some football.  I bet we boated 20+ trout and quite a few trash fish and one extra large red to keep us wanting to get back out there.  Hopefully really soon!