For the travelling fly angler heading for the USA, Redfish provide some thrilling sight fishing. Just ask Turrall’s Jamie Sandford, who reports on an excellent guided fly fishing trip in Florida.
"I'll pick you up around 8:30am at Parrish Park, Titusville; I've all the gear needed! We'll then head to the boat-ramp...Ok buddy!?"
That was my message from Captain 'Frank Catino'- a Floridian fly fishing guide of over 45 years who offers a professional fishing guide service on Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. His guiding also includes the Mosquito Lagoon, Banana River, Fort Pierce, Vero Beach, and the surrounding areas- take your pick!
Launching from Bairs Cove the morning of our trip was an experience in itself. Pelicans flew overhead, belted kingfishers could be seen diving for fry, and submarine like manatees swam freely in small groups. Heck, we'd not even started fishing yet and my heart pounded with excitement! One thing I've always loved about fishing, travelling and generally being outdoors, is the huge variety of nature and wildlife we can experience- and Florida is priceless for this.
Casting a fly on Florida’s flats
Frank soon idled us down a small channel, a requirement due to this being "NO WAKE ZONE" due to said wildlife. Once clear, he opened up the motor to drive us to likely looking areas amongst mile after mile of clear water and shallow shores. This really is one of the best saltwater fly fishing destinations you could wish for!
With 'Cape Canaveral' in my backcast and various mullet, trout and drum species at the fore it was now a case of keeping my balance AND concentration at its peak. This was my first experience of a 'Casting Platform'- and I'm 6ft, with clumsy size 13 feet...GULP!
Time wasn't on my side on this trip, this wasn't a fishing holiday but a 'smash & grab' session between the theme parks with my partner.
From around 9:30am-2pm we motored between various areas to find fish. Frank had told me that the river had been out of sorts lately with algal blooms, fluctuating levels AND heavy rain, thus lowering the water temperature. Such conditions made the fishing incredibly hard, but that’s purely down to the difficulty of finding fish I must stress, certainly not Frank's tireless efforts.
This is often the hidden truth for the travelling angler: we imagine it will be plain sailing, but just because we’re on holiday this doesn’t guarantee easy fishing. It also makes that local guide even more important if things are hard.
With all that said, I managed to find that one willing fish, and with a textbook cast/retrieve I watched the Red's mouth engulf the fly I was using- a Clouser Minnow style pattern. I even had the word-for-word fly line for the job, with the 'Cortland Redfish', which was now pulled bowstring tight!
Redfish are very much all round predators, which will eat shrimp, small fish and all sorts. The sport is highly visual. In fact, if you've ever read my previous exploits regarding sight fishing for carp in Europe, then there are definite similarities: Find a fish 'tailing', cast ahead of it and make the delivery as stealthy and an accurate cast as possible, before stripping the fly once it's within the fishes strike zone.
A fast and explosive battle followed before the fish was carefully lifted into the boat, unhooked and held aloft for a quick trophy shot before being released!
YES!!! I'd done it- I've been wanting to catch this amazing species for years, and to me this single yet significant 'Red' was a dream come true. A real bucket list fly fishing experience.
Thanks Frank and thanks America, I'll be back!
Recommended fly fishing tackle for redfish: What I used
•7wt rod
•Cortland Redfish Line
•12-15lb Tippet and Leader
•Saltwater style flies, Clouser Style
Guide used:
Leave a comment