Dock Light Fly Fishing

Want to beat the summertime heat? With day time temperatures getting up in the 90s and likely afternoon thunderstorms do you sometimes wish you could go somewhere else to fish? Well luckily we have a much more comfortable alternative right here in our own backyard! Next question.. so have you ever heard of fly fishing at night? Sounds crazy right? That's a given if go dock light fly fishing! With perfect nightime air temps. running in the 70s, no boat traffic and the serenity of the night might sound like a more relaxing and interesting way for you to fish during the hottest time of year.

Another question you might ask is... isn’t it to dark to fish? The answer is no... thanks to a line up of million dollar waterfront homes. You’re casting into a shoreline with big backyards and sophisticated boat docks and piling that have plenty of structure surrounded by either green underwater lights or your typical hanging lights that attract and hold baitfish. Well you might already know that baitfish yields predators!

Fish swimming over green underwater lights

You ever heard of sight fishing at night? Well now you have! Casting a 5 or 6 weight fly rod rigged with a floating line at lights that have swimming fish around them that you can actually see! This is like casting into a fish tank! There's no doubt that your casting skills will be put to the test for accuracy around the docks and really learning the feel of what a fly rod does. It's a fun challenge and experience for all!

 

Casting to a pair of hanging dock lights at dawn

Our trips generally begin either starting at dusk into the night time or starting in the middle of the  night going into the dawn hours depending on fishing the right tide conditions. The added bonus here is that the dawn and dusk periods have some of the best opportunities for a top water fly bite that will really get your adrenaline pumping! The primary targeted species are Spotted Sea Trout and Snook. Other species occasionally include Mangrove Snapper, Jack Cravelle, Bluefish, Ladyfish and Redfish.

You can bet that this kind of fishing is one of the most certain ways of catching your 1st salty fish on fly with the smallest fly rod! It's just another way to get out fly fishing on our extensive menu of fly fishing opportunities here in NE Florida!

 

 Happy client with 1st fish in fly

 Happy fishing faces with 1st fish on fly

Some Fly fishing Scenario's with Capt. Rich Santos

Tailing Redfish Time...

 That magical time of year is here again known as the “Tailing Reds in the Flooded Grass Flats”. That means stalking for hungry feeding Redfish that wave at you on the flats. The hunt is on! It can be fished either by Boat, Kayak or walking in and wade fishing. It’s the only kind of fishing we do here by means of only sight fishing. The season runs approx. 5-6 months from about May through early November. Best time being August to mid-October. My earliest tailer I ever caught was on April 26^th. Did you know that there are approx. 70-80 flood tides per year? I’d say probably about half of those happen when it wasn’t expected and or during the nighttime. You can look for the flood tides around the new and full moon periods. The magic high tide mark to look for is 5.4 ft. at Mayport Bar Pilot. But!...  if you have a strong east to NE wind for a couple day before it supposed to flood than you can get one of those unexpected floods. We can also have the opposite effect if we have a west wind. Atmospheric pressure and rain fall also have an effect on the tide. So the best thing to do is check your local forecast and NOAA tide predictions and observation charts. The flood tide can last anywhere from 2 to 5 hours depending on were you go. We opt to use a 6 to 8 weight fly rods in most cases with a typical 30-35 ft. cast at the tailer with a fiddler Crab fly imitation on the end of you leader.  This kind of sight fishing is know to get your adrenaline and heart rate pumping and is highly recommended for a fun time!

Spring 2014 Fly Fishing Report…

...has been a different and strange one for sure! The truth is that it was nothing like the previous couple years. The Sea Trout bite is generally the best during the Winter and Spring in clear cool waters. It was way off this year compared to past. We did at times consistently catch some smaller Sea Trout in the 14”to 17” range and sometimes those were even tough to find.  It was nothing like the 25”er we had in previous years. The Redfish were on the small side too. I believe the lack of fish and quality of fish was due to the unusually low salinity level and stained water that we had in the marsh. We had higher than normal rain amounts and run off during this spring. What really threw me for a BIG surprise was seeing a huge Garfish that looked to be over 10lbs. and approx. 30-35” long in early May swim ever so slowly past my boat in 3 ft. of water! That’s a first for me to ever see a fresh water fish in the salt marsh! Needless to say that water and weather conditions play a big roll in fishing. On the more positive side we did get a strong run of spring-run Ladyfish, Bluefish and Jack Crevalle in April and early May to save the days. The sight fishing for backing Reds was fair and ran mostly into laid up Redfish on the mud flats with lock jaw. I saw my first Roseate Spoonbill wading in the shallows on May 5^th which tells me that the shrimp are on their way back which activates the Reds more for sight fishing and catching on fly. As we enter June we can begin to look for tailing Redfish in flooded grass flats which generally lasts into early November and  fly fishing the ocean surf in May-June for a mix of different fish. Tight loops and lines all!

                                                           
                                                  Tom S. from Jacksonville with a Ladyfish

                

Joe N. from Germany with a Spotted Sea Trout

 

The Florida Shad Run

Fly fishing the St. Johns River upper headwaters during the Shad run is just another great fishery that our  area has to offer! Did you know that these Shad happen to be relatives of the mighty Tarpon? The Shad are close members of the Herring family. This could only mean one thing! You can plan on getting an acrobatic aerial show when there hooked and experience a pretty hard pull for there size on a 5 weight fly rod! The Shad spend most of their lives mingling with deep sea creatures in the salty ocean. They happen to be a schooling and highly migratory species that come as far as the Bay of Fundy, Canada and amazingly return to spawn in the headwaters of the St. Johns River freshwater environment every winter where they can be caught standing on the edge of central Florida cow pastures.
                                                          
                                                                             January 26, 2014

Guide Trip February 16, 2014

A Day of Firsts

As a 6 year guide I’ve learned and seen that on most of my charters the clients say that the trip is not just about the size or quantity of fish they can catch but more so about seeing the beauty of the marsh,  learning something new and become more experienced to get out on there own one day!... and then go on to say “catching fish is a bonus” No kidding about that! Well to me the fish bonus is like having the topping on a strawberry short cake for a perfect day on the water. I met up on 12/14 with this enthusiastic gentleman who was 45 minutes early and ready to go on his new adventure. Nevertheless despite the 15-20+ MPH steady wind with some higher gusts that the Weatherman didn’t tell us about!...  we had a pretty good day of 1^st times for new local fly fisher Joe P. from Jacksonville. This means 1^st time ever catching fish on fly, 1^st time seeing the salt tidal marsh, 1^st time casting a fly rod in the wind and perhaps maybe some other firsts. The end result was Joe getting his topping on the cake with 3 Redfish and starting a new hobby in his life that his Dad did in his own lifetime.  With that said as a guide I often get more pleasure with first timers and making happy fishing faces!

Joe was nice enough to submit a Goggle review here of his 1st experience in learning how to cast and fishing the salt marsh. ( c lick Google Review link under First Coast Fly Fishing Unlimited )

https://www.google.com/search?q=fly+fishing+guide+jacksonville&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

                                                                     

                                                                             December 14, 2013

Wintertime Fly Fishing Forecast

Yep you bet!.. this is when the Spotted Sea Trout bite turns on! The clear and cool water temperatures that run in 50s-60s is what really warrants these big toothy fish to move into our backwaters and taking your fly with gusto! This is the time of year I like to wade fish St. Augustine either by walking a beach or traveling by kayak and or running the Skiff to my favorite holes in Jacksonville's Timucuan Preserve. Were mostly catching them with an intermediate sink tip fly line on the HD Clouser fly by blind casting and drifting your line through the waters current around structure. Our wintertime pattern also includes catching some Bluefish and Jack Crevalle in the mix with some opportunities to catch a Redfish as the water warms up toward the middle of the day. But mostly fly fishing for Big Trout is on the menu! Good luck and tight lines!