3wt7X
Active member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 704
I finally had the opportunity and time to plan my first Salt water fly fishing trip. I performed a lot of research and I located Fly fishing Extremes Charter’s based out of Jupiter/Palm Beach Florida. Fly Fishing Extremes is run by Captain Scott Hamilton and I cannot say enough about his hard work and knowledge about the fishery down there. Upon meeting Captain Scott, he informed my cousin and me that our trip was going to be a total team effort and the first step was to cast net live bait for chumming. We met on Singer Island, which runs along the Palm Beach inlet and we worked together to cast net live sardines inside the inlet. This was neat process and I really enjoyed the hands on aspect of it. Once we gathered several hundred live baits, we departed the inlet.
The conditions were calm, with 2’-4’ rolling waves, blue water and partly cloudy skies. We saw plenty of flying fish along with sea turtles as we proceeded out to the weed line. Upon arriving at the weed line, my cousin immediately noticed a small school of peanut sized dolphinfish (mahi-mahi). Captain Scott assisted my cousin with hooking one up and they left the fish in the water as I took shots at the others. I ended up jumping off two little ones and the school spooked. We moved on and continued to check the weed lines for dolphin for another hour with negative results.
Our next move was inside to the reef area for live chumming False Albacore (also known as Bonito in Florida). Captain Scott set up over the reef and began tossing chum. Almost immediately, we saw large splashes and boils around the boat, which looked like bowling balls falling from the heavens. I made a nice 50’ cast into the commotion and I began stripping line as fast as I could. The next feeling I encountered could only be described as someone hooked the end of my leader to a Vespa and began driving away. I fought that fish for about 15 minutes and landed my first salt water fish on a fly rod; an eight pound Bonito. As I fought that fish, my cousin also hooked one up, which really put the fight to him. I proceeded to catch a rainbow runner and another Bonito before my cousin brought the 15 plus pound Bonito to the boat. We continued to catch fish at a fast pace throughout the day.
My cousin had never fly fished before, so Captain Scott would dead chum the fish up the boat and have my cousin dead drift his “Eat-Me” fly back with the chum. For me, Captain Scott would use a cut plastic baseball bat to disperse live chum away from the boat and then he would direct me to the largest crashing fish.
Towards the end of the day, large black fin tuna began showing up in the chum lines with the bonito. These fish require long 80’ casts and a lot of luck to get the fly to them before the Bonito ate it. Unfortunately, we were unable to extract one, but on my last cast I was able to shoot 70’ of line into a big boil. I got one strip in before a monster took the fly. I fought that fish for about 30 minutes (praying for a black fin) only to find an 18 plus pound Bonito on the end of my line. Captain Scott notified me that it was well within the reach of the IGFA World Record, but we humbly returned the fish to its lair.
I can honestly say that my addiction for fly fishing has grown three fold with this salt water experience. Captain Scott is a great guide and he is a pioneer of sorts in the Salt water fly fishing industry of South Florida. I would strongly encourage all of you to check out his site www.flyfishingextremes.com. Here are some pictures of the trip in chronological order. Enjoy!!!
The conditions were calm, with 2’-4’ rolling waves, blue water and partly cloudy skies. We saw plenty of flying fish along with sea turtles as we proceeded out to the weed line. Upon arriving at the weed line, my cousin immediately noticed a small school of peanut sized dolphinfish (mahi-mahi). Captain Scott assisted my cousin with hooking one up and they left the fish in the water as I took shots at the others. I ended up jumping off two little ones and the school spooked. We moved on and continued to check the weed lines for dolphin for another hour with negative results.
Our next move was inside to the reef area for live chumming False Albacore (also known as Bonito in Florida). Captain Scott set up over the reef and began tossing chum. Almost immediately, we saw large splashes and boils around the boat, which looked like bowling balls falling from the heavens. I made a nice 50’ cast into the commotion and I began stripping line as fast as I could. The next feeling I encountered could only be described as someone hooked the end of my leader to a Vespa and began driving away. I fought that fish for about 15 minutes and landed my first salt water fish on a fly rod; an eight pound Bonito. As I fought that fish, my cousin also hooked one up, which really put the fight to him. I proceeded to catch a rainbow runner and another Bonito before my cousin brought the 15 plus pound Bonito to the boat. We continued to catch fish at a fast pace throughout the day.
My cousin had never fly fished before, so Captain Scott would dead chum the fish up the boat and have my cousin dead drift his “Eat-Me” fly back with the chum. For me, Captain Scott would use a cut plastic baseball bat to disperse live chum away from the boat and then he would direct me to the largest crashing fish.
Towards the end of the day, large black fin tuna began showing up in the chum lines with the bonito. These fish require long 80’ casts and a lot of luck to get the fly to them before the Bonito ate it. Unfortunately, we were unable to extract one, but on my last cast I was able to shoot 70’ of line into a big boil. I got one strip in before a monster took the fly. I fought that fish for about 30 minutes (praying for a black fin) only to find an 18 plus pound Bonito on the end of my line. Captain Scott notified me that it was well within the reach of the IGFA World Record, but we humbly returned the fish to its lair.
I can honestly say that my addiction for fly fishing has grown three fold with this salt water experience. Captain Scott is a great guide and he is a pioneer of sorts in the Salt water fly fishing industry of South Florida. I would strongly encourage all of you to check out his site www.flyfishingextremes.com. Here are some pictures of the trip in chronological order. Enjoy!!!
