# A weekend of firsts, and many more! Bonefish, Peacock Bass, Redfish



## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

The red fishing has been hardcore the past two or so weeks.
I've been down to flamingo six times the past week and a half.
And while I haven't been in Flamingo, I've been doing some fly fishing for Peacock Bass in the afternoon on workdays.
Finding the big peacock bass feeding aggressively around culverts and ledges. 

I went out with my buddy Ramiro sometime last week to target pea's. We caught somewhere around 15 I cannot remember exactly. 










Hanging off of lakeside ledges with a camera, fly rod, and pea can be a real PITA.
So Ramiro held this pea I caught so I can snap a pic.....

















My buddy Jason had always told me that he had never caught a fish larger than 6".
So once we were done working on the Gheenoe Classic, we grabbed the rods and went out for some peacock bass.
I told him I could put him on some good fish, but he insisted that it wouldn't happen.
I rigged him up with my spinning rod and a jig that I tied to look exactly like the peacock clousers that I chuck with the long rod.
Told him to cast off the ledge that he would be certain to get one of these big peas to eat.
Sure enough, within minutes he got nailed by a 5 to 6 pounder.
He had no idea how to fight a fish of it's size, and it popped him off after a short fight. 
I pulled out 4 on fly just after.
I didn't have any more jigs so I rigged his rod with a DOA jerkbait.
After about 15 minutes, he pulled out a nice 3 pounder for his biggest fish to date.

Then my mind starting wandering.
I was thinking what the tides would be like for bonefishing because I had a feeling they would be good.
So I checked the tides and I was right.
We had a PERFECT tide for bones at one of my spots.
So I hurried him into the truck and we were on our way.
For we had a long drive during Miami rush hour traffic to pick up some shrimp and get out to the spot.
We make it to the spot right on time.
We fished for about 30 minutes and ended up with a bonefish each of us, and I lost another bonefish, and I got popped off by a snook that frayed through my 15lb leader.











Been out red fishing with my buddy Capt. Nestor Alvisa, Alex Hernandez (dacuban1), Bob Reeves(of Strongarm Products), Mario (Fish Hunter), Christopher Lewis (SWC, True Fish Tails), and my buddies Ryan and Warren. 
Going double digits on redfish on each outing except yesterday.


I've been finding the large schools of large fish marching down the flats in feed mode.
Saturday, I went out with my buddy Capt. Nestor Alvisa on my skiff putting him on reds in the skinny.
We were double digits in reds before lunch, and we caught several more after lunch as the reds swung through again with the incoming water.
Witnessed Jose Arias (ShallowCaster) get his first red on fly as he and Rainer worked the same flat we were working.

Here's a pic Rainer snapped of Nestor and I hooked on a double.









Here are some pictures from Flamingo the past few trips.









































Saturday night, Christopher Lewis hit me up that he wanted to get his first redfish on fly on Sunday.
I had already told my buddy Warren Chin that I would take him out to get on the hot redfish bite.
So we ended up heading out us three on Chris's brand new Maverick HPX 18.
That thing is sweet!
Thankfully that was the case.
For the wind predictions were way off, and the storms came hours earlier than the prediction had read.
We made our 20 mile run in minutes with that 115 yammy on the back.
I jumped on the poling platform and made my way over to where I thought the schools of reds were going to choose as their path. (judging by the wind direction, etc.)
And sure enough, the schools started to come.
They each boated a few but these weren't the schools of big fish yet.
I've been finding schools of lower slot fish to show up before the floodgates are knocked over by schools of over slot fish.
So we pick off a few lower slot fish just to await the schools of big fish to show up as they have the past two weeks.
But the schools of big fish didn't make that big push.
We saw a few here and there, but without any consistency.
Chris made a great cast on a school and had one red eat but came off.
By now, the lightning is falling everywhere, and we were at 6 reds.
I'm poling over to the channel to jump on plane and haul ass.
I told them to be aware for redfish, for I had spooked plenty omw to the channel the past few trips in that same area.
And sure enough we see a school just out of range.
And Chris is getting ready to take a shot with the fly rod.
As he begins his first false cast, I see a red pop up 20' in front of the skiff.
I tell Chris that there was a fish just in front and somehow on his long false cast he drops the fly perfectly on the nose of the red and it tailed on it instantly taking it.
After a short fight, Chris landed his first redfish on fly.
Not big by any means, but still a first!



















He's done some crazy stuff out of a kayak.
I can only imagine what he will accomplish out of his new skiff.
Check out his blog at: http://www.oceanepics.com/tex/


-Eric Estrada
Tight Lines Fishing Team


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Hardcore is right! You've become one of the most consistently successfuly anglers on here, whether on fly or conventional tackle.  Great job(s) and super report and pictures! 

Mmmmm...bonefish...


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## Gramps (Nov 1, 2007)

Damn Eric, you've got that area on lock down! What are you daily rates? I need to make a trip.


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## paint it black (Nov 3, 2007)

It's almost time for these winds to die down, and these fish to start tailing hard!
I'm hoping to do some hardcore fly fishing for bones and reds this year.
I've been coaching a few friends into polers so they can give me some opportunities on the bow this year.


And daily rates? I just expect for everyone to pay their way when we split the costs.


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## cmiranda (Jan 12, 2011)

Great report and awesome pics. Congrats to you and your buddy's on some kick azz fishing action.


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## cobia_pro (Mar 14, 2011)

You the man Eric! He definitely knows his stuff in the park. You failed to tell them about the the almost Permit though... It was fun! Thanks man and you know you are welcome on the boat anytime! I guess I will have to visit microskiff more often since there is no more Maverick forum :'(


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## blackcircle (Sep 19, 2010)

Putting I'n work! Can't wait to test the fly rod out on some reds!


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