# Matlacha 1-9-20 - 1-11-20



## Bill Payne (May 22, 2018)

Wind was howling until the morning we came home, but the fishing was excellent. First day we got on a spot and caught decent trout and large ladyfish on almost literally evey cast for about two hours. We have a little mini tournament when we're down there and there's a category for "most fish", and so we padded our numbers on day one. I had 45 by the time we came in for lunch, my fishing partner had another 30. They were trout between 15-20 and ladyfish up to 23". Water clarity was awesome, so we could see them hammering the plugs.









before coming back we decided to throw the fly and got another five, this was my first fish on a fly I tied myself. It's a bendback.










That afternoon another buddy got a nice bluefish. Biggest one I ever saw, but then I haven't seen a lot of bluefish:









There's another category for Biggest Fish Any Species, and this 25" Red brought that pot home with me:










And that was all the first day!

The second day was definitely not as good. The spot with all the fish on the first day had dolphin prowling all over it, so the bite was pretty much off. We got maybe 10 total fish between three anglers. So we moved and sight fished some reds in crystal clear water, but no takes. We honestly didn't even really get off a realistic shot, I'm pretty rusty on sight fishing, so need some to work on my direction from the platform. My direction to the guy on the bow was something along these lines: "Redfish 3 oclock, no 2, no like 2:30, like um, maybe 30-40 feet.? Ug (disgusted with self, pointing with the push pole), just throw it over there!!"

So off we went on a drift across a deeper flat and got this nice fish as the last of the trip, this was also the biggest pomp I've ever seen. This thing really fought like a permit:









Overall a great trip!


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## Bill Payne (May 22, 2018)

Bill Payne said:


> Wind was howling until the morning we came home, but the fishing was excellent. First day we got on a spot and caught decent trout and large ladyfish on almost literally evey cast for about two hours. We have a little mini tournament when we're down there and there's a category for "most fish", and so we padded our numbers on day one. I had 45 by the time we came in for lunch, my fishing partner had another 30. They were trout between 15-20 and ladyfish up to 23". Water clarity was awesome, so we could see them hammering the plugs.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Also I should say, all fish were released to fight another day.


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## PuntaG (Dec 31, 2019)

Very nice! How deep was the “deeper flat”?


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## Bill Payne (May 22, 2018)

PuntaG said:


> Very nice! How deep was the “deeper flat”?


3-4 feet with dark bottom.


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## PuntaG (Dec 31, 2019)

I just bought my first real skiff and have about 2 weeks in late Feb to break it in. Can’t wait to hit the mangroves and flats around Pine Island/ Matlacha. This post is making the wait even harder! Congrats on the catch, that’s a real nice pompano


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

Fake news there are no fish in Matlacha I repeat there's no fish in Matlacha don't waste your time. Good report OP.


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## crboggs (Mar 30, 2015)

Bill Payne said:


> I'm pretty rusty on sight fishing, so need some to work on my direction from the platform. My direction to the guy on the bow was something along these lines: "Redfish 3 oclock, no 2, no like 2:30, like um, maybe 30-40 feet.? Ug (disgusted with self, pointing with the push pole), just throw it over there!!"


When struggling...have them "point your rod at your 10 oclock...come right...come right...hold there...on that line you have a redfish at 70' (or a long cast)...can you see him...ok make a long cast...you're short and right of your target...try again"

Have your angler point and then give incremental corrections. 

This is where fly works better...IMHO...you can water haul and put the fly back out without having to retrieve and recast from scratch...


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## Bill Payne (May 22, 2018)

crboggs said:


> When struggling...have them "point your rod at your 10 oclock...come right...come right...hold there...on that line you have a redfish at 70' (or a long cast)...can you see him...ok make a long cast...you're short and right of your target...try again"
> 
> Have your angler point and then give incremental corrections.
> 
> This is where fly works better...IMHO...you can water haul and put the fly back out without having to retrieve and recast from scratch...


That’s good advice, thanks.


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## Megalops (Oct 23, 2011)

That is one heck of a pompano! Very nice


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## saltyfly239 (8 mo ago)

matlacha has been decent as of lately but still over-pressured.


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

saltyfly239 said:


> matlacha has been decent as of lately but still over-pressured.


Matlacha has been over pressured for a long time


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

Redfish is definitely not what it used to be but the trout action has been pretty good last few times I went. We did catch a few reds last time between 20-25" but I feel if you get 1-2 in a day its fantastic whereas before that was just an OK day lol.


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