# Desperate Measures – Roadtrip on Fly – 8/26/2011



## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Gleaming like polished steel in the sudden sunlight, the beast launched itself from the depths, glimmering brightly as it writhed and twisted above the shattered surface, seemingly suspended in time for the briefest of moments. Then a shower of glittering droplets and foam spewed forth as the silver king crashed back into the turbulent waters from which it had just emerged. As the remnant moisture of the fish’s leap rained down in every direction, a coil of chartreuse fly line, still airborne, drifted lazily back toward its owner, now devoid of both the fish and the lure that had only a half second before been the source of much excitement. With heart still pounding in my ears, I momentarily examined the frayed remains of my fluorocarbon tippet before quickly retying in hopes of doing it all again! 


It was late August in Jupiter, Florida, a time and place where giant snook gather beneath the shadow of the town’s iconic lighthouse for their yearly spawn, and where anglers such as myself congregate in hopes of testing their mettle against the largest of those scaly monsters.  This year however, hurricane Irene made an untimely march up the coast, turning those normally calm, clear blue waters into a silty, turquoise soup, awash with storm debris, unearthed sea turtle eggs and dead or dying sea life :'(. Consequently, the ordinarily phenomenal snook bite was nonexistent and after several hours on the water without even a nibble, my lowly troop that had waited all year to make the Jupiter trek again, called it quits and admitted defeat. What a disappointment! [smiley=tinyviolin.gif]


Unwilling to except a goose egg for the trip however, I began a desperate crusade to locate something or anything willing to take a fly.  Several land-reachable, seawalls, bridge pilings, boat docks and culverts all were tested and rejected, before I found myself standing waist deep in the pounding surf near Juno pier. [smiley=badidea.gif] It was a lost cause to begin with, but with few other options available, I tried anyway and after dozens of beautiful but fruitless casts, I grew weary of being knocked about and headed forlornly back to the truck. :-[
























Driving aimlessly along A1A, I scratched absently at the sand in my shorts and wondered what do next, when the clue-phone rang…literally! [smiley=blahblahblah.gif] It was my friend Bob, and he had the best news of the day. Apparently, Bob’s brother had been told about a nearby spot where juvenile snook and tarpon purportedly reside year-round and enjoy an unpressured, angler-free existence. Well, that existence was about to change boys! [smiley=popcorn2.gif]


Moments later, with the GPS barking directions and the radar detector chirping out warnings, I was racing toward my last and final hope for salvaging this once-a-year adventure. After stopping briefly to pick up Bob from his hotel, we arrived at the location and began to scout the area. A telltale slap in the reeds later, we knew there were snook present and I began fan-casting one of my zonker patterns along the opposite shoreline. Three casts in and I got a strike, a hard strike, but a sloppy hookset cost me a decent fish. [smiley=shucks.gif]


Excited at the prospect of finally catching my first snook on fly, I reset and made another cast into the same spot. Halfway through the retrieve, I watched the lure disappear and the line went taut. It was nowhere near the size of that first hookup, but when the fish went airborne and I saw the signature lateral line, I couldn’t have been more excited! [smiley=yahoo.gif]









Another long rod milestone behind me, I turned my attention to improving the mark. We knew there were bigger snook around and it didn’t take long to find one…









…or two! 









The White Eyed Rabbit Zonker doing its job…









Right before catching snook number three, Bob and I witnessed a tarpon rolling directly in front of us, within easy casting distance.  The toss was dead on and after only two strips the line went tight and then snapped in the span of about two seconds. Only a huge boil marked the spot where my self-tied fly had tricked its last predator. 


A quick retie later and I was casting to a passing redfish and then a juvenile grouper, neither of which took interest in my fantastic presentations. : Nonetheless, I soon found a pair of rolling tarpon in a small protected cove and the first cast to them resulted in my second poon connection of the day! [smiley=thumbsup.gif] Even more fleeting than the one prior, this tarpon strike lasted only long enough for me to yank the fly from the fish’s mouth, just as it breached the surface. 


Since the fly was still attached, I quickly sent it back out, hoping the second tarpon in the pair would be similarly accommodating. Unfortunately, when the strike did happen, it ended up being the smallest snook of the day, not that I really minded to be honest. A small snook on fly is still a snook on fly, after all. [smiley=happy.gif]









Four snook landed and two tarpon hooked. I was pretty pleased with how this awful, windy, weather wrought day had turned out, so when another tarpon surfaced, headed in the direction of a blind cast I’d just made, I stopped stripping and just enjoyed the anticipation of what was to come…


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## RedFinaddict (Sep 14, 2010)

Awesome report and congrats. Gotta love Florida golf courses!


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Way to make the best of things Jeff. Hard to beat Mother Nature.


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## nightfly (Jul 7, 2011)

back in march me and a buddy went camping down in the everglades and the weather was terrible it was nice in the evening with the fire going then early in the morning it was nice then the wind picked back up and it sucked. and the fishing was terrible i caught 1 ladyfish and 1 snapper and that was it. the moral of the story is sometimes it just sucks. but you made the best out of a bad situation congrats on the snook on fly


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## phishphood (Dec 15, 2006)

Forgot to ask, but how do you like the replacement rod?


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## kbuch312 (Feb 17, 2007)

I knew this was Hammer before the third word without seeing his signature. Awesome report.


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks for the replies guys!  Sorry it took me so long to respond, I kinda forgot I had posted this. :-[

Jason - The CPX is good. I'm getting used to it and it casts well enough. I wish I had the CPS still, so I could compare them side by side, but my impression is that the CPX won't cast quite as far as the CPX did.


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## TomFL (Oct 2, 2007)

You are having entirely too much fun. Please back it down a notch.

;D

-T


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