# The day after... trading Copper for Silver... 7-13



## Benzo (Oct 17, 2007)

After fishing the redfish tournament yesterday and having a great time with catching a grand slam and catching that bonus tarpon, Capt. Frank and I felt inspired to dedicate a day to quest for silver in the Florida Bay. The weather report would say the same.. 5-10kts (favorable) but the rain percentage jumped up significantly (unfavorable). The odds broke even and I was on the wall about whether to fish another day or not... a chance at poons... why not.

I awoke to my alarm clock and must have hit the snooze button several times before getting a later then usual start. The HPX-V was already hooked up to the truck from yesterday and I loaded my rods and took off. I picked up Capt. Frank in the AM and we proceeded to launch in the Keys. I got a later start then usual so baby poon spot #1 would be out of the gameplan, skip on to spot #2. 

We depart dark and early from the Keys and make it to Snake Bight in about 45 minutes. The tide had just started rolling in so it was the right time for baby poons. We motored along and found then rolling in the money spot. Capt. Frank got on the high ground, I took the low ground. Casting a weedless rivet fly and then going to a skitterwalk on my plug rod, I'd get some boils, eats, and jumps out of a bunch of 5lb poons. The warmup is done and it was time to go look for bigger boys.

Conditions were not ideal yet so we pushed up into the shallows and waited it out. We poled around a bit for redfish and snook while we waited. I managed a sub slot fish on a topwater and then a very nice linesider on a DOA CAL Jerkbait. 


















Conditions were getting better so we headed out to find some tailing tarpon in a foot of water. We got there at the right time but this time it was windier then usual (wind had picked up to about 15kts out of the WSW), making it tough to sightfish. We poled along for a bit and decided to move on. Just as I put my 10wt flyrod away, Capt. Frank spots a tailing tarpon off the bow. This fish is angry and moving towards us. I scramble for the 10wt, strip out line, and by the time I was able to cast, all i could manage was a 20ft roll cast...fly was too close, fish wigged out, and swam off giving us the threadfin. OK, time to move on...

We decided to wait out a few storms and redfish for a while. We poled around the shallows and fished a couple of new areas. It was 8wt country as we saw lots of tailing redfish. These fish were spookier then usual though and it was tough to coax a bite but I finally convinced one tailer to eat my little #4 merkwan. After a short tug of war, the fly pulls. Fly is ruined... switched to a spinning rod with a DOA jerkbait. Next red in sight... Done.










The wind finally dropped and conditions were ideal. I look over towards the Keys and say "lets go for it"... We depart from Flamingo and start treking our way back to Islamorada to go look for big backcountry laid up poons. I did some poking around earlier this year and last year and found a couple of backcountry basins in the Keys that hold nice laid up fish under certian conditions. We decided to put all our eggs in that basket today and explore a little more of this one area.... now named "Tootsies". 

We arrive at tootsies and continue our quest for silver. Poling in a deep basin, this is where that new 23' Stiffy Graphite pushpole really shined. Fish would be sitting high and happy so I decided to go with my 10wt Loomis CC Pro-1 rod with a Rio floating tarpon taper line. First I tried a tan/white toad. We spot the first laid up poon, I make a [email protected] cast and the fish rejects...time for a fly change. I go with old reliable... a fly I named "the sweetness" and step up to the plate again. 

Next poon we would have a shot at would be a suidicide fish. This poon jumped completely out of the water and ate a needlefish 70ft from the boat. The fish lands back in the water and is swimming around on top extremely angry... I send "the sweetness" out 2ft in front of this suicide fish and it took all but one long strip to get a very aggressive eat. This tarpon shot his whole head out of the water to eat this fly. The fish eats, turns towards the boat, I struggle to come tight, then as I came tight he runs off, jumps, and spits the hook. Guestimated 100lb suidice fish. That was definatley one of the most incredible moments in tarpon fishing I have witnessed so far.

Next fish we spot rejected my offerings (guess he didnt have a sweet tooth). OK, one more fish rolls behind the boat. Capt. Frank turns the boat and sets me up on that beautiful 90 degree shot I love so much (don't know why but I've had more eats on a 90 degree shot then any other). I lead the fish 6ft, let the fly sink to the fish's level and without having to strip the fly, this poon rushes over and eats it... strip strike, hookup, and we are off to the races. 20 minutes of hardcore tugging (went with 25lb class this time) and the poon is gassed.


























What an incredible day to end this weekend. I have to thank Capt. Frank for spending day 2 with me on the water, pushing me around, and setting me up on those beautiful fish. I have all the confidence in the world when this man is on the high ground. 

Dinner time... until next time.. stay tuned.


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## St._Sophie_Girl (Dec 13, 2006)

Very nice!!


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## tom_in_orl (Dec 9, 2006)

Awesome Report! Congrats on a very good day.


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## Lil_Tate (Dec 18, 2006)

nice job Benzo.
Cool poon pics. last one is awesome.


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## iMacattack (Dec 11, 2006)

Thanks for the post! Welcome to our community. 

Cheers


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## aaronshore (Aug 24, 2007)

Great report. I love that area.


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## costefishnt (Dec 11, 2006)

awesome report, and shots! making me rather jealous. may have to play hookey nexrt week.


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## thresher (Dec 18, 2006)

Very nice narrative! Great shots too!


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## HaMm3r (Dec 11, 2006)

What a picture!  [smiley=1-thumbsup3.gif] Excellent write-up too...thanks for sharing with us!


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## deerfly (Mar 10, 2007)

great fish.  these reports make we wish I never left Cutler Ridge sometimes. :-[


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## backwaterbandits (Dec 15, 2006)

Excellent report,pics and fish! What a great trip...Thanks Benzo


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## Brett (Jul 16, 2008)

Seeing the pics makes me nostalgic, The salt water portion is the only part of South Florida I miss


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