VFB, just sent this to my freshwater club
[If you decide not to read this whole thing, be sure to open the pictures in the very last link on the page- Midas Cyclid- somewhat rare and very unusual to catch on a fly] On Saturday afternoon, Tom Ratcliff and I fished the Canal that Joe Rhodes had fished last week. Put in at the ramp at County Line Rd. and absolutely killed them for abut 4-5 hours. What a smorgasbord. Bass, bream, Oscars, Mayans, bowfin, and even a snakehead !! (Tom lost that one at the boat) Can't even guess how many fish we caught. I got everything on a 3wt with a black or purple Byrd's Gillbuster http://www.texasflyreport.com/patterns/pattern.aspx?id=15 or a DP Popper http://www.dppoppers.com/Products.htm size 6 Black body Chartreuse tail. Tom was throwing 1/16 jig heads with a beetlespin body. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shallowminded/sets/72157600123671743/ Sawgrass Sunday Morning we met Twig Tolle and headed to the Glades. We fished the ditches and culverts along Alligator Alley and caught a few fish. The water was quite low in the ditches so after a few fish we left for deeper waters. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shallowminded/sets/72157600123079142/ We fished the canal that starts just east of the C-4 canal. This stretch of water was extraordinary even for this part of the world. For most of that part of the trip, as long as we could see the limestone rocks on the side of the canal, it was difficult to go more than 3-4 casts without catching a fish. Again, Bass, bream, Oscars, Mayans, bowfin, and even PEACOCKS !! As soon as we hit a stretch of water where the gar were plentiful, the hits stopped. The peacocks in this stretch of water were not hitting at all, but everything was. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shallowminded/sets/72157600123000274/ C-4 canal We left these fish to try to find some Peacock Bass in some urban lakes South of the Miami Airport. Fellow flyfishing nut Bobby Latham joined Tom, Twig and I and actually played guide for us. This was real urban fishing as you will see from the pictures. Tom and I each got a Peacock and I caught a Midas Cyclid on the fly as well. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shallowminded/sets/72157600123857074/ bushwhack 1 http://www.flickr.com/photos/shallowminded/sets/72157600124039292/ bushwhack 2 Left Miami about 7:30 PM and got back to Orlando after 11PM. We plan to do it again a month or so. The hotter it gets, the better the peacock fishing is. Although the cyclids and the Oscar fight very well. If anyone is interested let me know. jg
