albatross
Well-known member
My wife and I went saltwater flyfishing out of Jupiter Florida with Captain Ron Doerr proprietor of Bite Me Charters www.CaptainRonBiteMe.com Thursday March 23. We fished from 1 to 5 PM. Air temps in the 80s and water in the 70s. Capt Ron used a cast net to fill the live wells with minnows before we left the inlet in his 32 foot twin V hull boat. This was my first time flyfishing in saltwater.
He put us on some bluefish pretty quickly and my wife Robbin landed a few of these on light spinning gear (she's not much of a fly caster). Ron brought some bluefish in for me to cast a popper to by casting a plug without hooks. I had at least 3 takes by the bluefish, but I had not yet mastered the stripset at this point and lost all the fish that took.
Once the action died down on the bluefish, we motored a little further up the coast and got into a large school of spanish mackerel. We anchored the boat here and Ron got the fish excited by tossing out live minnows by the dozen every 5 or 10 minutes. The water would just boil when the baitfish hit the water. Here I finally mastered the stripset and eventually I was hooking fish with regularity. Ron had me set up with an 8 weight rod and brite colored streamers with a lot of flash. These fish arenincredibly fast and the takes would nearly take the rod out of my hands. The fish we brought to hand ran 2 to 7 pounds. Both my wife and I caught many fish (dozens?) and I'm sure we had at least 3 doubles while we were there. Robbin caught the biggest fish of the day, but I think I ended up catching a few more fish than she did. We had a wonderful time on the water with Captain Ron, and I would highly recommend him to anyone who finds themselves in the Jupiter area. He knows how to find the fish and he's a wonderful teacher.
The weight of these fish was similar to the steelhead I've caught in Erie, but these fish are faster and fight harder.
My thanks to our moderator FishIdiot (Dave W) who sent me his saltwater fly box to take on my trip. I caught several mackerel on Dave's flies, but I switched back to the guide's flies because the mackerel were really tearing up the flies. Thanks Dave!
He put us on some bluefish pretty quickly and my wife Robbin landed a few of these on light spinning gear (she's not much of a fly caster). Ron brought some bluefish in for me to cast a popper to by casting a plug without hooks. I had at least 3 takes by the bluefish, but I had not yet mastered the stripset at this point and lost all the fish that took.
Once the action died down on the bluefish, we motored a little further up the coast and got into a large school of spanish mackerel. We anchored the boat here and Ron got the fish excited by tossing out live minnows by the dozen every 5 or 10 minutes. The water would just boil when the baitfish hit the water. Here I finally mastered the stripset and eventually I was hooking fish with regularity. Ron had me set up with an 8 weight rod and brite colored streamers with a lot of flash. These fish arenincredibly fast and the takes would nearly take the rod out of my hands. The fish we brought to hand ran 2 to 7 pounds. Both my wife and I caught many fish (dozens?) and I'm sure we had at least 3 doubles while we were there. Robbin caught the biggest fish of the day, but I think I ended up catching a few more fish than she did. We had a wonderful time on the water with Captain Ron, and I would highly recommend him to anyone who finds themselves in the Jupiter area. He knows how to find the fish and he's a wonderful teacher.
The weight of these fish was similar to the steelhead I've caught in Erie, but these fish are faster and fight harder.
My thanks to our moderator FishIdiot (Dave W) who sent me his saltwater fly box to take on my trip. I caught several mackerel on Dave's flies, but I switched back to the guide's flies because the mackerel were really tearing up the flies. Thanks Dave!
int: ;-)
