Winter’s behind us. Water’s warming up everywhere, and fish are on the move, bedding in lakes, migrating in the Gulf and Atlantic. True, March winds can blow your fly back into your face, but that’s why I own spinning tackle and lead sinkers and three or four cast nets. I’m a Florida Cracker, and we aren’t snooty about how we get ‘em in the frying pan.
I discovered over the winter that I may have to transition in March from an old, rusty trailer to a new one for my skiff. My plan is to take my wife fishing and let her have a good look at the bare trailer at the ramp, with its one busted roller, worn carpet and a slight limp to the left. (Maybe both tires aren’t the same size?) The idea is to appear willing to continue using the trailer, despite it’s dangerous condition. She’s a dear, so I hope she’ll be paying attention. I don’t think she wants to lose me in a shower of highway sparks.
Wading one morning recently, a Cracker friend of mine, Robert Fischer from Tampa, landed a 6 lb. Sheepshead on a size-4 Jim’s Golden Eye, using a 5-wt. rod and 8-lb. tippet. It’s a complex and unlikely looking bonefish fly only a Florida expert would have chosen. If you know Florida fish, you know that a 6 lb. Sheepshead is a catch of a lifetime on fly. His Jim’s Golden Eyes are custom-tied by Layne “Smitty” Smith from the Suncoast Fly Fishing Club in St. Pete. There’s always a crowd watching Smitty tie flies at club meetings—he’s an artist at the tying vise. (Check out the fly clubs in your area.)
I had equipment problems and a knee replacement after duck season that kept me off the water. I finally got around to putting away my chest waders a couple weeks ago. Mine smelled mysteriously like a penguin cage, so I determined to call Hodgman Wader Company. I’d paid top dollar! Before I called, a shooting buddy reminded me what it was like to be in a blind with me after the Spicy Burrito Breakfast Special in Okeechobee. He said that I broke wind like a bucking horse, and should have thrown the waders in the trash. Come to find out, I was not the problem, but someone had left a teal in one of my boots. I think I know who it was. Oh, the payback!
Spring winds can blow hard and not affect pompano fishing in Fort Pierce, which I do on light spinning tackle with Doc’s Goofy Jigs in the ships’ channel and turning basin. Or I cast to drop offs.
Recently I rode like a tourist in my pal’s boat, out near the mouth of the Ft. Pierce inlet. I had my bum leg propped up, offering advice he didn’t need. Why does he always catch more fish than I do? Beat this: Fished for three hours, caught nine pompano, then went by boat to Chuck’s on the causeway for fried shrimp. Back on the water, caught more pompano, feisty and beautiful each and every one. The only hitch was remembering the art of filleting a 3 lb. pompano, which calls for special techniques. My friend retrained me. (He suggested that I take the fillets I cleaned.)
Speckled Perch fishing can be productive in the wind too, fishing with minnows or jigging in the reeds. I’ve got another Florida Cracker fishing friend who practically lives at Lake Arbuckle in the spring, trailering his boat and camping during winter months. He’s a bit of a whiner, but when he calls, I get right over there and listen to him complain about not having enough fire wood and how hard the wind’s been blowing. We fry up some “speck” fillets and hush puppies in a skillet on a propane stove. He makes a killer tartare sauce. I always take a $6 plastic-wrapped bundle of 7-11 wood and a box of “HOT” Krispy Creme doughnuts. It’s good to have some sort of treat for a guy nice enough to invite me fishing. Never been fishing for Speckled Perch? Get a pal and hire a guide for a half-day on almost any big Florida lake. It’s cheaper than you think, a different way of fishing, and a real hoot.