# My First red fish



## OtterPop (Oct 24, 2006)

So last weekend I didnt do a report because I did not have the picture . As most of you know I am fairly new to this , This was on friday after playalinda was a bust once again because of our tackle and not being able to get out far enough so our sinkers kept going all the way to the left eventually hitting shore.


Well on our way back we decided to stop at the boat launch / draw bridge on the left hand side . and had nothing . The sea weed was horrible that day. Moving down the line we stop at the bp ( 5 miles down ) to get some drinks and decide to hit the small park and old "boat docks" across from it . 

Another guy had caught a 34" out of slot mine was 25 1/2 in slot but I gave it away as we still have no cooler or anything . Was caught on clam
after him it was about 27 cat fish and some puffers until we decided we had 2 hooks left due to the cat fish swallowing them so we left .


I still not have choosen a surf rod and need help on one , I did how ever pick up a Tibor riptide ( 9 ) and plan on getting a sage xi2 to pair it with eventually . to try my hand this summer here and in captiva ( we have a time share condo ) fly fishing.








( Do not mind the camera date )


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## bcssux (May 23, 2005)

congrats! :fishing:


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## DVO (Mar 22, 2004)

Congratulation on your first red - That's exactly how it's driven me to fishing. I've been in Florida for 23 years, and only been fishing for about 5 years, but my first catch was a BIG pompano (18inches). Happy :fishing:


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## RuddeDogg (Mar 20, 2004)

Nice fish. Congrats on the catch.


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

how did it fight?


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## OtterPop (Oct 24, 2006)

At first I thought it was a cat , It had that "tug" then nothing , and a tug then nothing , ( fish was caught about 25yards out ) . Well once the distance was cut in half it took a good 6-8 minutes to get it in . 

Getting it up was another story , didnt realize how slimy those suckers were . I really need to start purchasing better tackle . 


Cant wait till I get my reel back so I can hit that spot again .


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## LiteTackleChamp (Jul 29, 2005)

you will love that sage, thats the rod i learned how to fly fish on and its awesome, i dont know how far you are from vero beach but there is an awesome shop there thats a sage dealer and they will hook you up


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## SnookMook (Jan 7, 2004)

OtterPop--Nice redfish. Good report too.

You need to drop me an email about Captiva. I go down there 2-3 times a year and fish it hard.

Do you only fly fish when you're down there?


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## Fishbreath (Nov 11, 2004)

Nice report Otterpop. That's a nice slot fish! Can't wait to hear how you do on Captiva.


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## OtterPop (Oct 24, 2006)

SnookMook said:


> OtterPop--Nice redfish. Good report too.
> 
> You need to drop me an email about Captiva. I go down there 2-3 times a year and fish it hard.
> 
> Do you only fly fish when you're down there?


 I really did not pick up surf fishing until a couple months ago , Unless you have a flats boat fly fishing in CFL can be very frustrating so I avoid it 
( some have luck but my car hardly clears speed bumps so getting to those areas without damage is pointless ) . Most of the time spoons are just better suited due to water clarity etc .

FW though I pull in a lot of speck/crappie .

When I go down there I mostly fly fish for tarpon , there are TONS of reds there but in 14 trips there I have never gotten one . I manage to get a fair amount of snook too . But no license for them since I hardly keep anything I catch anyway .


Had a small question , me and my cousin had gotten bored and went to jetty park , pulled in a tiny whiting and there was some sort of isopod ( size of a sand flea ) and had about 18 legs with sharp needles on them . and you could clearly see 2 non protruding eyes on it . 

Its head popped out of the kingfishes\whitings mouth once I was cutting it up for bait . Was it food or some sort of parasite? It didnt look like a creature I would want to touch with my hand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua

? I know a fair amount about marine biology ( just not fishing ) and wasnt able to come to a conclusion. ( ie. should I of used it as bait hehehe )


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## emanuel (Apr 2, 2002)

That was an isopod and yes, it's a parasite.


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## Don W (Apr 27, 2008)

nice fish, congratulations


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Nice red. The Sages are a nice reel to learn the art of fly fishing. Good luck with it


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## ledweightII (Apr 4, 2008)

thats an awesome red...how did you ever get the smile off your face to take a picture?LOL...


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## OtterPop (Oct 24, 2006)

Oh boy where to start on the no smile , Our days mainly go like this .

I live in apopka , cousin who is "my lil bait finder" is my fishing buddy .

We will be sitting online playing a game , he says he is bored , I'll say lets go fishing , he will say he is broke , I say lets go fishing. So I drive to his place at UCF around 10pm .

*lets get a few hours of sleep this time* Never turns out that way we start drinking and 5am rolls around so we head out . Already tired and hung over . 

We go to skeeter lagoon's , and sometimes across the street , get bait . Stop at the 7-11 around there and get drinks . Head to playalinda . 

Look for a lot thats not totally full and make sure no surfers or nudies are there . ( Personally I do not mind the nudists I just feel weird when a guy is standing there in his birthday suit talking to me about fishing ) 

Walk down the beach set up our stuff , Throw out the lines and watch them go to the far left and come ashore . Try to swim out as far as possible ( Yeah I am stupid some times ) so we can stop them from doing so , tie every possible weight we have in my bag and it still drifts to the left and to shore ( My reel was messed up this day I am not longer going "deep sea diving" with it ). 

We discuss how we need surf rods not pier rods , I have the money for one he doesnt . ( Which I still havent purchased )

We get frustrated and paired with his adhd ( Now a lot of people claim to have this , by all means come fishing with us and in about a hour and a half you will go "CANT YOU JUST SIT DOWN AND FISH heh" )

So we go swimming with our poles in the water getting tangled somewhere between lot 7 and lot 239329482398238 as we just are neglecting them at this point . I get water logged and then realize I shouldnt of worn my shirt in the water because now my nippies feel like I just had gotten done breast feeding china . 

So out of the water and we dig around crab holes to catch them then realize we have no idea how to hook them so make them fight to the death. 

Eventually we run out of "fighters" so we hit the dock in playalinda with a sibinki to catch bait fish yet release them because we have nothing to keep them alive in for very long . 

Try another area for a bit and nothing ( Boat ramp coming back from playalinda by draw bridge ) getting sick of the seaweed which was A LOT that weekend.

get more drinks , food , im getting over tired , time to drink more to help solve this .

Get to the docks around 4pm im tired , sticky and sandy . Catch the red , convince our selves some how it made up for the horrible luck we have been having. Keep getting bothered by a bum .

cousin runs to car to get camera , Decide to measure the fish . manage to slip and fall in "Baer Satin Finish Pelican Poop White"

He comes back a minute later I hold up the fish and hand it to a guy standing next to me who gave me 2 beers . 


I think I would smile more if I could just go to playalinda , have all the gear I need throw out my line , sit back have a nice cold water or beer , have the line stay straight and catch a fish every 
35 minutes and not have to worry about my cousin doing backflips and cart wheels and finding crap to keep him occupied. Fishing is supposed to be relaxing but so far its been nothing but stressful I guess .

Because we are still learning and doing A LOT wrong . 

In other news my Tibor Riptide came , 635 bucks but , Man its one nice fly reel . I think im going to save some of my money for the sage rod 
and spend it elsewhere I would like to get a afaw or breakaway surf rod , and Need to get my money pit bmw serviced . 

My Emblem 5500 came back from diawa , They serviced it in 1 day and replaced every bearing / drag washer . I was actually scared nothing was fixed because of how fast the service was.

I know this sounds kinda odd but , Would the mods mind if I put a single thread for my so called fishing adventures since im just learning and cover all the tackle etc. Hoping to help other "florida" fisherman that have not done surf/jetty and looking to get into it?

The advice from these forums is amazing , I am finding though trial and error is the best way to go. 


What are the oz ratings on most of your rods for playalinda or any coastal florida waters most of the time?


( By the way , those walmart polarized sunglasses lasted 2 trips and they are now junk )


http://tv.shimano.co.jp/movie/original/promotion_fixcel/ damn I want one of those


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