Rusty Spoons

Charter out of Bud N Mary’s- Flats fishing Summer of 2017 We started the day bright and early at Bud n/’Mary’s in Islamorada Key, Florida. We were out on the water at 6 a.m, and hunting tarpon by 6:30. Our captain, Mark, brought us to our first spot, a cove nuzzled into a mangrove island. As soon as we cut the motor and Mark handed us a well kept and maintained rod and reel rigged with a white D.O.A minnow; Tarpon tails were clearly visible as the illusive fish swam with their tails out of the shallow water. Rods at the ready, and our ears pierced by the soft but sturdy tone of Mark’s voice calling out “12 o'clock” or “3 o'clock”, we would precisely fling our soft plastic baits several meters in front of the tarpon's path. After 1 hour of seeing tarpon roll and seeing the tarpon blatantly ignore our offerings, we moved on to another species: bonefish. We coasted along the mangrove islands in skinny water that would most likely not pass our knees. Our captain, Mark...

Stripers in the Heat of the Summer (8/13/17) Small schoolies are very abundant in Northern Long Island Sound waters. This specimen was taken on a Lazer Sardine SP minnow from Weed Beach in Darien, CT. We fished from 5:25 to 7:00p.m. . Fishing a boulder field when the tide is moving is extremely productive for catching finicky summertime bass. Schoolie stripers will move into inlets with heavy current and rocks during the heat of the summer, because this setting provides dissolved oxygen and abundant baitfish for the schoolies to gorge on (on this particular trip we observed striped bass feeding on peanut bunker). Although these fish may be in great quantities during this time of year, they tend to be finicky and reluctant to feed on some baits. It is of utmost importance to size down on the profile of the bait. Implementing subtle action baits, and retrieving lures slower so the lethargic fish will not be spooked by presentation can also lead to increased catc...