Shallowfish.com

Each month I field a question from a reader and answer it as best I can, focusing on those inquiries and responses that I believe will be of general benefit or interest. I recently received this email from Tom in Port Charlotte, FL, who asks: “If you could pick one variable to control - wind, tide, moon phase, etc. - what would it be? Oh, and where the hell have you been?”

Haw. I like the second question, which is a fair one, and which I’ll address. But as for your first question, I’d take the ability to command the tides, without question. Wind can be a real pain in the caboose, but I’ve caught lots of fish, and good ones, on windy days. Moon phase certainly affects feeding habits, but just when you think you have it all figured out, fish disappear when the moon’s “just right” or explode on lures when it’s “all wrong.” But I seldom see fish feed on a slack tide. Moving water is a dinner bell, and no other factor - in my humble opinion - affects the behavior of shallow-water game fish more. As for where I’ve been: I’ve been working on a long-standing project that will soon redefine this site. I apologize again for the long lag between posts. I’ll post some extra content this week to catch up a bit, but my focus is on the redesign until it’s complete. Thanks for your patience, and stay tuned.

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A number of folks have written to ask what happened to the old skiff I recently sold. A couple of young bucks down this way bought it, and they’re already tearing her to pieces on their way to a rebuild. If you want to see a past-her-prime skiff rise like a phoenix, keep an eye on this thread over on the FS forum: http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=757288

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Rain. Then rain. And then some more rain.

Finally got out yesterday with MoJoe, making our way north after work to hit DependaBay. Big red patches loomed on the radar, but we figured they’d rain themselves out by the time we arrived. The best laid plans, and all that. We put his skiff in once we arrived, heard a bolt of lightning erupt nearby, and skinned our asses back to the dock. From the safety of his truck we watched light dance across the heavens and the rain fall on the bay in sheets. To pass the time, we listened to talk radio, where Mark Levine was hammering Obama and Hillary “Her Thighness” Clinton. Great stuff. Struck us that Levine’s voice sounded just like the duck in the Aflac ads. We ran back to the flat with about twenty minutes of daylight left, but the rain persisted, the water was muddy and it was soon dark. Joe had a chance to cast a new prototype lure he built, but it spun in barrel rolls on the surface and he cussed it like a sailor. As he put it away, he said “Nice frigging job, Proto Baggins.” I had to take a knee. Tough fishing, but big laughs, as usual.

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Reach Fish Where No Man Has Gone Before.

You’ve been there, I’m sure. We all have. You’re standing on the bow of a skiff, arm cocked, lure dangling, ready to cast. A moment before, you heard a smashing hit around a bend in the shoreline. As you approach the general vicinity of the strike, you hear another. But it’s strangely muffled, and you know what that means. A big fish has burrowed its way far back under the overhanging branches, and it’s rooting around, stacking bait into corners where it can feed at will. The problem? It’s so far back under the “junk” that there’s no way to present your lure. So you sit there with a wistful look on your face, listening to that big fish ravaging bait within feet of the skiff, as unreachable as the moon. So…what are your alternatives? Read the rest of this entry »

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Seems all my buds are on a roll. My cousin recently sent me this pic from the Keys using his iPhone. He’s in Marathon, where he and his family make an annual trip down to fish the deep waters of the Atlantic for sails, wahoo, dolphin, etc. This big cow is headed for the icebox.

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My buddy Pete recently snapped the pic above and sent it my way. He’s doing very well on the browns and brookies in a secret stretch of river in Connecticut, and though he’s conservation conscious, he and his son occasionally keep a fish or two for the grill. This pic has me looking forward to my annual (business-related) jaunt to Vermont later this summer.

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As part of the epic Get John’s Damn Skiff Working Again Project, I recently purchased a used trailer from a buddy of mine. When I went to pick it up, sitting atop it was an old red ‘77 Maverick skiff (model #2). Got me interested in its history, and (with the caveat that this is second-hand info) this is what I discovered: Read the rest of this entry »

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