Some of the very best fishing for ladyfish I have ever seen in the past couple of weeks. This is the time of year the ladies pass through the area as the bait migration is happening, and this year fishing for them has been spectacular. Huge schools of very large ladies in the two to five pounds plus range are out along the beaches and the weather has been just perfect. Calm seas and clear water. Numbers over fifty fish in a half day trip, pretty much out of control action with a dozen or more fish fighting over who gets to eat the fly. I had been chumming them, but decided that was needless. If you could just get a fly in the area, they would pound it. Also had some good dolphin action the end of last week. Out by myself on Thursday, I managed three in the box,( had finished off all my dolphin filets long ago) two twenty pounders and a twelve pounder, and released four more in the ten pound range. My customer on Friday also released about a half dz. It was nice to see some starting to show back up after the dolphin drought we experienced all summer. I also heard of some skipjack tuna action going on, but didn’t see any of that personally. Tarpon rounded out the menu over the past couple of weeks. Though not red hot, they have been quality fish in the thirty to sixty pound range. One forty five pounder was landed on an eight weight, not the typical tackle you’d like to fight one on, so it took awhile and put on a great jumping show. This is my favorite time of year for the tarpon, with the silver kings all headed south following the bait schools and feeding as they go. A bit of a change from their attitude in spring when they’re headed north with traveling and sex being the only things on their minds. We get our first cold front of the fall/winter season coming through this week. That heralds the winter menu’s imminent arrival. The ladyfish will move into their usual haunts, but the jacks, spanish mackerel, sailfish and my best buds, the spinner sharks are just around the corner. It should also get the skipjack tuna really chewing.
