Florida - Day 7
We had about a 1/2 day to fish before heading to the airport. We hit a bunch of spots that just didn't produce at all. Finally caught one more fish to end the trip.
This was a GREAT trip! I caught a bunch of fish species I've been wanting to get for awhile. I ended with 25 species for the trip, and 21 of those were new to me on the fly rod! This boosted my Fly Rod Life List to 105 species!
Florida - Day 6
We drove down to the Keys and fished a couple saltwater spots before hitting a pier on Key West.
I caught 9 different species of saltwater fish.
Houndfish
I had a stingray on for a while, but it eventually cut my line on coral.
French Grunts
Sailors Choice
Bluestriped Grunt
White Grunt
Tomtate
Bermuda Chub
Pigfish
And Yellowtail Snapper
Florida - Day5
We went looking specifically for Bullseye Snakeheads. We saw some, had just a few follows, my friend thinks he got at least one strike....but we did not catch any.
Instead, I got:
A nice Peacock Bass on topwater!
Mayan Cichlids
A 12" Spotted Tilapia
And foul-hooked a 17" Plecostomus while trying to get it to bite the fly.
Florida - Day 4
We went to the only place in the U.S. where you can catch Barramundi. These fish are crazy strong and acrobatic. Fighting just one will completely shred 50 lb bite tippet! I caught 11 of them, and about half of those were on topwater flies, while the rest were on a Clouser Deep Minnow, which got destroyed.
I also caught a few Florida Largemouth Bass there.
Then we went to another spot and caught a bunch of Spotted Sunfish
Warmouth
And a fish I was really hoping for, but didn't think we'd manage to catch... I caught a half-dozen Redbreasted Sunfish! Beautiful strong fish! Very excited to have caught these at last!
Day 3
Caught a couple more African Jewelfish
A Crested Goby
Spotted Sunfish
Florida Largemouth Bass
Coppernose Bluegill
Also Warmouth and Mayan Cichlids
some Florida Gar
And the other kind of bowfin (now that there are 2 species).... the Ruddy Bowfin!
