Charlotte Harbor Fly Fishing Report Covid Version 2.0
If my calculations are correct this article will be coming out on November 26 th so let me wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!! By now you have obviously decided how you are spending the normally, “Big
Family and Friends Gathering” holiday. This makes me wonder which set of CDC, State or local rules have you decided to follow or ignore in order to enable you and yours to enjoy your T-day to the fullest? It’s a funny thing really, I have known what the CDC (The Center for Disease Control and Prevention) is… what it does… and that it’s located (in Atlanta Georgia) for years, but until this pandemic, when I heard the acronym CDC, the first thing that came into my mind was Cul De Cannard, not disease control.
Cul de canard is a French term basically meaning… wait for it …duck butt. No, No, No, this isn’t a rarely heard of delectable delight served up for the first Thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth, but a group of delicate oily feathers found around the preen gland (uropygial gland) on the duck (and other aquatic birds). These feathers are used for, what else but, tying flies… dry flies at that. Due to their oily nature they have a built in natural buoyancy that works to keep those small flies afloat. So now Covid is even interfering with my fly tying. Don’t mess with my CDC!
Charlotte Harbor Fly Fishing Thanksgiving Day
I can tell you that my T-day plans have changed. It usually starts off with a half day charter with two brothers that I have taken out several years now. They come and spend T-Day in Boca Grande with family. After that my wife and I get together with a group of about 15 or 20 people that have nowhere
else to go. Which means that all of our immediate families live too far away to make it reasonable to travel to, or actually have no family left. Well, this group of misfits informed me that because of the big upswing of covid cases and CDC guidelines (not cul de canard) that they have called off the big get together all together.
The brothers I spoke of above, just called this morning and they said that they are not making the trip this year. They don’t want to spend time in airports with all the other travelers. I can’t blame them. I also heard an hour ago that airlines maybe cancelling flights anyway (not verified). So yes, plans have changed. I guess I will have more time to prepare the Charlotte Harbor Fly Fishing Report
Plan B
If I pick up a charter for T-day that will be great, if not, I’ll spend time hiking with my wife, in one of the many preserves or parks that we have available to us here in our area. She is much like our Waterline publisher Josh Olive in that she will go for a walk and end up on her hands and knees looking at plants, bugs and other critters to satisfy her curiosity. Maybe she will want to get on the water to fish and sight see. In that case whether it’s Diane or a client we will go look for Macks and Bonito first out in the Gulf.
I love watching her or a client hooking up to a Bonito. The gulf probably rockin’ the boat with some wind chop and then swells on top of that. The rod is being yanked out of their hand by the speed and power of the Little Tunny, while the spool is being dumped and knuckles are being busted…what fun!!
New Flies?
I’ve also tied up some new flies that I want to try on them. Of course I will keep my eyes peeled for tripletail too. I’ve got a new fly for them also. They won’t be able to resist it! Famous last words right? I’ve been finding a few of them and catching them fairly consistently. But, most have been on the small side so far. They should start showing up in better numbers and hopefully size wise a little bigger, around buoys and flotsam in the Gulf and harbor very soon.
Decent Jacks
Oh did I mention the 15 pound Crevalle Jacks that showed up a few days ago. You can’t miss them, an acre of water just blows up with their patented explosive pops and crashes. Of course you can’t always count on them either, but what a bonus it is when they do show up… and they don’t care what fly you throw. If you hit the water with the fly front of the path they are traveling, you are on… and I hope you aren’t using your 6 weight like I was. I’ve been doing that a lot lately, light rod with big fish… what a terrible problem to have! I love Jacks. They wake up mad every morning and carry that bad mood and attitude with them all day long. I know that if they could they would jump up in the boat and “fin slap you!”
Finding Fish
Don’t ever leave fish to find fish right? But if it dies down in the Gulf or you just can’t find them, head to the back country somewhere. The keys in Pine Island Sound, East Wall bar, West Wall or Gasparilla Sound area. The incessant wind has laid down for Thanksgiving and the fishing has been good. Redfish and Snook are still eating baitfish patterns and Trout have been great on poppers on the shallow grass beds and of course eating Clousers on the deeper grass flats.
Diane will catch a few fish then watch the white pelicans circle up the bait to eat. And look for her Roseate Spoonbills that she loves to watch. I
wonder if the Roseates have CDC? I’ll probably end up with the smoker on the back lanai cookin’ a duck butt minus the CDC feathers for
our own delectable Thanksgiving dinner. That is all I can muster up for this Charlotte Harbor Fly Fishing Report, thanks for visiting my site and feel free to call me anytime for questions or concerns or to book a trip.
Whatever it is you may doing today, be safe, be thankful for all that we have here… and stay fly.