If you read my last post about the massive fish kill in Fla. because of the extremely cold weather I have some good news and a story right out of any one of the numerous fishing books I have read.
Yesterday, I was surveying the different fishing locations I have discoverd in the last several weeks. The water has warmed with the more typical Fla. January weather and the fish have turned back on. Last weekend at the Fort Pierce jetty I hooked up with 15 or so bluefish who had trapped massive schools of mullet against the rocks. They were not Jersey size but between 2-4 lbs., great fun on my 7 wt. And last Monday, after getting kicked off of a private lagoon by one of Vero’s finest I waded the flats aroud Bear Island Park and caught 4 Jacks, a nice 25″ trout and a tough 5 lb. blue that almost took me into my backing. But back to yesterday…I was using my new 10 ft., 8 wt. Loomis with my new Orvis large arbor reel which I had just received in the mail. The four spots I had checked were dead so I was not at all optomistic when I pulled into Round Island Park, on the Indian River. This was where I had caught all the snook and my first and only previous redfish, before the cold front did all the damage. As I waded towards my hotspot, to see if any fish had returned to the area, I cast to my right into the boat channel with my small clouser. On the 4th or 5th cast I hooked and landed a nice, 20″ spotted trout. (I now carry a tape measure with me as I don’t get great pictures fishing/wading alone but measurements are easy.) I was still 40-50 ft. away from the bank I was slowly and quietly shuffling my way towards when I saw what appeared to be several large fish, slowly swimming to my left. I froze in place, pulled off some more line and threw a short cast in front of the lead fish. I picked up, stripped off a few more feet and placed a cast of the perfect distance 4 feet in front of the lead fish. When he got close I hopped/short stripped a few times and the fish followed my clouser for several feet but then turned back towards the bank and joined the pack. I picked up and cast again, this time a few feet in front of the next fish. Same strip, hop… hop… and then the fish turned to the fly, accelerated and my line went tight; fish on!! I lifted my rod and felt an enormous weight on the line as the big redfish turned to the bank and then towards a small island to my right. It was all I could do to turn this red at each attempt to break me off and I knew for sure that if he got to the mangroves or the island I was done for. I was really glad I had the larger rod and stronger reel and that I had just put on a new abrasion resistent leader, although I wish it was more than 12# tippet! I took my time and carefully got the fish on the reel after burning/cutting my finger several times by pulling on the fly line and after checking the drag to insure it was not set too tight. No mistakes so far. That red did not tire for what seemed like 20 minutes, (probably 5) and made several more attempts to get into the wood. What I had read about reds was true, though, that when hooked, unless the leader breaks, the hook usually holds in the strong rubbery mouth and that is what happened. I finally pulled him close and trapped him against my leg and measured this brute, 32 inches and so fat around the middle I had to tail him to hold him to get the fly out. I estimate the wt. between 8-10 lbs. After holding him in the water to give us both a breather, he splashed me goodbye with a swipe of his tail with the one huge black spot. Finally, 10 minutes later I hooked about a 14″ snook who jumped twice, the second time right into the mangroves and broke me off on his razor sharp mouth. So close to a grand slam, all within 90 minutes!
So, despite the fact that we lost thousands of quality game fish because of the cold, the fishing is still good down here. If you can break away or are going to be in the area bring your rods and waders and I’ll share some of my spots.
ps. I fished with a neighbor in his boat today- caught a ton of ladyfish and one trout. Came home, ate something and where do you suppose I went? Yes, right back to Round Island, at the same time, 4pm, as today’s weather was similar to yesterday. No reds, no snook but caught 5 small trout. Next- tarpon and bonefish. Tight lines.

I arrived at our home in Vero Beach, Florida on December 21, suffering a bad case of cabin fever, also called, “I need to get out and go fishing”. Spring in the Catskills had been awesome, I fished Utah and Montana with Lee Hartman, I enjoyed some good nymph fishing in Central Pa., the fall had been good to me on the Salmon River, the blues had been hitting really well all summer and the stripers cooperated a bit with me in November or December. All and all a very exciting and adventuresome year to this point.
With all of the obligatory family visits, tons of eating and business to attend to I did not get out fishing till Dec. 27th, before the cold front hit. I typically wade the Indian River in several different spots and I hit a few of those locations picking up a few small sea trout, small jacks and a ladyfish or two. The next day I went out with a guide who I have fished with before and we had a poor day of fishing; I caught two small (12″) trout, one pompano and a salt water catfish. We did spend over an hour and a half trying to get several large, (18″-28″estimated size) trout and redfish to eat anything we threw at them… to no avail.
The next day, with the temperatures slowly but steadily dropping, I drove to Round Island to an area I had discovered and fished, with success, last July. I had consistently caught 8″-12″ snook there, always at least 6, on small Clousers. I was not optomistic because of the cold temps but that changed when on my third cast I hooked and landed the first snook of the day. That was followed during the next two hours by at least a dozen more! The size also was impressive. The 8″-12″ snook were now all over 12″ and up to 18″!!!! Boy, can they pull on a 7 wt. fly rod. The tough thing is that they hang on the mangrove edges and as soon as they feel the steel they try to get into the roots. And because you are casting towards the mangroves and stripping line you never get thse strong speedsters on the reel, you are fighing them by hand. Additionally, in the past I had only found these snook in one small area but on this day as I moved along the shoreline I found what I was seeking- more holding/ambush points. I was in fisherman’s heaven. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better they did. In the midst of this snookfest I caught and released my first ever redfish, one of the other prime, highly prized fish of the coast.
It was the best of times!!!
Then the cold wave hit.. and got worse.. and colder.. and colder. We were in the grips of the coldest and longest cold spell in the history of the area and when I went to Round Island to look at the water and see what was happening to the Manatees because of the cold, I was shocked and DEVASTATED! There were no manatees in the cove but the surface and the bottom of the water were littered with the bodies of dead and dying snook; my snook. I did not know at the time but was told by the other mourners who were there to witness this catastrophe that snook are a tropical fish and are the first to die if the water gets too cold. I saw a many, many small snook, dozens of dead snook that were over 15 inches and I was blown away. I saw several that were over 25″ and saw one, just under the dock in two feet of water, that had a head as big as a small dog, shoulders like a linebacker and was estimated by several of us to be at least 9 pounds!
It was the worst of times.
I do not know how long this fishing will take to rebound but I’ll keep you posted. I had my camera and would have taken and posted a photo of the monster if I could have pulled it onto the shore but we were warned to not even attempt to move or touch these fish as the fine is very heavy and enforced; that is a good thing. I’ll try to get the picture out of my mind.
Finally, before I go I wanted to report that the trip out West was great this year but not long enough. I would love to go out again this year with some Louts so if anyone is interested send me an e-mail. If you are going to be on the east coast of Fla. near Vero, look me up.
Tight lines, Glenn
glenn.kamp@wmtps.org