beneath the mangroves

New Blog

2012-07-30T19:36:00.002-07:00

Just changed my blog to Tumblr. Here's the new link:

http://grassrootsguding.tumblr.com/

albies are in town!

2012-07-14T14:52:00.001-07:00

false albacore showed up in good numbers about a week ago. i love those fish.

knuckle busters

2012-07-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

nothing like busting knuckles on a fly reel. been having some crazy good bull red fishing the past few days. Shallow Water Expeditions is a great Outfitter. Check them out! www.shallowwaterexpeditions.com happy 4th of july!

panhandle

2012-06-22T20:43:00.001-07:00

a few shots of this place, fighting tarpon, and a piggy or two.

While in Rome

2012-06-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

the weather has been horrible the last two weeks. some good days and some not so good. night fishing started to heat up with summer in full swing. we also splurged and bought 30 pounds of fresh apalachicola oysters. so tasty.

Bait

2012-05-29T06:13:00.000-07:00

here is a photo of bait pilled up on the boat with our albie hookup underneath. pretty cool

The Beach

2012-05-28T20:38:00.002-07:00

Fishing been up and down in the bays the last few days, but on fire off the beach. Got into some dolphin on weed lines. Always a kick in the pants.

WOW!

2012-05-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

the Albacore were amazing today! at one point the fish pushed the bait ball so hard against the boat, the bait wouldn't leave. I had to motor away just to get the albies back on top.

fish and fishing buddies

2012-05-19T13:23:00.001-07:00

West Bay Red's are some of the most challenging redfish to catch on fly, but at the end of the day they're still just a fish and still want to eat. Here are some of my fishing friends with their catch, J & rowe.

Albies!

2012-05-16T12:33:00.001-07:00

had a fun day chasing albies and spanish mackerel. beach fish are a big bonus for me, don't see that many down in the everglades.

florida panhandle

2012-05-11T06:06:00.002-07:00

had an opportunity to guide up in north florida/panama city beach area for the summer with shallow water expeditions. so we decided to migrate north until august & then back to chokoloskee for late summer fishing in the everglades. here's some pics of catching red snapper and amberjack off of a wreck. good times with one of my best friends, jason stacy, who guides for swallow water also. here's jason's blog: southernflyworks.blogspot.com. check it out.

saltwater fly fishing

2012-05-01T05:57:00.000-07:00

to a trout fisherman, saltwater fly fishing is polar opposite. strip set instead of lifting the rod. bumping a fly to get an eat instead of letting it sit. putting the hammer to the fish instead of worrying about 6x tippet. not to mention the casting. my dear friend Alan Farris came down to the everglades to try his first attempt at salt. we'd fished together out west, but nothing like this. after breaking off a 10 pound redfish on the first morning of the first day, fishing was looking great and then the weather and learning curve set in, rain and 30 mph wind. each day, Alan figured out one or two big saltwater concepts, improving a 30ft cast to a 60ft cast. on day 4, he was a hell of a saltwater flyfisherman. 5 nice reds to the boat and at least 15 eats in some of the worst weather i have seen down here. great job, Alan!

Logo

2012-04-17T12:31:00.002-07:00

New Logo!

outside

2012-04-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

Fished the outside islands with a friend from Naples and had a great day despite crummy weather. Threw spinning rods b/c visibility was very poor. The outside islands have been very productive if you can stay away from the wind. We ended up with 6 or 7 reds, 4 snook, and a hand full of trout.

everglades round-up

2012-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've been fishing by myself for the last few weeks and haven't been taking many pics. One of my good friends texted me saying that I needed to put up a new post, so this swamp poodle is for you, Jesse. Had a fun day today. Caught a redfish, 2 snook, a black drum, and jumped a tarpon. Great day sight fishing in the Everglades!

Introducing Grassroots Guiding

2012-03-25T11:18:00.001-07:00

After 100+ days of being on the water, 1 new motor, 2 broken rods, loads of new spots, learning different fish, making new friends and fishing with old ones, I'm ready to open up shop. Grassroots Guiding is now taking bookings for April. I would love to see everyone that has been following our journey to catch up on the water. It has been way too long since I have seen, let alone fished with most of you. We will be heading to north Florida the first of May for the summer but will return the middle of August. If you're interested in fishing with me this season, just shoot me an email: bonefishbonanza@hotmail.com

a whole lot of montana

2012-03-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

trav's first tarpon. hell of a day.

a little bit of montana

2012-03-09T19:28:00.001-08:00

my good friend travis who guides up in montana came down to the everglades for some warmer weather and some good fishing, too. here are some pics from the last couple of days.

good friends

2012-02-28T05:23:00.002-08:00

just had a great week with 2 friends of mine, one of which i guided with at the 4UR. of course fishing was slow on the beautiful days and fairly good on the windy and cloudy days. jesse caught his 1st tarpon, 2nd to the boat this season. we had a great time. lots of laughs and a few good fish.

today's lesson

2012-02-18T14:42:00.001-08:00

its hell trying to boat a 90lb everglades tarpon by yourself much less take photos. i will get better pics whenever my "busy" friends get their tails down here to fish with me.

iphone

2012-02-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

getting used to the new phone. sorry some of these pics are not quite in focus. sarah stole the big camera for the kiddos today. here are a few backcountry reds from way down south. nice to have sunshine after a couple weeks of gray.

snook

2012-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

sorry for no pics as of late. been working on figuring these fellas out. here's one from today. thanks alec - your fly is deadly.

islamorada

2012-01-18T05:30:00.001-08:00

drove down to the keys to get the boat worked on. rowe, eileen, and i headed over to robbie's to feed the tarpon while we were waiting for the boat to be fixed. thanks again to tom and brian at islamarine for fitting me in and doing great work!

birds

2012-01-16T03:53:00.000-08:00

going thru a 'no wake/manatee zone' and i turn around and see this on my mother-in-law's head. here are some other pics of pelicans as well.

snook

2012-01-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

finally roped a solid snook. with the overcast conditions, the only reason i found this fella was because he and his boys were busting bait in the back of a cove.
jesse - sorry it took me so long to get a sage reel in a shot for ya
alec - caught him on your chartreuse bendback. the ladyfish had eaten it so many times that when i casted to this fish the fly only had some thread and about three saddlehackles left.