Friday, January 30, 2009

Ding Darling - Loxahatchee 01/28-29/08





On Wednesday morning me, and my good friends Kenny and Justin were going to Chokoloskee but somehow on the drive there we started talking about Ding Darling and one thing led to another…

We hit Ding at 07:30 and paddled straight out to McIntyre Creek, the trout were everywhere. We could have limited out right then and there but after a few dozen trout we decided to hit the Sound for reds.

We poked around the sound with more trout and no reds, fished the inside of Ding Darling on the way back to the second launch with more trout, trout, trout.

We decided to fish the second launch in order to find some damn redfish, our cooler was nearly full, just enough space for a smaller-slot red once we took our beers out from under the trout slime…nothing like a fishy beer on a hot day let me tell you…

I managed to get a flounder later in the day and a few under-sized mangroves before we called it quits…it seems like the trout were biting all day, they were everywhere, places I don’t usually catch them…guess they were hungry that day.

On Thursday I met up with Palm Beach Pete up in the Loxahatchee, Pete invited me along on his charter and we hit the water at 07:30. The Lox is such a beautiful place, it never ceases to impress me every time I go there: giant cypress, tannin-stained water, and great ultra-light action.

I had to dust off my freshwater gear and through lack of practice when I launched I brought my big saltwater tackle bag instead of my little freshwater box…I fished the whole way the Loxahatchee canal with a tiny terror-eyez watching Pete & co. get bass after bass while I could only manage two little bream. Pete loaned me a little gold rapala for the trip back downstream and only then did I find the snook:

I’ve never caught fat or swordspine snook before and I’m glad to have checked them off the list. I caught 3 little guys and one miniscule snook that wasn’t much bigger than the lure he hit.

We were off the water around noon and I rushed off to pick up my glasses at Costco, and now I have a piercing headache because I think the prescription is too strong…another week with broken lenses…again. It was a great day on the water and thanks to Pete for getting me dust of the micro reels, I’d forgotten how much fun 4lb test was!

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