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Everything posted by caloosa bug
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A face only a mother could love. This pleco somehow sucked up my speck jig and put up a tough battle on my jig pole.
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This thread has been quiet since last year. There’s got to be more people on this site that catch fish on a fly. 😁I haven’t fly fished much lately, but here’s a picture my biggest bass on fly from January 2021.
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Capt. sounds to me like your clients were left with a great story of their Glades adventure in the backcountry. The boat ride, weaving through the maze of mangroves with wildlife all around is a memorable experience for anyone fortunate enough to experience it. Good thing pride was the only scuff of the day…it’s easily repairable. It’s good to see you getting some clients. It’s been a few weeks since I was out on the lake and noticed the drop in water levels. I launched at fisheating creek Sunday morning before daylight. I planned on jigging a crappie jig and possibly begin scouting for bass. I stayed in the creek fishing trees in 4-7 ft of water and picked up a few specks. Once the sun came up, I headed north to dyess ditch and went to an area me and dad caught some at a month ago. I put the trolling motor down and eased up the vegetation and my trolling started kicking up silt and sediment. When you fish an area that averages 2.5-3.5 ft. deep, a foot and half difference changes things. I quickly left and headed east to bird island for a little deeper water and a stretch that always produces something. I knew the wind would start to pick up and my time would be limited before retreating back to the creek. Landed a dozen or more speck. By 9:30 it was blowing noticeably more and I needed to get off the open water while I could still run on plane without beating my bass tracker. Went back to the creek and fished till 1. By then it was blowing 20-30 and I had a decent mess of fish for dinner. We have our annual one fish bass tournament me and dad fish in about a month. I don’t think either one of us has even been bass fishing on the lake since snook season opened in October. Time to start bass fishing..but jigging these big specks has been too much fun.
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Good work captain! That’s a beautiful trout. I’ve been doing half days on the last few Sundays on Lake o. Carrying only a couple jig poles and a some of my jigs. I’ve been averaging around a dozen big keepers every trip. The weather and fishing has been great!
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This Green Heron looked beautiful in the morning sunlight. I thought for sure he’d fly off as I crept closer with a jig pole in one hand and my phone in the other. But he just sat there and let me take his picture and fish around his perch.
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thanks Mark! Fished an area of the caloosahatchee right near the boat ramp that I pass all the time . I had a hunch it may hold a few specks. My hunch was right, and in a couple hours I brought home 7 big ones and lost 3 more slabs lifting them in the boat.
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Beautiful day on the Big O today. Found a few nice speck. Then did a lot of scouting. I was able to run my little bass tracker anywhere I wanted to go without fear of beating my hull to death in open water.
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Vic, after reading your post again, it sounds like you have a good grasp on the facts. I quoted your first sentence as an example. Someone less educated would read that as..the Big o is causing pollution to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers. Causing algae blooms by the release of water. This would be the same way the local news stations…Ft. Myers and West Palm..would report the story every time the Army corps of Engineers mention possible water releases. we don’t have any news stations here in the sticks in the middle of the state.. they mention toxic lake o releases, and show a video clip of green algae in Cape Coral, then a clip of dead fish on the beach from red tide. Can algae be toxic? Yes. Is the water toxic and polluted? No! Do they get nasty algae in Cape Coral when no releases happen? You bet! Are the dead fish on beaches a result of lake o releases? No way, totally separate. There is a lot of misinformation out there that gets construed behind political agendas and the media. They fail to mention all the massive algae blooms that happened the last couple years when there was no water being released for months. Yes, the lake has algae blooms, and yes it gets distributed into the rivers. But I’ll be willing to bet that the water coming directly out of the lake, is cleaner than coastal river water. My useless, uneducated observation of Lake O and the Caloosahatchee is this. Since the dike was built and the rivers were dug into canals, there will always have to be water releases somewhere sometime. We need more grass to come back and the use of herbicides to stop. I counted 4 airboats spraying a couple areas today. This contributes to the amount of dead plant matter that piles up on the bottom. Not to mention the loss of filtration. When releases are planned, I would like them to be more gradual. Opening the flood gates and having class 5 rapids gushing out of the lake can stir all that matter on certain areas of the lake, and flush it right towards the coast. Then they close the gates after a week. I’d rather have them open at half speed and stay open longer. The lake and river wouldn’t get as stirred up and those helicopter views of tea colored water in the harbor, may not be as bad. The releases have actually been pretty reasonable lately and the lake and river have remained relatively clear other than what the wind does. the lake and river are both beautiful and clean. I encourage anyone thinking about fishing lake o to do so if they can. The elusive 10lbers are out there, but are getting fewer and farther between. I have a buddy who guided a shiner trip last week and they got a 10 and an 11 pound bass. Then again he had years of guiding experience and had never landed a 10+for a client until now. ps. Did you notice the log in the middle of the 7 pic I posted? Hint, it’s not a log.
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Spending a day on Lake O was so much better than being at work today. 😁. It was unusually calm and the temperature was perfect.
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Welp, that’s a wrap on snook season. It was pretty productive fall season. Here’s a pic of dad with one just under slot on the final day. Now we can focus on Lake Okeechobee speck and bass fishing. This latest cold front is already producing better crappie fishing reports, with bigger females starting to move into the shallows.
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lol. I said oh boy, out loud when I read the question yesterday. Lake O can become a heated discussion with many south Floridians because it has an impact on all of us. I’m almost 41 now, and have lived and fished on lake O and the caloosahatchee my entire life. I’ll probably comment more when I have time to type…but I agree with previous statements. Adding to the list of issues is the amount of spraying herbicides FWC has been doing. I’ve seen them countless times spaying areas that have no bearing on navigation or invasive species. Huge area’s of grass have disappeared the last few years from spraying alone. It just makes me mad when I hear on the afternoon local news that when water releases may happen, they use the words like “toxic”, and harmful in the same sentence with Lake O. Lake O is still a great fishery…it just fishes smaller and smaller every year. 730 square miles, and only a handful of areas consistently produce big bass. And this time of year through February, they are getting hammered by multiple big bass tournaments every weekend. A few more points and observations to come.
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Nice work Capt. I’ve been tying up some crappie jigs. Will post pics later. Got 4 of these this morning. Got to take advantage before season closes.
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I agree. It’s been really nice out. Ya, the creek is still high for fishing near Hwy 27, but from State rd. 78 to the mouth in fisheating bay, there is some fish coming into the creek in 5-10 foot of water. The crappie bite will only get better from now till mid January.
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Good points captain. That’s what is great about our state, “the fishing capital of the world”. There’s always somewhere to go and catch fish. I trailered the boat back to ortona this morning. I only landed 2 snook but both were close to 30 inches. At 9:00 am I loaded up the boat and headed back to fisheating bay. The crappie bite was slow at times, but still managed a dozen. Then around 1:00 I headed out across the lake to do some exploring while water levels are still up, and the waves were manageable. I was able to cross the monkey box, zigzag through moonshine bay, and make it to cochran’s pass. I bass fished for a little while, then came back to fisheating bay for a few more crappie. I don’t think I could ever leave South Florida. I like to fish too much to live anywhere else.😁
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Made good use of some vacation time I need to use up before the end of the year. Fished Ortona early and had my limit of snook before 7. Then proceeded to release 11 more fish before leaving at 9. It was already a spectacular day. i came home, and ate a early lunch, then went to fisheating creek/bay on Lake Okeechobee to look for crappie and hide from the wind. Caught 28 on my hand tied jigs, only 4 were over 10 inches, but that thump on a 10’ black widow little jewel never gets old. 12 snook and 28 crappie…not a bad day at all!
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Thankfully red tide never reaches us here in the fresh side. We do get blue-green algae blooms in the late spring and summer, but it is usually only at the surface. Ortona was running slower than expected and nothing was making any noise on the surface this morning. The first cast with a white, gambler “little ez” came back with a solid strike and the first freyed 30# leader. Last weekend they wanted it fast and loud, this weekend it was low and slow. From quarter to 8 till 9:30 I brought 3 just under slot to hand, and missed a dozen more. I had to change leaders 5 times for fear of possibly breaking off one that may keep. After that, it was like someone turned off the switch. I never had another strike on anything. It was still fun. Now for some college 🏈 .
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Good for you Swamp! 👏 Sounds like a great day on your creek. Two weekends ago I took a coworker down the river for some baby tarpon, snook, and bass fun at the many culverts that have been flowing into the river. It finally happened that with the lack of rain, they were all off, and we found no moving water anywhere . We still jumped a few tarpon and landed one small snook, but the day was saved with some June bug rubber worms and some rock ledges. We managed several nice bass up to 3lbs. Last weekend, I had an event Saturday morning selling my wife’s crafts at a park next to the river. Mid morning I noticed several clumps of hyacinths floating by.. ah ha! I said, they must have opened the spillway to release water from Lake O. It has been closed for several months. I had planned on going Sunday, but was debating on either going to the lake and check out the re-arranged monkey box after the tornadoes from Milton with a crappie jig in hand…or continue fishing the river since snook season is still open. I decided on the river and loaded up the fly rod, jig pole, and snook gear ready for whatever presented itself. After a slow morning, I went through the locks and found the Ortona spillway running nicely with clean water. Snook and tarpon were exploding on bait in every direction. I landed 3 short snook and lost a few slot fish. I also jumped off several small tarpon and caught some healthy 4 lb bass. It was steady action from 9:30 till it was almost 2 before I realized what time it was. I plan on trailering the boat to ortona in the morning to save the 30 minute boat ride and time going through the locks. We’ll see how it goes.
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Great point vicrider! I have some tarpon in my area, but the snook fishing here can go either way as well. I’ve caught many big fish..30-40+ inch snook on 2 1/2 to 4 in lures. Then just as many on a 6-7 inch lure. I think it’s a combination of matching the forage and presentation. Usually snook and tarpon will be feeding on small shad and numerous native and non-native panfish here. If a water source is running into the river long enough, big shad and mullet will start showing up in numbers. That’s where presentation and current come in. I’ve learned that you can fish faster moving water better with a small jig for a slower, more natural presentation, and it doesn’t get “washed out” too fast. On the other hand, in the same water, a larger 6-7” bomber, yozuri, or x-rap crank bait will swim true and can still be fished with a slow retrieve when casting slightly up current and finishing the retrieve from down current. Where as a smaller size plug won’t cast as far…covering less water, giving it a smaller window for a favorable presentation between reeling fast to get it to dive, to reeling against the current at the end of the retrieve. Just some of my observations in my home waters. Good luck Vicrider. If you do come south to see capt. Bob. shoot me a message. I’m a couple hours north of him. You have an open invitation on mine or my dad’s boat here on the okeechobee- caloosahatchee intersection. Although that would not even come close to a Miami tarpon dock and bridge trip. Man that sounds like a blast! Captain will have me dreaming of sight casting fish in dock lights tonight.
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Agreed. I’m glad I read through this thread. Good stuff there captain! I’ve been seeing more juvenile tarpon here on the fresh side of the Caloosahatchee river in last few months, than I have ever seen in my 35 years of fishing it. Even the little ones can create mayhem and leave you in awe. My whole life here, I’ve only landed 6 on conventional tackle. I think I landed 5 in the past 6 weeks, and jumped off at least two dozen others. All small fish from 15-30 inches long. In the early morning, you can see them rolling everywhere. My 9wt. had a mishap with a kids bicycle, but I think on my next outing, I’ll have the 5wt. on deck. I’ve never hooked a tarpon on fly and now would be the perfect opportunity to do so.
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I hit the caloosahatchee Saturday morning with dad. He landed a couple nice snook with one in the slot to bring home for dinner. We caught a handful of nice bass as well. Sunday morning I went back by my self. We have just been riding between Moore Haven and Ortona, stopping at each culvert that had water flowing. I caught many species and I missed a few snook. A few freyed up leaders confirmed. Jumped a couple small tarpon off, landed 3 big jaguar guapotes, 3 big crappies, several nice bass, a tilapia, and a few big mayan cichlids. It was a fun weekend on the river for sure.
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That’s pretty cool. Looks like an awesome trip for your clients. Great report.
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Crazy tornadoes all around Hendry and Glades counties a couple hours ago. Several very close calls to us. All of the pics attached were within a few miles me. Thankfully most have stayed over open sugar cane fields. Lots of damage in Lakeport right now though. All boarded up here in Moore Haven. It’ll probably be a long night. Best wishes to all who are going to be impacted by this storm. We may miss the brunt of the hurricane on the west coast of Lake o, but these tornadoes ain’t no joke. Swamp, please stay safe. Looks like your area may get pretty spicy.