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Capt Bob LeMay

Forlorn fishing report, 22 March 2020

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I had two anglers on Wednesday and Thursday - a father and son team wanting to toss flies at tarpon in Everglades National Park out of Flamingo.  Once I learned which hand they normally wound their reels with I made sure that every fly rod on my skiff was a left hand wind model ( I'm fortunate enough to have two reels for every rod - one right hand - the other left hand winding...) - and we were set to go... All of the facilities down at Flamingo were shut down due to recent virus concerns - but the Park had left the gate open for anyone wanting make the run (38 miles from the front gate to Flamingo) down to the ramps to be able to launch and fish (a very big change from the Obama years when any time the Park shut down they not only locked the gates but paid Rangers to run anyone out of Park waters....).

The big fish have come inside - it's that time of year now and we found them from Whitewater Bay all the way out to the Gulf coast... Our problem that first day is that they all had lockjaw, whether in open bays or up inside sheltered rivers... That day I went home talking to myself... The next day turned it all around and we found fish willing to eat in one small river.  Our first fish was a really hot 60lb fish on a 10wt rod.  My angler did great from hookup all the way until he turned the fish about one hundred yards downriver... and that's when the reel handle broke off in his hand... You can guess how that worked out.  Fortunately his next fish was a bit smaller and with a different rod we brought it to hand and released it in fine shape... 

Right now there are big tarpon everywhere in the backcountry of the Everglades from big open bays all the way outside to the coast and our first tarpon season (we get two in the 'glades, and the second season is in the fall until about a week before Halloween...).  Our problem currently is that Park officials have now closed the gates and we're locked out until whenever.... Pretty frustrating to put it mildly since most backcountry guides make just about 70% of their annual guiding income from March through May each year.

I'll still be able to fish out of Chokoloskee (which is on the extreme northwestern boundary of the Park so authorities can't shut them down..)  but all in all this is a pretty forlorn report.  I have plenty to do at home - a lure order to finish up and mail out, three or four rods to strip down re-finish and re-wrap with new guides, the usual boat maintenance routines, etc, and still do have one booking coming up in a few days (and we'll see if my anglers still want to fish..).

Here's a pic of my standard go to pattern for big fish up inside this time of year... 

ARPzAju.jpg

It's called the Tarpon Snake and we do it in two sizes - full sized is a 6 1/2" fly on a big Owner Aki 4/0 hook,  the smaller version is on a 2/0 hook and measures 5 1/2 to 6" in length - and every one we fish is on a full intermediate line... with an 80lb fluoro bite tippet connected to a 20lb hard Mason mono leader.   Fish in the 'glades aren't particularly leader shy at all... 

 

Be a hero - take a kid fishing...

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Thanks for the report. These are unprecedented and tough times in our history. I'm sorry it's affecting your business. Just hang in there.

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Oh Uncle Bob, great report, especially since my fishing buddy and I cancelled a week trip there this week. We had a houseboat rented, so the Park cancelled us, as we did them. We cancelled because we are smart enough to not risk being in contact with anybody, including ourselves.

Your report would have been much better if you stayed apolitical. You blamed one president for closing the gates in the first part, but didn't blame the other president for closing the gates in the second part. Here on this fishing forum, most of us would rather talk about fishing, not your political proclivities. We all have our own as well. Thank you.

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You’re welcome to your opinion... Me, I call ‘em like I see ‘em.

Additionally I did not do what you said since I spoke about a particular administration - not a President at all.  My real complaint about the decisions made back then has to do with exactly how administrators viewed OUR Parks.  Like many I personally had to deal with the results of their locking everyone out of our Parks on more than one occasion ... Many years ago (more than 25 now) I was a “good bureaucrat” myself and have a very good memory of that mindset.

I strongly approve of the current policy of leaving the gates open during any shutdown so that everyone can continue to enjoy our heritage.  I’m pretty sure the decision to close those gates was made locally - mostly for reasons of expediency... but that’s just my opinion. 
 

Like I said - you’re welcome to yours - and I’ll continue to speak out as needed

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Permitcapt is correct, though, Bob.  On this site, we don't let politics creep into the threads.  Or at least, we try to stem it.

If the political content continues, we'll lock this one.

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Bob,  I have long admired the Tarpon Snake line of flies.  I have often thought I should find out for sure about whether you built this to run hook-side down.  And, will see about booking a 2021 boat ride.  
Thank you for good reports on your conditions

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Hook point side down on that pattern - if you look closely you'll also see a wire weedguard... specifically because otherwise with the hook point down you'll snag bottom when fishing the way we do (slow and long strips with a tiny twitch at the end of each strip... 

Here's the recipe for the Snake... 

Hook:  very stout sharp, Owner aki, or Tiemco 600sp, standard is 4/0 or smaller as needed

Eyes:  largest bead chain (the same size as used in  pull cords for vertical blinds) tied in first - exactly one eye width behind the hook eye..

Tail:  eight wide webby saddle hackles, color of choice (four on a side with the curve facing inward - in the same manner a Deceiver is tied).  Finding the right        saddles is not easy - I use saddles from strung dyed saddle bundles that are usually listed as seven inches long... 

Flash:  Pearl Flashabou Accent (the Fat Pack) ten to fourteen strands on each side folded so that the doubled strands are four inches long on the long side and only two inches long on the short end of the doubled flash - and this is done for each side of the tail... 

Body:  three or four of those same wide, webby saddles tied at the butt end as a unit (all three or four saddles together) - then palmered forward using as much of the "fluff" portion of the saddles as possible (where the stem of the saddle will allow winding...). The body portion is not wound forward until you've tied in the wire weedguard... 

Weedguard:  #5 trolling wire (I use Malin's coffee colored stainless leader wire).  One end of the wire is bent into a tiny hairpin - that's your tie in point (here's a pic of weedguards ready for tying... 

58lrTXR.jpg

The hairpin end is tied in underneath the hook shank just behind the hookeye and the rest of the wire is allowed to stick out straight in front of the hook until the fly is completed... Learning how to deal with that pointy end will take some doing - and you might need a band-aid or two during the process...

 

Once the weedguard is in place the saddles are wound all the way forward, over the beadchain eyes to the hookeye they finished off with a whip finish, then a touch of super glue... 

Thread:  Danville's flat waxed nylon - color of choice... 

 

lastly, once the fly is completed and the super glue dried.... the wire is bent down into position, trimmed even with the barb on the hook - then a final small bend just forward of the end and you're ready to use...  Here's one last pic showing another pattern with weedguard ready to be bent down into position after tying... 

dyaFbG3.jpg

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The Tarpon Snake was derived from an older pattern that I'd been tying for years - the Silhouette (and was mostly, but not entirely a variation on the even older Seaducer pattern).  I had been tying the Silhouette for shops and using it a lot myself for about seven or eight years when Capt Randy Towe, who owned and operated the World Class Outfitters shop in Islamorada (this was in the mid eighties and I had just taken Tim Borsky's place as their main tyer...) called and asked me to come up with a big black fly for working deep over big tarpon.  He left me to my own devices and this was what I came up with...  Back then the Snake was so super secret I was asked not to show it to anyone else - or tie it for any other shop or guide... Randy won tarpon tournaments with it I believe... 

At any rate the original Silhouette was supposed to mimic the specific size and profile (or silhouette) of the baitfish actually present in one place or other... It's been a truly universal pattern - catching fish in one part of the world or other and it was always scaled down or up to the hook size in use.  I've tied it in sizes as small as a #2 and as large as a 5/0 version and along with hook size - the size of the lead eyes used varied as well.  The Tarpon Snake in comparison has always used largest bead chain eyes whether it's a smaller version on a 2/0 hook - or the standard version on a 4/0 hook.

 

Here's a few of the Silhouettes in various colors... The ones I've used myself have always tended to be on size 1/0 or 2/0 hooks and mostly in white or variations that have different color noses with a white body.  The first hooks we used were always the old Tiemco 800s style - but when they were discontinued in the larger sizes we shifted to Owner Aki hooks instead... 

aFMWjyq.jpg

basic Silhouette in size 1/0 - overall length 3 to 3.5:"

H3zPgtx.jpg

a few color variations ( I do well with fl. green/ white, red/ white, fl. pink white as well).  The electric blue version is the first color I go to when I want "something else"... This same pattern in Cree or other shrimpy colored feathers (brown shrimp... the most common in my area...) makes a great shrimp imitation - if  you fish it like  a shrimp...

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On 3/22/2020 at 8:36 AM, Capt Bob LeMay said:

I had two anglers on Wednesday and Thursday - a father and son team wanting to toss flies at tarpon in Everglades National Park out of Flamingo.  Once I learned which hand they normally wound their reels with I made sure that every fly rod on my skiff was a left hand wind model ( I'm fortunate enough to have two reels for every rod - one right hand - the other left hand winding...) - and we were set to go... All of the facilities down at Flamingo were shut down due to recent virus concerns - but the Park had left the gate open for anyone wanting make the run (38 miles from the front gate to Flamingo) down to the ramps to be able to launch and fish (a very big change from the Obama years when any time the Park shut down they not only locked the gates but paid Rangers to run anyone out of Park waters....).

The big fish have come inside - it's that time of year now and we found them from Whitewater Bay all the way out to the Gulf coast... Our problem that first day is that they all had lockjaw, whether in open bays or up inside sheltered rivers... That day I went home talking to myself... The next day turned it all around and we found fish willing to eat in one small river.  Our first fish was a really hot 60lb fish on a 10wt rod.  My angler did great from hookup all the way until he turned the fish about one hundred yards downriver... and that's when the reel handle broke off in his hand... You can guess how that worked out.  Fortunately his next fish was a bit smaller and with a different rod we brought it to hand and released it in fine shape... 

Right now there are big tarpon everywhere in the backcountry of the Everglades from big open bays all the way outside to the coast and our first tarpon season (we get two in the 'glades, and the second season is in the fall until about a week before Halloween...).  Our problem currently is that Park officials have now closed the gates and we're locked out until whenever.... Pretty frustrating to put it mildly since most backcountry guides make just about 70% of their annual guiding income from March through May each year.

I'll still be able to fish out of Chokoloskee (which is on the extreme northwestern boundary of the Park so authorities can't shut them down..)  but all in all this is a pretty forlorn report.  I have plenty to do at home - a lure order to finish up and mail out, three or four rods to strip down re-finish and re-wrap with new guides, the usual boat maintenance routines, etc, and still do have one booking coming up in a few days (and we'll see if my anglers still want to fish..).

Here's a pic of my standard go to pattern for big fish up inside this time of year... 

ARPzAju.jpg

It's called the Tarpon Snake and we do it in two sizes - full sized is a 6 1/2" fly on a big Owner Aki 4/0 hook,  the smaller version is on a 2/0 hook and measures 5 1/2 to 6" in length - and every one we fish is on a full intermediate line... with an 80lb fluoro bite tippet connected to a 20lb hard Mason mono leader.   Fish in the 'glades aren't particularly leader shy at all... 

 

Be a hero - take a kid fishing...

WOW, My dad used to tie a fly almost identical to that to Bass fish with. He called it a Serpent Fly. It could be a beast to throw, but boy did it catch Bass. I have one left of the last batch he tied before he passed away. This fly has seen a lot of use. The crystal flash has all been torn away, as has the maribou between the head and tail. This fly is retired and hangs over my tying bench.. Seeing this fly brought a smile to my face.

 

IMG-3434.jpg

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Bob, thank you for laying out your hook sizes, will help me get some Pike Snake variants layed out in sightly proportions, with out wasting as much material.  Really like the Sand Devil variations of BigEye TFlys, too.  Thank you, you gonna haf to fish through it all anyways, so file some more photos here and Best of luck, too

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Thanks for posting this Capt. Bob.  I'll be tying some of these as I am positive stripers and bluefish will like them as well.  Chartreuse for the daylight and black for night. The blues will make a mess of them pretty quick but I don't think I'll mind that too much...

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I have anglers that fish both the Silhouette and the Tarpon Snake around the world (literally) with great success... There was a time when good, high quality, strung saddle hackles were commonly available in every size range... That's not the case now (and I doubt that will ever change since most of those chicken feathers come from places like China...) so if you can find them they're still so cheap that having flies get shredded on contact is just part of the deal... 

When I can find them in bulk I'm usually buying - by the pound (or at least the bundle of 3 to 7 oz. at a time..).  That sort of supply is strictly at the wholesale level though.

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On 3/23/2020 at 11:19 AM, Capt Bob LeMay said:

 I had been tying the Silhouette for shops and using it a lot myself for about seven or eight years when Capt Randy Towe, who owned and operated the World Class Outfitters shop in Islamorada (this was in the mid eighties and I had just taken Tim Borsky's place as their main tyer...) called and asked me to come up with a big black fly for working deep over big tarpon. 

 

Capt. Bob, That sure brings back some fond memories. I used to stay at the Golden Grouper during that time and would wade the flats hours on end behind the motel. From time to time, Randy, Tim, Jack Gartside, and a whole lot of great fly fishers would also be there. It was one of the few places I knew of where you could hook a big tarpon wading. There were some big bonefish there, too. I always used to stop in the World Class Anglers shop and buy some flies. How things have changed. 

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