February 2014 Fishing Report and Blog

February was an insanely busy month. Between a couple of out of state trips, taking delivery of my new East Cape Skiffs Vantage and running charters I haven't had much down time. I took a few days to spend some time with my son and family and catch up on some work. That gave me a few minutes to sit down and write this.

The first weekend of February, I headed up to Charleston, South Carolina with Kevin Fenn, one of the owners of East Cape Skiffs. The plan was to head up there, attend a Captain's meeting for the Low Country Redfish Cup Friday night, fun fish with a couple of the hardcore fly fishing guys from Charleston on Saturday and then on Sunday we were going to Scotty Davis' fly shop Lowcountry Fly Shop.

Photo credit: The Fiberglass Manifesto

We made it up there just in time for the Captains meeting Friday night, met some of the local tournament guys, had some dinner and a few drinks then went to crash at our buddy Wes' house. We woke up Saturday morning to nothing but wind, rain and cloud cover. Kevin and I decided we'd just chill in the city, meet up with a couple of the local guides and fly fishing guys. Sunday morning came early and we had to be a Scotty's shop at 9 a.m. The plan was to have a couple of East Cape Skiff's owners show up with their skiffs, deliver a new Vantage to a new customer and hang out with the South Carolina community. There was a great turnout for the event. We talked skiffs and fishing with a ton of people and had a great time.

Kevin Fenn of East Cape Skiffs talking skiff design and fishing.

Kevin Fenn discuss their newest skiff to hit the market. The East Cape Glide is a micro skiff designed for sight fishing 2 guys. This skiff is really fun skiff to fish. I enjoyed the time I spent on it.

After a long day couple of days in Charleston, it was time to get home and pick up my new skiff from the shop and get it my gear loaded and start fishing. 

Taking deliver of a 2014 East Cape Vantage. 

After picking up the new boat, I got it home and had 2 days before my next charter. I spent those days going through the engine break in. After putting a few hours on the motor, I ran my first charter out of the Vantage. Clifton and Nicole were up visiting from the Lakeland area and fished with me for two days. The first day of their two day charter, they had to deal with 15-20 knot winds and a front pushing through. The next day we had perfect Florida weather; sunshine and light wind. The weather was perfect, we saw lots of fish, had several takes but only managed to bring 2 the boat.

Clifton and Nicole with Mosquito Lagoon redfish released to be caught again.

After a few days in the Lagoon it was time to pack up and roll out to to the Louisiana marsh for a week. This was my second trip up to Louisiana in the past 3 months. There is so much water and so many areas to fish. If you enjoy redfishing, I would highly recommend taking a trip up there to fish. Keep in mind, the area is huge. If you end up going, spend some money, book a guide for at least a day. You cut down the learning curve drastically. There are several really good guides up there and most of them are really personable and friendly.

I'm going to do a separate blog to review my trip to Louisiana. Stay tuned for that.

March Fishing Forcast:
The trend of great fishing should continue through March, redfish will continue to school up on the flats. Hang off the school as much as possible, try to fish them without the fish sensing your presence. The trout bite in sand holes will continue to be good. The best way to fish the big trout is to blind cast quality bottom, focusing on the sandy potholes and edges of the grass.

The near shore bite should be firing now. With the Vantage, I plan on putting in some time off the beaches exploring the near shore bite.

Upcoming Events:
Wednesday March 5th- Flies and Lies at Orlando Outfitters starting at 5:30 p.m. Its a good time and you get to spend some time at the vice and hopefully learning something new or even better teach someone something new.
March 7th-9th- Salty Fly fishing tournament in Ruskin, FL

Thanks for reading.

Capt. Jesse
www.FlyinHighCharters.com
407-448-2017