When our flight left the tarmac our small plane arced into the sky, and I finally had a good look at the water. We’d traveled more than 24 hours. The engine’s hum and the view below reminded me of the trip from Belize City to Ambergris Caye. Later that day as our boat bounced from…
“Florida Keys Outfitters, this is Auggie.” “Hey, man. It’s Geoff, from The Drake. Is Sandy [Moret] around?” “Lemme check. [Long pause.] He’s out. What are you doing in town?”
There’s been hype about Honduras flats fishing for years—so much so that we took it upon ourselves to investigate last February. Faceless Fly Fishing, as evidenced by this wicked edit, recently heeded the call, too. Check out some bone-friendly footage after the jump.
Capt. Don Gable (LTD on The Drake message board) and angler Mike Dawes recently clinched first place at the esteemed, 6th annual March Merkin permit tourney held at the Key West Harbour Yacht Club. The duo landed three fish in three days. Twenty-six guide/angler teams competed in the event, which saw a total of ten…
Yep, it’s March, and it’s bracket madness. In addition to basketball, here are two more (both somewhat fishy) to get you fired up for the season.
The mysterious 650-pound grand piano left on a sandbar at Biscayne Bay will stick around for encore presentations as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has no plans to move it.
This issue of The Drake went to press on May 20, exactly one month after the disastrous oil rig explosion off the Louisiana coast. With 24-hour news coverage providing in-depth, up-to-the-minute details on containment efforts, and with many “experts” sharing their thoughts on television and message boards, we went to the source, and asked for…
The tequila cobwebs were sticky and thick that hot July afternoon. So too were the 20-pound tarpon holding down turf wars, smearing the blood of wayward interlopers swimming their mangrove barrios. The salty streets can be mean but I didn’t realize how mean until I encountered my first Centropomus undecimalis—snook. I overshot that rookie cast…
10 Brews for SummerIn the boat, on the river bank, the bedside nightstand, at breakfast in your underwear, there’s nothing like a cold, canned beer to beat the heat. Esquire Mag ranks its 10 best for summer swilling. Included in the mix are two of our favs: New Belgium’s Fat Tire (nice work, Larry) and…
FLORIDA—If you’re driving through Tarpon Springs this month, in search of poons, keep your eyes peeled and stay safe… or she’ll get ya. A Tarpon Springs woman is accused of running over her boyfriend on Saturday. Police say 58-year-old Kathy Wolanin, pictured left, was tailing her man as he walked along Pinellas Avenue. “He turned…
BP Spews Toxic BullLondon—”The toxic bullshit, which began to spew from the mouths of BP executives shortly after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April, has completely devastated the Gulf region, delaying cleanup efforts, affecting thousands of jobs, and endangering the lives of all nearby wildlife.”Source Link What About Tarpon?Gulf of Mexico—In…
Gulf of Mexico—In response to the question, “How will the oil spill impact tarpon?” fisheries experts are drawing blanks. Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTU) says, “There are a lot of potential problems, including: impacts on spawning; effects of toxins on eggs and larvae; disruption of migrations; disruptions of feeding… disruptions of the food web; oil…
BTT’s Bahamas Bonefish Tagging Program is reporting its first recapture. A 19.1-inch bonefish, tagged by guide Buddy and Cindy Pinder in the Southern Marls of Abaco in August 2009, was recaptured on May 14, 2010 by guide Robin Albury. Hundreds of bonefish have been tagged in Abaco so far.
Bonefish TrackersBTT’s Bahamas Bonefish Tagging Program is reporting its first recapture. A 19.1-inch bonefish, tagged by guide Buddy and Cindy Pinder in the Southern Marls of Abaco in August 2009, was recaptured on May 14, 2010 by guide Robin Albury. Hundreds of bonefish have been tagged in Abaco so far. More recaptures will build a…
BP Blob Looms—Local Fisheries Still BuoyantTAMPA — The oil spill in the northern Gulf has shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle but has had little effect so far on local fisheries and shipping lines. As the immense blob of oil gets closer to the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current, the anxiety grows for…
TAMPA — The oil spill in the northern Gulf has shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle but has had little effect so far on local fisheries and shipping lines. As the immense blob of oil gets closer to the Gulf of Mexico’s Loop Current, the anxiety grows for people in the Tampa…
LA to FL Fisheries Under Oil Spill GunThe slick from the BP oil rig that exploded and sank last week could become the nation’s worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and…
The slick from the BP oil rig that exploded and sank last week could become the nation’s worst environmental disaster in decades, threatening hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife along the Gulf Coast, one of the world’s richest seafood grounds, teeming with shrimp, oysters and other marine life.Source Link
What would motivate a person to open a fly shop in the midst of the Great Recession? I asked this question to David D’Beaupre, who opened The Sierra Trout Magnet and Guide Service in Bishop, California, in August 2009. With small, independent fly shops closing left and right in recent years, I figured he had…
Orlando Outfitters first opened its doors in January of 2005. Since then, Tim and TJ Bettis, along with shop manager Chris Barco, have shown that Orlando has much more than just the Magic Kingdom. With three full-time employees and a couple of part-timers, the shop always has someone ready to talk fishing. Redfish and seatrout…
One of the most common saltwater fishing questions that I get asked or that appears on The Drake message board is some variation of, “I have to go to some stupid/gay/waste-of-time/soon-to-be-divorced-anyway wedding/business conference/family reunion down in Cancun. I’mstaying at (fill in name of cheesy resort, usually within walking distance of Outback Steakhouse or Bubba Gump’s),…
I’m sick of waiting for Bie to make a new blog post. He’s been fighting that shark for like two months. So here’s a quick rundown since July, like Berman’s Fastest Three Minutes:
Contest: 60 Words on Saltwater Contest Winners A salty mix of sweat and the Gulf of Mexico crawls down the side of my face, leaving a crusty trail as it dries. My finger is bloody from the relentless abrasion of salty fly line drawn over sunburned skin, yet I continue to cast. Time and again…
What to do when a fish morphs from gills and guts into something larger – a memory that splashes across three generations of anglers, alternating between dream and reality? Born to my grandfather, this fish swam through my father Charles and landed with me. Even before I hooked her one cool April morning on Georgia’s…
