Sunday, July 13, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Tropical Beach Resort/Roatan/Honduras Images by Jan S. Maizler
These images were from a trip Photographer Art Blank and I made to Roatan in 2004. Our captain was Kevin Bodden and our lodge was Tropical Beach Resort- we could not have gotten a better guide or place to stay. Though Tropical Beach Resort is no longer in operation as a flats fishing and diving destination, my memories of TBR's owners, Rod and Jean, nourish my world of angling experience. I have not spoken to Kevin in quite some time, though it is not for the lack of trying.
During our four days of flats fishing we caught 7 bones, 3 tarpon, 3 snook, 2 boxfish, and 1 permit. We saw many, many permit every day when we went to the southeast side of the island near Morat. I lost a large parrotfish as well as a large permit when they both took off over the rubble reef and out to sea, cutting me off on the coral heads quite easily. We also saw many tailing triggerfish, but never managed to hook any.
Roatan is a wonderful destination offering mountainous backdrops to the flats fishing, lush forest, some of the world's best diving as well as very friendly people- I love it there!
Jan
During our four days of flats fishing we caught 7 bones, 3 tarpon, 3 snook, 2 boxfish, and 1 permit. We saw many, many permit every day when we went to the southeast side of the island near Morat. I lost a large parrotfish as well as a large permit when they both took off over the rubble reef and out to sea, cutting me off on the coral heads quite easily. We also saw many tailing triggerfish, but never managed to hook any.
Roatan is a wonderful destination offering mountainous backdrops to the flats fishing, lush forest, some of the world's best diving as well as very friendly people- I love it there!
Jan
Saturday, July 05, 2008
A One-World Focus....
I happened to be fortunate enough to hit the yahoo.com home page at just the right time, where I found as an interest item, a video about a guy named Matt who danced around the world. Whether he did it virtually or actually- the latter seems the case- I sure had some feelings when I watched his new video. I'm often so sunken into the depths of scribtion (my neologism) that I'm often the last to know about so many things, including Matt.
The thing that grabbed me and shook me like a lab mouse in an ocean of luminous light was the kind of goofy yet almost constant gaze and cadence of his dance moves from here to there...all around the world and what that meant to me.
My hopes are that folks that love to "travel" will get something from Matt's video: I sure did!
Check it out:
http://www.stridegum.com/#/mattsplace/ ---Click on New Video.
Jan
The thing that grabbed me and shook me like a lab mouse in an ocean of luminous light was the kind of goofy yet almost constant gaze and cadence of his dance moves from here to there...all around the world and what that meant to me.
My hopes are that folks that love to "travel" will get something from Matt's video: I sure did!
Check it out:
http://www.stridegum.com/#/mattsplace/ ---Click on New Video.
Jan
Friday, June 27, 2008
Looking Forward to Belize River Lodge and Mad Max Charters...
High Summer's sultry bake is in full swing. As SOFLA's sun arcs to its' noon-spot, the shadows take to the ground, seemingly lifeless. The seagrape trees along the beach offer loftier hiding spots for shadowy life: chief among them are the cicadas, which give off a whirring perpetual chirp. At that time, I head for my dark digs, cooled by the A/C: time enough to fish around dawn and dusk!
Yet, given the prospect of travel, the pleasure, novelty, or nostalgia of away-from-Miami beaches, flats, and bays, I'm suddenly less concerned about the bake and basting of lazy,crazy, summer.
With Sanibel, Bonaire, and Campeche behind me (in time and space, but not in heart), I'm looking forward to some west Caribbean travels very soon, featuring two of my favorite angling destinations: Belize and Roatan. Specifically, I'm glad to be fishing with my friends at Belize River Lodge (http://www.belizeriverlodge.com/) and Mad Max Charters ( http://www.madmaxfishingcharters.com/ ). Both these destinations offer some of the best angling, diving, and family attractions found in the entire Caribbean.
Jan Maizler
http://www.flatsfishingonline.com/
http://www.fishingfloridasflats.com/
http://flatsfishingonline.blogspot.com/
Yet, given the prospect of travel, the pleasure, novelty, or nostalgia of away-from-Miami beaches, flats, and bays, I'm suddenly less concerned about the bake and basting of lazy,crazy, summer.
With Sanibel, Bonaire, and Campeche behind me (in time and space, but not in heart), I'm looking forward to some west Caribbean travels very soon, featuring two of my favorite angling destinations: Belize and Roatan. Specifically, I'm glad to be fishing with my friends at Belize River Lodge (http://www.belizeriverlodge.com/) and Mad Max Charters ( http://www.madmaxfishingcharters.com/ ). Both these destinations offer some of the best angling, diving, and family attractions found in the entire Caribbean.
Jan Maizler
http://www.flatsfishingonline.com/
http://www.fishingfloridasflats.com/
http://flatsfishingonline.blogspot.com/
Friday, June 20, 2008
An Exchange of Fisheries and New Friendships....
I shall be fishing with Captain Gary McLaughlin of Mad Max Charters
( http://www.madmaxfishingcharters.com/ ) in Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras next month
where we hope to do a story based on catching a bonefish and a blackfin tuna within an hour.
It was my good fortune that Gary was visting Miami with his friend Pasquale Paonessa for the last 2 weeks. Pasquale also lives on beautiful Roatan and is the owner of Las Rocas Resort (http://www.lasrocasresort.com/) So, as soon as I returned from Campeche and had an open day, I invited them to fish with me on Biscayne Bay. Since neither of them had caught a sizeable tarpon before, they made the silver king tops on their Gold Coast fishing wish list.
What a tough prospect that turned out to be for Friday, June 20 ! North Bay- because of its' enclosed nature- is very susceptible to rain events compared to the more open-ocean South Bay. Since the last few days featured torrential rain over Miami, the waters from downtown north to Haulover Inlet were cooler, fresher, and dirtier as a result of the downpours. My search for the silver king was disappointing, but their "absence" was not surprising.
I had to rethink what we might catch in the time we had left. I had a hunch the grassflats and mangrove shorelines would be the ticket in the cooler waters and post-full moon rising tide. Gary wound up releasing 2 barracudas, a whopper 4-pound trout, 3 snappers, and he lost a big snook as well as a big jack. Yours truly wound up with 4 trout, 4 snapper, and lost 2 snook on the strike. Pasquale, who is a neophyte angler, had similar results as Gary and me and had a blast.
I was grateful I had a backup fishery to bend some rods with my new friends in the face of a tarpon scarcity.
Gary's wife, Mirta, told me they had a good time, which made the days' outing good enough for me! I look forward to seeing them soon.
Jan Maizler
It was my good fortune that Gary was visting Miami with his friend Pasquale Paonessa for the last 2 weeks. Pasquale also lives on beautiful Roatan and is the owner of Las Rocas Resort (http://www.lasrocasresort.com/) So, as soon as I returned from Campeche and had an open day, I invited them to fish with me on Biscayne Bay. Since neither of them had caught a sizeable tarpon before, they made the silver king tops on their Gold Coast fishing wish list.
What a tough prospect that turned out to be for Friday, June 20 ! North Bay- because of its' enclosed nature- is very susceptible to rain events compared to the more open-ocean South Bay. Since the last few days featured torrential rain over Miami, the waters from downtown north to Haulover Inlet were cooler, fresher, and dirtier as a result of the downpours. My search for the silver king was disappointing, but their "absence" was not surprising.
I had to rethink what we might catch in the time we had left. I had a hunch the grassflats and mangrove shorelines would be the ticket in the cooler waters and post-full moon rising tide. Gary wound up releasing 2 barracudas, a whopper 4-pound trout, 3 snappers, and he lost a big snook as well as a big jack. Yours truly wound up with 4 trout, 4 snapper, and lost 2 snook on the strike. Pasquale, who is a neophyte angler, had similar results as Gary and me and had a blast.
I was grateful I had a backup fishery to bend some rods with my new friends in the face of a tarpon scarcity.
Gary's wife, Mirta, told me they had a good time, which made the days' outing good enough for me! I look forward to seeing them soon.
Jan Maizler
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Just Back from TarponTown Anglers/Ocean View Hotel in Campeche, Mexico!
Raul Castaneda of TarponTown Anglers put photog. Art Blank and myself on wads of tarpon, jacks, huge houndfish, barracuda, snapper, grouper and quite prominently, the best seatrout fishing I ever experienced.
We were field testing 7-foot Bass Pro Gold Cup Inshore Spinning Rods and they demonstrated excellent sensitivity, casting ability, and fish-fighting strength. Our other field testing was the use of Spro bucktails in the quarter-ounce size with all-white and "Magic Bus" colorations. These lures caught every species we sought in Campeche: they held up quite well under intense action and the razor-sharp hooks never needed touching up.
Raul's excellent guiding service -in four days of wonderful fishing- has created a cornucopia of words and images that will soon unfold in the full story documenting an incredible angling destination in Florida Sport Fishing Magazine.
In addition, our stay at the Ocean View Hotel was memorable. Their committment to excellence was a 24-hour affair that started our days with great breakfasts, greeted our returns with massages at their spa, and kept our seaside rooms immaculate, crisp, and cool.
For fly and light tackle anglers that love to travel to exotic destinations with great fishing, superb cuisine, multiple family attractions, and the friendliest people, this is the ticket!
Contact Data:
Tarpon Town Anglers
Raul Castañeda
Website: http://www.tarpontown.com/
011 521 (981) 133 2135------ RAUL'S Cell/Mobile
OCEAN VIEW HOTELS VILLAS RESORT HOTEL
AddressAv. Pedro Sainz de Baranda y Joaquin
Clausell s/n
San Francisco
24010 Campeche, Campeche
Ph: +52 (981) 811-9999
Clausell s/n
San Francisco
24010 Campeche, Campeche
Ph: +52 (981) 811-9999
Friday, June 13, 2008
Back from TarponTown. Campeche, Mexico In-Town Images by Shermin Davis
Contact Data:
Tarpon Town Anglers
Raul Castañeda
Website: http://www.tarpontown.com/
E-mail: info@tarpontown.com
011 521 (981) 133 2135------ RAUL'S Cell/Mobile
OCEAN VIEW HOTELS VILLAS RESORT HOTEL
AddressAv. Pedro Sainz de Baranda y Joaquin
AddressAv. Pedro Sainz de Baranda y Joaquin
Clausell s/n
San Francisco
24010 Campeche, Campeche
Ph: +52 (981) 811-9999
http://www.oceanview.com.mx/
http://www.oceanview.com.mx/
Friday, June 06, 2008
On Angling Sucess,Exposure and New Waters...
Saturation is a term that certainly would explain my relationship to certain inshore game fish, particularly when they occur in my home waters of Miami that I've been beating to a meringue thickness since 1962. I don't think I'll ever tire of catching bonefish all day whether they're tailing, cruising, or mudding and I always feel my mojo for tarpon. But for whatever reason, I've been feeling slightly different about snook and permit.
Sometimes the same species- say, snook- regain a novelty when caught in new habitats and using new methods. Yet, ever since I hit my all-time record of 72 snook on artificial lures in 2 days at Key Island Estate (south of Naples) 4 years ago, I feel pretty satiated after I catch about a half-dozen of the linesiders. I think those kind of experiences have a way of doing that.
I know an editor and fly fisherman who scratches his head at the magnitude of that snook record, but if he stayed awake fishing almost that entire time and used appropriate tackle ( short plug rods on dock lights and ultralight spin for beach cruisers), he might come close to matching that number. Since he seems fixated on fly tackle where the necessity to false-cast and have more than the one back-cast used with spin or plug, his snook numbers will be low and his fishing will be limited to open spaces and angles where he does not "line" his fish. In contrast, I am lying on my stomach when I flick a cast to a beach snook that are often cruising with their backs out of the surf waters sometimes only 10 inches deep- try that with the long wand!
I do not make a habit of pursuing redfish these days, since I devoted a good deal of the early 1970's racking up loads of ultralight redfish catches off Flamingo with Captain Joe Stephens. Last fall, I fished for reds off North Myrtle Beach with Captain Patrick Kelly and had a blast catching reds (locally called spot-tails) from run-off canals at the edge of marsh grass jungles. I have plans to go to the Indian River this year to try for a red over 30 pounds, but just for 1 trip.
Lately I've been probing new waters when high winds and/or unresponsive rolling tarpon make those explorations sensible. My most recent peek put me on a wad of 5 to 10-pound barracuda that behaved like snook, which is to say the ambush points they were holding on were at first blush, in brackish waters...until I remembered that the lack of rainfall and saltwater incursion gave these salinity-loving fish a chance to set up home and hearth.
The discovery and pleasure of those recent moments created a newness that made me recollect the pride, awe and triumph of catching a platter-sized pompano in Miami Beach's surf during a time when my age was a two-digit design beginning with the number, "1."
Sometimes the same species- say, snook- regain a novelty when caught in new habitats and using new methods. Yet, ever since I hit my all-time record of 72 snook on artificial lures in 2 days at Key Island Estate (south of Naples) 4 years ago, I feel pretty satiated after I catch about a half-dozen of the linesiders. I think those kind of experiences have a way of doing that.
I know an editor and fly fisherman who scratches his head at the magnitude of that snook record, but if he stayed awake fishing almost that entire time and used appropriate tackle ( short plug rods on dock lights and ultralight spin for beach cruisers), he might come close to matching that number. Since he seems fixated on fly tackle where the necessity to false-cast and have more than the one back-cast used with spin or plug, his snook numbers will be low and his fishing will be limited to open spaces and angles where he does not "line" his fish. In contrast, I am lying on my stomach when I flick a cast to a beach snook that are often cruising with their backs out of the surf waters sometimes only 10 inches deep- try that with the long wand!
I do not make a habit of pursuing redfish these days, since I devoted a good deal of the early 1970's racking up loads of ultralight redfish catches off Flamingo with Captain Joe Stephens. Last fall, I fished for reds off North Myrtle Beach with Captain Patrick Kelly and had a blast catching reds (locally called spot-tails) from run-off canals at the edge of marsh grass jungles. I have plans to go to the Indian River this year to try for a red over 30 pounds, but just for 1 trip.
Lately I've been probing new waters when high winds and/or unresponsive rolling tarpon make those explorations sensible. My most recent peek put me on a wad of 5 to 10-pound barracuda that behaved like snook, which is to say the ambush points they were holding on were at first blush, in brackish waters...until I remembered that the lack of rainfall and saltwater incursion gave these salinity-loving fish a chance to set up home and hearth.
The discovery and pleasure of those recent moments created a newness that made me recollect the pride, awe and triumph of catching a platter-sized pompano in Miami Beach's surf during a time when my age was a two-digit design beginning with the number, "1."
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Snookish Serendipities.....
While awaiting the arrival of the open bay summer tarpon, I've been grinding away at the snook.
My last outing by boat verified that the linesiders were hitting live shrimp 10 to 1 compared to artificials.
So I'd contacted a local tackle shop as to availability. When I was told there were lots of the camarones, I arranged for a pickup later. While I historically should have been mindful that the operator was subject to inaccuracy, I ignored my usual OCD approach and arrived to a "we've run out" situation.
Rather than miss my tide by driving to South Miami for shrimp, I endeavored to use my most effective artificials on the fish, but the sad reality is that compared to Charlotte Harbor, our snook population and habitat is tiny and the fish are pounded to death. In short, artificials for snook in Miami does not produce decent numbers of fish.
Somewhere between that moment and arriving at my boat, I discovered about 100 live pilchards for sale strictly on the basis of having done things differently than had I obtained the shrimp. Getting underway on a snook trip with this kind of bait in my livewell left me with a buoyant optimism- which proved well-founded three hours later with the release for four big snook, two barracuda, and loads of big jacks.
Jan
My last outing by boat verified that the linesiders were hitting live shrimp 10 to 1 compared to artificials.
So I'd contacted a local tackle shop as to availability. When I was told there were lots of the camarones, I arranged for a pickup later. While I historically should have been mindful that the operator was subject to inaccuracy, I ignored my usual OCD approach and arrived to a "we've run out" situation.
Rather than miss my tide by driving to South Miami for shrimp, I endeavored to use my most effective artificials on the fish, but the sad reality is that compared to Charlotte Harbor, our snook population and habitat is tiny and the fish are pounded to death. In short, artificials for snook in Miami does not produce decent numbers of fish.
Somewhere between that moment and arriving at my boat, I discovered about 100 live pilchards for sale strictly on the basis of having done things differently than had I obtained the shrimp. Getting underway on a snook trip with this kind of bait in my livewell left me with a buoyant optimism- which proved well-founded three hours later with the release for four big snook, two barracuda, and loads of big jacks.
Jan
Monday, May 26, 2008
New Field Tests Underway....
FlatsFishingOnline is happy to field test tackle and accessories related to shallow water angling, time permitting. When the products are deemed to have a reasonable and/or representative amount of exposure or if they go to failure before a reasonable amount of time, the results will be posted as soon as possible.
Here are the current products being field tested-
1. SmartShield SPF30 Sunscreen Protection Lotion- http://www.smartshield.com/
2. Offshore Angler Ocean Master- OM 50- http://www.basspro.com/
3. Offshore Angler Gold Cup Inshore Spinning Rod- 7 Feet- http://www.basspro.com/
4. The Yeti Cooler- 60 Quart Fiberglass Series- http://www.yeticoolers.com/
Jan Maizler
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