Fishing has improved a lot this past week. Largemouth are moving toward the shallow water and several good catches have been taken. The shallow creek channels in the bays have been producing best. Spinnerbaits and Carolina rigged plastic are the better baits. Crappie have been showing up in good size. Most are taken by vertical jigged tube jigs and minnows over the deeper wood along the creek channels at the mouths of the bays. Whitebass have been jumping around the mouth of the major bay, especially Kentucky Lake. Catfish are still good on minnows and nightcrawlers. The catfish are along the river channel in about 40' feet of water. Good bluegill are being caught along the deep banks with wood. The fishing is not good below the damns. The heavy rains have the river rising and also strong current.

TIP: Remember cold front seem more severe in the fall.

BITS AND PIECES: You can't forget what you don't already know.
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Fished off Sandwich Town Beach this morning. Many fish were there feeding on what looked to be little peanut bunker. Marked many single big fish along the bottom (stripers it seemed) underneith the blues but blues were too hungry to get to let the bait or tubes get to the bottom.

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]REPORT FROM GARY GRAHAM'S BAJA ON THE FLY:[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]PROVIDING QUALITY SALTWATER FLY-FISHING 365 DAYS A YEAR IN BAJA[/size][/font]

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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Wed., Oct.02, 2002[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]EAST CAPE AND MAGDALENA BAY FISHING CONDITIONS[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]EAST CAPE, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]IN GENERAL: Again, the offshore reports are slow to good depending on whom[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]you speak with. Sailfish dominated the billfish scene and, just like last[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]week, if you find the right school of porpoise, you can find some quality[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]tuna quite a ways out. Inshore, football-size tuna and skipjack were a[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]slam-dunk. There are still a few mature dorado, but no schoolies to be[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]found. Closer to shore, the roosters are still putting on a good show. I[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]spent a couple of hours on the beach this morning and I remembered why I[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]like October. I think every time I stopped I caught something: jacks,[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]roosters, ladyfish and even a much-maligned needlefish. Considering that I[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]only made about 30 casts for the morning, that's not bad![/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]AIR & SEA - Low 70's in the early morning and 90 or so during the day.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Temperature 86° F / 73° F[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Humidity 74%[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Wind Calm[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Conditions Partly Cloudy (FEW): 8000 ft[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Sunrise 6:10 AM MDT[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Sunset 6:08 PM MDT[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Oct 6 New Oct 13 First Quarter Oct 21 Full Oct 29 Last Quarter[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Water Temps in the upper 80's offshore.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]· OFFSHORE: Sailfish your best shot, tuna are still a crapshoot.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]· INSHORE: Football tuna and skipjack and very few dorado. Closer to shore[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]you’ll find some quality roosters[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]· BEACH: Early morning is fantastic, plenty of sight-casting mid-day and[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]later in the day enough breeze to cool things off and convince you that a[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]margarita sounds pretty tasty.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]BILLFISH - Sailfish, Sailfish, Sailfish.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]YELLOWFIN TUNA - Big guys are outside under the porpoise a long way out and[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]the little guys are close to shore mixed in with the skipjack.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]DORADO - No schoolies, the cruising singles are good-sized, though.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]ROOSTERFISH - Look for bait schools and nervous water throw in a See Through[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Deceiver and hang on. To see a See Through, go to[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[url "http://www.bajafly.com/see_through_deceiver.htm"][font "Times New Roman"][#800080][size 3]http://www.bajafly.com/see_through_deceiver.htm[/size][/#800080][/font][/url]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]JACK CREVALLE - The small ones just inhale the See Through Deceiver.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]BARRILETE OR MEXICAN SKIPJACK - A few schools from La Ribera to Punta Arena.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]PARGO AND CABRILLA - Rocky points will be your best shot.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]SIERRA - Receivers in front of La Ribera holding a few smaller ones.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Catch of the Week Photo:[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[url "http://www.bajafly.com/weeklycatch.htm"][font "Times New Roman"][#0000ff][size 3]http://www.bajafly.com/weeklycatch.htm[/size][/#0000ff][/font][/url]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]MAGDALENA BAY, BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Wed., Oct. 02, 2002[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]IN GENERAL:[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Temperature 77° F[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Humidity 87%[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Wind Calm[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Conditions Clear[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Sunrise 6:18 AM MDT[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Sunset 6:16 PM MDT[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]New Oct 6 Oct 13 First Quarter Oct 21 Full Oct 29 Last Quarter[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]IN GENERAL: The water has warmed up on the Thetis and a few of the local[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]pangas reported a variety of fish spotted near the bank including marlin,[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]tuna, dorado, wahoo and yellowtail. Some of the yachts traveling down the[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]coast are reporting only fair fishing above the bank with a strong[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]temperature break above the Thetis. Strong tides inside the bay slowed[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]fishing down this week.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Water Temperature 72 - 79[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]YELLOWTAIL - Everything is near the bottom.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]CORVINA - A few smaller fish in the usual places.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]SNOOK - Pretty quiet.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]HALIBUT - With the action slowing down this week the halibut were a godsend.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]SIERRA - Slow going.[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Catch of the Week Photo:[/size][/font]

[size 3][font "Times New Roman"] [/font][/size]

[url "http://www.bajafly.com/weeklycatchmagbay.htm"][font "Times New Roman"][#0000ff][size 3]http://www.bajafly.com/weeklycatchmagbay.htm[/size][/#0000ff][/font][/url]
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September 15, a dark, rainy day, the last day of fishing sea trout in Altaelva Norway I was wading in the river, fishing for sea trout, with my G Loomis Trilogy 10' 7# with a very little (12 size) doublehook (YellowTorris wet fly) on the end of the 0,28 mm line. My hands began to be very cold and I decided to take a break from the fishing and take some black coffee from my backpack, and so I did. After a while I moved about 400 meters upstream, to a pool called "Tippen". After some cast the line were totally immovable, and I supposed that the fly had fastened to the bottom, but how could it be, because the pool was to deep and the stream to fast. I took up the slack and tried to loosen the fly from the "bottom" and then, buuuuuum things began to happen very fast. The salmon raced downstream and the backing line began to run out of the reel very quickly. I had to react and start running after the fish in order to save, at least, my fishing gear. 300 meters downwards the fish stopped, but the salmon refused to budge from its place in the river. Back and forth and so on, the salmon struggled for his existence and he offered stout resistance, but little by little the salmon strength was fading away and so were my arms. At last, after about 1 hour, the brave salmon yielded and sideways came to the shore. I carefully loosened the hook from his jaw, measured of length was 114 cm, about 17 kg and put the fish back to the river. I have not a picture from that fishing trip, but an another one, from another day in the Altariver, enclosed.[img]D:\mine dokumenter\detsika2.jpg[/img]
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[]The Golden Eagle is crap. My friend went out. 100 foot boat for tuna, loaded with 35 people. Capt. told everybody to get stuff off boat until their name was called. Told people who had stuff down below on a bunk to get it off. Bunks will be assigned and if you didn't move it, mate would put it on the dock. On the way out, some guy on boat collected $10 for a pool. Capt. said the only pool is his pool, give the money back. Now the pool was $20. Rained all night. NO FISH. Only a mate caught 1 yellow on a dead stick. Trolled (100' boat) in the a.m. Caught 2 more trolling. Get back to dock. The pool: NO WINNER. Capt. great idea....All pool money goes to the mates as a tip. FOR WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [url "mailto:$#@^%&$$%%^%"]$#@^%&$$%%^%[/url]&. Thats right. [url "mailto:$#@^%&$$%%^%"]$#@^%&$$%%^%[/url]& Tell your friends.
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[mad] [mad][size 1]Once again, I was able to cast about 50 times and avoid a fish at every cast. I was geared with an Alvey 650 on a custom pole I made from mudhole. A 12 foot rainshadow surf rod. At Point PLeasant, NJ I casted hopkins and diamond jigs at high tide and was able to avoid blues, stripers, false albacore and several high spirited small children. Maybe next time I can have a repeat performance. [/size]
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As I have posted before, I am spending this winter in Phoenix, taking care of my parents, but plan to be back in Utah by next summer. I can only imagine how Willard looks right now, and how the fishing has been affected.

WH2 posed a question the other day on Willard walleyes this time of year. I dug out some old fishing trip logs and jogged my aging memory a little. Here are a few of the things from the past that may have application in the present...once you can find the right flats, shelfs, humps or structure that hold the fish in these conditions.

I was gonna caption this LOW, SLOW & GLOW. Too corny. But, that has always been the key to success for me on fall transition 'eyes.

LOW: Post spawn (May & June) walleyes become active throughout the water column and will hit lures at almost any depth when they are feeding. When the temps are higher than they like...or cooling quickly (like now)...they move to the bottom, and sometimes to the deepest holes. Although they do make feeding forays into shallower water, they are still on or near the bottom.

SLOW: Throughout the warmer months, more walleye are caught by wiper trollers than by folks fishing just for walleyes. When conditions are right to get walleye moving and feeding, they will chase down a fast-moving lure. In the fall, the incidental catch of walleyes, while trolling fast for wipers, seems to drop off dramatically. If you want to troll for walleye at this time of year, you have to creep along, with a worm harness or a lure that wobbles at slow speed...like a flatfish behind a bottom bouncer rig.

GLOW: Cold and/or murky water slows the metabolism of most fish. It sometimes takes a bright chartreuse, hot pink or radiant white lure to get their interest. During the bright daylight, white with a red line down the back (added with a permanent marker) has produced well for me. 2" or 3" shad or twisters, in white or pearl, on 1/8 oz or 1/16 ounce heads work well. As it gets darker, switch to chartreuse with silver sparkle, or hot pink. Use a hot red head in the same sizes. Black with a chartreuse tail is sometimes a good bet too.

I used to fish mostly from a float tube, without the sonar I now have. An effective "prospecting" technique was to slow troll a tandem minijig (small tubes) setup for crappies. As the water cooled down, I would begin catching some surprisingly large walleyes on the small tidbits. I found several areas, like the lip of the channel at the north marina (when there was water there), that my first few casts at daybreak...with a blue w/clear sparkle tail mini tube ...would hook big walleyes. Then, when they moved out deeper, that color would outproduce anything else for both walleye and crappies.

On many successful jig-dragging tubing trips, I caught far more fish with the low and slow presentation than boats trolling slowly, but not slowly enough. On one memorable evening, I had not touched a fish all afternoon. I switched to the chartreuse with red head setup as I was kicking my tube back toward the ramp, to get out of the rapidly dropping temperatures. As I went over a hump out in front of the parking area, I had a thump, and brought in the first of about twenty big walleyes in as many casts.

My point? First find the fish. Then fish them near the bottom, with smaller baits than you use in summer. And, fish them slowly enough for the fish to first make up their minds and then to bite. Unlike warmer times, walleye won't leave a resting spot to follow a lure a long ways. That cuts down the odds, but if you work an area thoroughly, you have a shot at triggering a bite or two.

One last thing. Use light tackle. Even though walleye have teeth, you will get more hits if you go to a good abrasion resistant 4# or 6# line. I have been using Silver Thread Excalibur for several years and I've landed some mighty big toothy critters with it. Just an observation...not a commercial.
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[size 1]How come it says Greenhorn next to my name?[/size]

[size 1]The titles/icons next to your name is just a fun way of recogonizing how long different users have been with these boards, actually how many times they have posted.[/size]

[size 1]For those of you wondering how long it will say "Greenhorn" next to your username here is a breakdown of how the number of posts reflect the title/icon next to your username.[/size]

[size 1]0 => Greenhorn
[/size][size 1]5 => Bait
[/size][size 1]25 => Shiner
[/size][size 1]50 => Brookie
[/size][size 1]100 => WeakFish
[/size][size 1]200 => Perch
[/size][size 1]300 => Rainbow Trout
[/size][size 1]400 => Calico Bass
[/size][size 1]500 => Walleye
[/size][size 1]750 => Barracuda
[/size][size 1]1000 => Large Mouth Bass
[/size][size 1]1250 => White Sea Bass
[/size][size 1]1500 => Alaskan Salmon
[/size][size 1]1750 => Striper Bass
[/size][size 1]2000 => Chain Pickeral
[/size][size 1]2500 => Yellowtail
[/size][size 1]3000 => Northern Pike
[/size][size 1]3500 => Dorado
[/size][size 1]4000 => Sturgeon
[/size][size 1]4500 => Tuna
[/size][size 1]5000 => Channel Catfish
[/size][size 1]5500 => Swordfish
[/size][size 1]6000 => Aligator Gar
[/size][size 1]7000 => Marlin
[/size][size 1]8000 => Sturgeon
[/size][size 1]10000 => Shark
[/size]
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Howdy from Flamingo.

August was a great month for getting a Flamingo Grand Slam. The Flamingo slam consist of a snook, redfish and a trout. The toughest to catch is usually the snook so that's where I begin.

All of my trips begin with a four mile run to the Conchie channel to catch pinfish. One block of chum always does the job. Find the edge of the channel, start chumming and before long you'll see the pinfish running in and out of the chum line. It only takes a few cast of a seven foot cast net and the live well is loaded with bait. Watch out for sharks, they will eat your chum bag and leave you standing on the deck of your
boat with nothing to cast at.

August 8th was a full day trip with Kathy Korte, her dad Alvin and their friend Jim. We took advantage of a falling tide to load up on trout. We used a Cajun Thunder rig with a pinfish nose hooked on a 4/0 hook. The edge of a flat that dumps into deeper water is always a good place to find trout. Cast your bait so that the current takes it across the light and dark areas on the end of the flat. Next, we decided to take advantage of some tripletail that were working an area along the main channel between the Middle Grounds and the Conchie. We saw one nice school that allowed two cast with jigs and both jigs took hits. From out of nowhere, another jig went out and crossed both lines that had fish. Needless to say the fish got away but we did get a nice big knot of fishing line back to the boat. The gang boated a couple but kept only one. As the tide turned and the water got higher we headed to a favorite
snook and redfish flat.

We stayed with the Cajun rigs and pinfish as bait. Kathy was the first to hook up with a big snook that was well over
the limit size had this been a keeper month. Baits in the water again and this time two floats went under only one second apart. Kathy and Alvin had redfish on their lines and did a great job of keeping the two fish apart. Alvin's fish went into the cooler and Kathy's oversized red went back into the water. Floats out again and Kathy's rod bent over again with another redfish. Again, too big to keep and back into the water. Another keeper red was boated along with a released big snook just before we called it a day. A Flamingo Grand Slam for Kathy.

August 14th was a half day trip with Randy Schwartz and his friend Don. We scheduled the trip for the afternoon to use the sun to help us spot tripletail. As luck would have it the winds picked up to a good twenty knots making it impossible to spot fish. We headed for the East Cape canal to toss some lures instead. This was one of those trips that one person caught all of the fish. Don was the man today! We trolled after wearing out the trees and a good thing we did. Don's first hook up was a keeper redfish. We ran over the same area again and another had hit but it got off. Another run over the same area produced a big snook. Somewhere along the way Don managed a nice trout which got him his Flamingo Grand Slam.

August 18th was a full day with Stan Kosyla and his two teenaged son's, Charles and Alex. Our first fishing stop was the East Cape canal. Rods were rigged with 1/2 ounce sinkers and 4/0 hooks with pinfish as bait. I made the first cast for Stan to show the guys where to fish. As I started baiting the second hook, Stan's rod bent over, almost in half. The first snook of the day after only seconds in the water. After a few pics the fish was revived and put back into the water. With all baitsout it wasn't long before Charles was hanging on to a big one. More pics and goodbye's. Lines out again and this time it was Stan with another big snook. Three snook in one spot was pretty good so we moved on looking for redfish. My favorite snook and red flat yielded only one snook for Charles. Next it was off to troutsville for some lighter action while I pondered the red problem. The guys kept me so busy with the trout that there wasn't time to worry about redfish. After abouttwenty-five or so keeper sized trout the guys wanted some rod bending action. I told them of a secret hole that could have snook and reds but would surely have shark and rays. They said, "Lets go.". Sure enough, Stan and Charles got hooked up right away with some big rays while young Alex brought in a six foot nurse shark. While Stan and Charles was at a stalemate with the rays. Alex had a hit that had his rod singing. After a few minutes Alex brought in the biggest snook that I had seen
for some time. Alex's next fish must not have known that it was hooked because it just cruised towards the gulf like we weren't there. Well, we almost got some slams!

September should be just as good as was August. But now it's, "Snook Time". Only one per person but that's ok. Make sure you catch your limit before the first cold front blows through because that's when things will change.

Capt. John Griffiths
http://www.floridalighttacklecharters.com
1-866-4-TARPON (482-7766)
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Fishing report for Tampa Bay area.
9/23/ through 9/28/02

High winds associated with Isodore kept most anglers off the water Monday through Thursday. Friday's scouting revealed inshore waters starting to clear, but Redfish still scattered from the wind.

Saturday's charter found small Trout plentiful, with a few keepers on jigs.Redfish were still scattered, but some slot sized and bigger Snook were located on certain flat's edges and sandholes during the first half of the morning outgoing tide.

Snapper fishing in Tampa Bay remains fair to good. While anchored on the edge of the ship's channel inside Tampa Bay, chumming for Snappers and Spanish mackerel Saturday afternoon, we were surprised by two lost Kingfish on snapper rigs and the release of an estimated 25-30 pounder on 12 lb. test. He took a 3" pilchard, flat lined for Spanish Mackerel.

Also, Pompano action remains fair to good at mid and upper Tampa Bay bridges for piling scrapers fishing with jigs and fiddlers.

Keep 'em bent,

Capt. Tim Drummond
http://www.floridalighttacklecharters.com
1-866-4-TARPON (482-7766)
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