On to the pics…

Morning @ Boca Grande Florida – Range Marker

Poling for Tarpon

Spotted Sea Trout

Florida Fly Box

Blue Fish

Some casting from Boca Grande Guide Jamie Allen.

A good way to end a some fishing!

A better way to end a day!

The trip was two years in the making for me. I originally scheduled a trip for the previous July (07) in Nov of 06. I scheduled 8 months in advance, because July is ‘prime time’ and I wanted to be there when the fishing was good! The first trip, I got out to SD, called to make sure everything was a ‘go’ and to see what time we were going out. I was scheduled to go out with Capt Dave Trimble, but he pulled his back and couldn’t do the trip. Beach fishing in San Diego is cool, but its not makos! lol. I went back out in September and no sharks showed-up for the party! Everything finally came together this week. This is my first real salt water experience, other than fishing the beach. I know I’m hooked now and cant wait for more!

IMHO … This a reasonably inexpensive and convenient trip when you split the cost with a buddy. I think you can go out with 3 people, but i wouldnt. Conway said that on average he gets 4 makos to the boat. Believe me .. You will want every hook-up you can get. So, only take one buddy, is my advise! My only regret is that I didn’t book two days. lol.

The trip is a very fast and convenient. The flight is 1.5 hrs ( from SLC ) and Jetblue started flights to SD this last year and the extra legroom is nice! Plus you don’t have to deal with Southwest boarding mayhem. I dont know about you but I hate that shit. Anyway, I literally took off from work a couple hours early on Tuesday and was back Wednesday night at 10pm. We stayed at the Dana on mission bay which is a 3 min walk from where you meet, to head out in the morning. The hotel is nice, its on the water, and practically next door to Sea World. We got in dropped our bags off and headed down the road (walking) looking for some grub. Detoured to do the the obligatory “Hit the beach”. Its right there.. Why not! Sushi … Pass … Subway .. Pass … 100% packed pizza/italian place with a waitress munching on a slice while taking orders and telling people to “Please wait outside for a table. You get in the way when you stand right there” … Looks Good! Inexpensive and tasty! Back to the room … Crash out and up at 6 to meet at 7. Close is nice!

Checkout of hotel, check bags at the desk, and head out. We got there about 30mins early and met up with Conway who was all ready to go. Conway says lets get a jump on the other boats and go. I pickup some Dramamine and were cruising out of the bay. It took us about 20 – 30 mins to get to our spot (2 – 3 miles) and start the drift. Conway has been doing this for years and it shows! If you have not listened to any of the Conway Bowman podcsts ( http://www.itinerantangler.com/podcasts/2006/11/ ) or seen the SD Dollar Wise Fly episode … You should check them out.

Conway starts to set a chum slick .. I get sea sick fairly easy. So, this almost instantly triggers me to puke. Ahhh, glad that is over with .. Next time I’ll take that Dramamine earlier! My buddy laughs at me for being such a puss and puking. All the while forgetting that seeing and listening to someone puke sometimes … Well, my turn to laugh! I knew what was coming and did not eat anything that morning.

We sit and bullshit .. Conway shows us the rods, etc. Gives us a casting demo .. Puts the rod in our hands and lets us practice cast a few times. Big flies, Big rods, Big reels … Damn heavy! 14/15/16 weight Scott rods. Big Nautilus and Hatch reels to match … We ooh and ahhh over the nice hardware! Conway proudly tells he broke two rods last trip. Kick ass … No worries about breaking rods! The message was go for it .. Your here to fish! He pulled the broken rods out later in the day to show them to us.

About 8:30 the first mako showed up. He is about 70lbs. It was an amazing sight .. All of a sudden out of nowhere, here he is. I was up to bat. 5 or 6 casts … He eyeballs the fly a couple of times, but doesn’t take. Conway says. “Let me get the teaser” (They will use a big teaser lure to get the sharks really fired up). While Conway has his back turned, the shark makes another pass and I lead him by about 4 feet with my fly .. He sees it, goes for it, and game on! I wont even try to describe what it felt like.. it was unique! These guys are the top of the food chain for a reason. The takes are slow, intentional, and purposeful. It was really hard to not set overly fast, if you did you’d yank the fly out and miss. The runs were over-the-top fast and strong. On top of all that, you can tell that Conway loves being there and he is 100% focused on getting you fish. All of my mako pics are of my buddies sharks … The next shark to roll up and bite was a healthy 110lb’r, that gave Tone a serious work out.

By 10:00 the tides had 11 sharks circling the boat, 9 makos and 2 blues. Watching the makos chase the blues out and seeing their aggression was fantastic to see up close. The blues really wanted to eat, but Conway wanted us on makos while they were there! They’d rip down on the fly and Conway would yell “Get it outta there! We’re after the makos”. This ended up being the mantra for the day. lol …The next couple of hours was prime time. By the end of the day total we hooked 10 or 11 makos. We both got 2 up to the boat for a release, we each lame hooked one, we each had a shark bite through the steel leader, and I had a nice 150lb mako straighten a hook on me. We had a couple of sharks make some nice runs and I had one shark go airborne … but for the most part it was a slug fest right there at the boat. The number of sharks feeding has everything to do with the tides. The rest of the day was spent picking off a couple of individual sharks that would cruise up.

We got back about 3:30 and met the guys who were out fishing on the other boats. The other boats are not within sight of you while you’re fishing. Headed over got our bags, got the airport shuttle, and jumped on the flight home. It kicked my ass, but I was back to work the next day. I still have not come down off the trip!

Cost of the trip per person (2 people)
$200 – flights, $90 – room, $70 – food, cab, tips, parking, Dramamine , $325 – trip, $??? – tip

Total per person
around $685