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The last few times Derek Rust and I had the opportunity to chill together we were either ducking hurricanes or repairing hurricane damage. Paul Nocifora and I have been friends on social media and have several mutual friends but hadn’t fished together so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I met Paul at his house in Naples. He and Derek had agreed to take his skiff for the Cuda Bowl. We hitched up and rolled south.

By Adam Mailliez

Covered in hydraulic fluid from head to toe and frustrated for missing a perfect day on the water – that is how my Saturday started.
Not exactly the best start to the weekend, but it happens, just had to roll with it and before I knew it was time to get cleaned up and get ready for a gathering of friends at Jeff’s house. We get to let the kids play and enjoy some drinks while telling fishing stories well into the night. These gatherings don’t happen nearly enough but they are always a good time. We arrived, and I was still frustrated about my broken boat and my lack of time and ability to fix it, I thought that it meant no fishing Sunday either.

By: Capt. Royce Dahnke (@realtrippymahi)

 

Fly fishing false albacore in the panhandle.

During late May and early June rain can bring some of the most action pact mornings a fly fisherman could possibly ask for. We’re not talking about ordinary rain showers, but more on the lines of acres and acres of rain.

After these rains, minnows cloud out the crystal clear waters of the northwest Florida coast, and following very close behind them are thousands of bonito aka false albacore or as the old schoolers used to call them little tunny.

 

These high speed little bruisers are dialed in on the abundance of food stretched for miles right off the beach and they are willing to eat every rain minnow in their way. As all the meat hunters in the panhandle area head out on their 30+ footers to chase king mackerel and red snappers many of them pass up a very underrated fish.

 

The flats around the Mac Dill air force base have been off limits to boating and fishing since the events of September 11th, 2001. Since then the flats have been no-mans land and every seasoned bay area angler would be keen on any opportunity to drop a line. I opened a message from one of the guys at Operation Home Shores saying that they were opening the gates so to speak and allowing the public to fish the flats for a day. I needed to know more. I was then filled in with all the details required In order to participate in a day of fishing around the base.

 

I needed a few things: 1. Notify them of my desire to participate in the event, 2. Who my passengers will be, and 3. A background check on each attendee. The first person to come to mind was a cousin of mine that also happens to be Combat Arms Trainer at Mac Dill and owner of RK Training Dynamics.

Our sons are the same age so we often spoke of making a fishing trip happen, and the time was finally upon us. I called him up and we discussed a third member and quickly agreed his father-in-law would join us as well.

While timing and planning is always an important consideration, it often weighs too heavily on the mind and soul. Places and activities we have set apart for enjoyment are often […]