Just got back from a week in FL with the kids and Kelly's parents. We had a great time in Marco Island, but I'm glad to be home! The flight back was tough...just a lot of hours in a plane with two young kids! Elia is an absolute fish and had a blast at the beach. JJ was sick most of the trip, but still enjoyed building (and destroying) sand castles! I spent one day fishing with Mark from Everglades Guide service. We fished hard but the snook just didn't cooperate. I enjoyed the change of pace from carp fishing...hammering the banks with streamers, trying to tuck the fly under tree branches and in amongst the mangrove roots was quite a challenge. I managed one small snook, and a bunch of snappers. I nearly had a couple of jacks but the schools busting the bait move so fast it was tough to get in front of them.

I spent the mornings at the resort walking the beaches and looking for fish to throw the fly at. There was a large rock pile about 1/2 mile away, so I would walk slowly along the beach casting at swirls and then spend the bulk of my time casting off the rock piles. I caught a ton of sierra mackerel, and had more than that chop through the straight 40 lb mono I was using as leader. Man, do they have sharp teeth. I landed one really big mackerel that went way into my backing (not pictured) but most were the size seen below. Fun fish, they just maul a fly...all of my clousers are chopped down to dumbell eyes with no more bucktail. I caught the big lady fish below off the beach. Walking along I saw some activity, chucked a clouser out there and this ladyfish grabbed the fly. They fight pretty well! I also managed to catch a few small jacks from the rock piles...pound for pound, they crushed the lady fish and mackerel. It was a nice change of pace from carping...completely different than anything I've done before.