Hey Artan how are things!
Les

tearing up my 6wt

Artan,

Is that the hwy 98 bridge in Destin? Looks a little close and shallow but I had to ask.

yea it is jnd, and the crevalle were thick that morning

They are fun to catch. Were you using a clauser (sp?), streamer or one of those silver woven spoon thingies?

Is that on the Fort Walton Bay side or the Destin Jetty side?

PS, where did you get the hat? I have one similar but as I've gotten older my hat has gotten, ahem, a little shorter in the back and doesn't quite cover.

chartuese clousers with yellow eyes. and its on the for walton side. i was only rigging up in the picture, i caught most of my fish one the east jetty and if you walk some more, you can wade out to the channel inbetween the jettys. thats where i lost all my flies to big fish, and got spooled twice, and broke my 8wt. and broke hooks, and got stung by jellys. hooked into 8 tarpons, bonitos, spanish macks, spinner sharks millions of jacks crevalle, i even had my fly rod ripped outta my hands a fish i have no idea what it was hit my fly so hard. almost lost a finger to a 60mph bonito. it was the most memorable fishing week ever in my life on a fly rod

Man, I'm going to Destin in a few weeks. Now I can't wait! I hope I have half the good fishing you did. I'm jealous!

Artie

are yougoing to be fly fishing? ill give you some spots.

Welcome back Artan! Sounds like that was a grand time indeed! So did you ever use a guide or did you just "flat foot" it?

However you did it those fish must have been a load of fun! Getting the rod ripped out of your hands, hooh boy!

Thats great you caught some fish down there. I really love fishing the gulf, you just never know what your gonna hook up with. Even catching what some people call trash fish on the fly is fun. Good job.

i used the same guide twice. the second day we anchored 500 yards off shore and started chumming.... the fish swarmed the boat

That's great. I did not know you could get further than the jetty. I thought that was fenced off. Do you remember what the tide was doing? I know there is a lot of fish moving through that pass. I'm glad you had a good trip. I'm going back down again, probably in May or June and am planning a 30-40 hour offshore trip. I will take my fly rod next time and fish the jetties.

I haven't figured out a good leader system. Everything I use on a fly rod gets chewed up pretty quick. I wonder if 12 inch Steel leader could be thrown at all?

jnd i was using from my fly line. 16lb tippet. then about a 6inch 20lb FLOROCARBON leader. i only had a few fish break me off. i would not use a steel leader at all. you pretty much hook the fish with the hook every time. striping fast is the only way your gonna get a strike. its nothing like freshwater. if your fly stops. the fish will lose interest IMIDIATLY. im not joking. the best time to catct fish in the surf was from 4-6am. i would basically just sit there. and walk slow down the beach and wait for some top water action. and as soon as i casted to it. i had a fish. just be carful. if you get into bonita, macks, or crevalle. they are fast enough to take a finger. i almost lost my pointer to a 20lb+ crevalle. and remember not to lift the fishs head outta the water. they will break it imidiatly.

i hope it made sense. im drunk