Trip Reports
• Who
• Where
• When
• What flies were successful
• What caught
• Pictures

Outings -- Guidelines and Tips
• Always check departure time and place the night before.
• Carry a cell phone, and the cell phone numbers of the trip participants.
• Check the weather the night before; take a forecast with a grain of salt. They're only right 1/2 the time.
• Take a camera along.
• Whenever possible help share in cost of gas or buy driver's lunch.

Hilochee Fishing Report
(September, 08) Five kayakers recently braved the trailing edge of Hurricane Fay at Hilochee State Park down near Clermont. (Felix Nieves, Doug Dombek, new kayak owners Larry Semple and Ken Thibault, and First Time Kayaker Paul Goorjian.).

Leaving Lady Lake on a rainy morning, the rains ceased near Clermont and held off until after mid-afternoon when the trip ended. A bit breezy, but a rapidly moving, streaky cloud cover made for a special day on the water. All caught fish, and they were "taking on top" for a change. Upwards of 40 bream came to net, along with a couple of bass.

Backwoods Alaska
(June, 08) In late June, TCFF Member Bob Strunc and his brother took a side trip from a cruise to hop a float plane to get into the Alaskan wilderness to catch Sea Run Dolly Varden (a.k.a. Dolly Varden Trout). They look like a trout, but they are related to the Char family and are hard fighters as several jumped clear of the water. The flies used were Red Clouser Streamers and the fish were caught on both a fresh water stream (glacial runoff) and on the salt flats. The fish on the salt flats were bigger and fought harder.

After four hours when the float plane came back to pick the fishermen up, they had to walk about a mile further out on the flats because the tide had went out -- they caught the biggest fish waiting for the plane. The plane ride itself was as exciting as a thrill ride -- with such high differential tides, and large volumes of glacial runoff in the summer weather, the pilot is never sure where the sand bars are.

St. Cloud Barramundi Trip Report
(This article was writen for Fly Fishing, but they do allow spinning and bait casting rods on the ponds.)
(July, 08) After a bad day of fishing, the old saying goes, “Well, if you were catching fish, it wouldn’t be called fishing!” Down at the barramundi fish farm southeast of St. Cloud, it is definitely “catching”.

Larry Semple and George Hintz spent a couple hours with Captain Randy Dumars June 19th fly fishing on the fish ponds. The day started out cloudy and rainy then cleared up to just cloudy. For the first half-hour, Larry and George fished with chartreuse clousers and each caught three fish, then they switched to what looked like a brown spun hair fly imitation of the food pellets the farm feeds the fish. By chumming the water with a handful of feed, the fish would go into a feeding frenzy – drop your fly in the middle and the fight was on.

All in all, each caught something like twenty barramundi with the average weight around nine pounds. They had a great time but both were pretty much worn out in only two hours of fishing. Figuring each fish took an average of five minutes to fight that would be 100 minutes of 120 minutes fighting fish for each fisherman! (Barramundi are a snook-like fish imported from Australia and are farmed just like catfish.

For those of you planning on going out there, here are some tips and comments:

• As the fish have very sharp gill plates (just like snook), do not handle the fish! There is a guide for every four fisherman with Boga Grips to land and unhook the fish for you.
• Minimum fly rod size is an 8 weight with floating line – having a fighting butt is a plus. Need at least 150 feet of backing. Bring a extra spool of line as the fish can get your line wrapped around the anchor cables of the floating aerators and cost you a fly line. When picking a spot to fish, keep the aerators at a distance.
• Make sure your reel’s drag works – you will be into the backing soon enough with a tight drag. No drag could result in no fish and no line!
• As the strike is very hard, line management is very important. Having the line wrapped around you foot, your reel or the tip of your rod would not be good when the fish strikes. Be especially careful not to have your fingers tangled in the line.
• Tippet is 60 pound test monofilament. As the fish have very abrasive mouth, the tippet has to be replaced or shortened after about every five to seven fish.
• As is the norm here in Florida, sunscreen and a hat, as a minimum, are needed.
• On the day fished, there were no mosquitoes, but there were a few pesky horseflies so insect repellent is recommended.
• The files used were chartreuse (which seems to be the favorite color of the fish) Clousers and flies which look like their feed (floating pellets, dark brown, about 1/2 ” in diameter and 1/2” long.). Hook size 2-to-1/0 with barb bent down as these are catch-and-release ponds. (They will hit floating flies, bass poppers, etc., also.)
• The berms between the ponds are flat-topped maybe fifteen-to-twenty feet wide. Walking is easy, but, even though the farm spreads Amdro around, there are occasional fire ant mounds to watch out for.
• If you cannot stand for long periods of time, you can bring lawn chairs. (The ponds have even been fished by people in wheelchairs.)
• Bring something to drink.
• There are port-a-potties on the site.
• Last, but not least, bring a camera.

Maine Trip Report
(July, 08)  Roland Bauer and Doug Dombek paid Dave Ferris a visit in Maine to partake in a Maine North Woods fishing experience. Home base was a rented house (“camp”) on Hermon Pond, near Bangor. There were fish in abundance, and the species caught included crappie, yellow perch, white perch, pumpkinseeds, black bass, and chain pickerel. “Doubles” were usually two different species. It was almost like fishing in the Gulf; you never knew what was going to be on the end of your line. And there were few if any other people fishing on the lake the whole while.

Then back to Hermon Pond for three more days of fishing. Fathers Day brought rain, so we took a little side trip to a Lobster Pound for a phenomenal meal, and finished that off with Maine blueberry ice cream in Bar Harbor. By the time the trip ended and we had to return to Florida, thanks largely to Davey’s hospitality and guiding, we had had a most excellent Maine fishing adventure.  -- Doug Dombek

Fishing Report -- Private Lake/Dade City, May Trips
On May 5th, six club members visited the private lake northwest of Dade City that we also visited in April.  This time, around 45 bass were caught along with a few bluegills.  Mike Winter caught his biggest bass he has ever caught on a fly rod (around 18 inches long) and Larry Barlow caught his first bass on a fly rod. 

Felix Nieves ran into a bunch of bass at one end of the lake and ended up catching twenty-three.

Since April when we were last there the lake has dropped about two feet.  Concerned about the rapidly dropping water levels and the fishability of the lake, a May 31st exploratory trip was made with three Club members.  It looked like the lake dropped another two feet over four weeks, but still 14 bass were caught, the largest being four pounds by Larry Semple, the lake was deemed OK to go ahead with the June 2nd Club Fishing Trip.

On June 2nd, eight members went out and caught about 30 bass and a few bluegills.  (Again Felix caught the most at 13.)

Sad to say the quality of the lake is rapidly declining.  Over the past ten weeks, the level has dropped something like five feet (the deepest part of the lake is now around four feet) and the surface area is about one-third of what it was.  Without a great deal of rain early in June, this is probably the last fishing trip there as the fish will die off due to a lack of oxygen.

The Club has has a good time fishing that lake over the past ten weeks.  We have had some of the most productive fishing trips ever -- in five trips, we have caught and released probably 220-250 bass with the largest being 4-3/4 pounds. 

Our host for the lake has a private museum of antique household and farm implements.  In appreciation to him for allowing us to fish the lake, the Club Board Of Directors authorized me to buy some antique items to add to his collection.  This past week we presented him with three antique items -- a pecan harvester, carpet stretcher and wood shingle hammer. -- George Hintz

Fishing Report -- Unicoi State Park, Georgia
(April, 2006)  Seven adventurous anglers set out for the mountains of Northern Georgia in what will certainly be an annual affair for the club. We stayed in the lodge at Unicoi State Park; accommodations were first class and reasonably priced. The streams and rivers were beautiful, and the dogwoods and azaleas were at their springtime peak.

We fished the Chatahochee River and Duke's Creek. Results were disappointing however, as only several small trout were the total for the trip. It was quite an experience for the first-timers at Trout fishing, and the veterans kept remarking at the quality of the water. But a good time was had by all. -- Doug Dombek

Fishing Report -- Dade City Private Lake
(April, 2006)  What do you get when you put eight Club members. five kayaks, one Gheenoe and a canoe on a private 40-acre lake?  A total catch of something like 76 bass and four bluegills!  On April 7th, the group launched their boats on a 40-acre lake in the middle of a cow pasture and proceeded to have one of the Club's best fly fishing days ever.  The fish were mostly in the 10-14 inch range with a few upwards to four pounds.   (On an exploratory trip the Monday before, Dave Ferris caught a 4-3/4 pound [measured] bass -- see Photo Album.)  The bluegills were small except for one eleven incher.

The original 5-acre lake was flooded about three years ago when an adjacent lake overflowed.  With the present drought the water level of the lake is dropping and is concentrating the fish.  Due to the high nutrient level, there is a fair amount of algae growing in the water.   The dropping water level and the high algae content is a bad combination to having a healthy lake.  Hopefully we will be getting more rain in the coming months in order to keep this a viable fishing lake.
-- George Hintz

Fishing Report -- West Fork of the Tuckasegee River, N.C.
On March 11th, while most of you were working at the Expo, I was enjoying my Christmas present. It was a guided fly fishing trip to North Carolina from my daughter and her husband.

We were very fortunate to hook up with an excellent guide. My son-in-law and I were taken to the West Fork of the Tuckasegee river. It is a dam controlled, bottom release river with more than 20 river miles of fishable water below the Dam.  I was directed to fish an area bordered by a steep bank on one side and an island with about 100 feet of good water in between. On the other side of the island was another good looking run that had a group of fishermen there. From my position, I had a 25-50 foot cast to the shore and about the same to the tail of the island. I had sufficient room to cast in most directions without hooking up on the overhanging trees. Chest waders and a wading staff were the uniform of the day. Naturally I forgot to take a wading staff.

The guide rigged up my 9 1/2 ft 6 wt. Sage with a strike indicator about 6 feet from the end of the 3 pound tipped line. He then attached a glow bug about a foot above the end and I tied on a size 16 bead head nymph Gary Christie tied for the fly swap. I proceeded to catch trout. All three species were in the river. The average size was 10 to 11 inches but there were larger ones. I finally broke off a good fish in the fast water and lost all of the guides setup. I tied on a piece of 4 pound tippet and attached the Predator and Prince Nymph combination that Roland Bauer tied for the fly swap.

Well, the rest is boring, fish after fish hit that combination and the setup was perfect. I finally decided to try something else. I put on George Shillington’s bead head Wooly bugger and proceeded to catch more. Then I put on Doug Dombek’s Muddler and landed two large browns about 14 inches.

Here come a cloud of caddis flies and it appeared that the fish were starting to hit on the surface. I tried two of my favorite dry flies for the occasion, a 16 elk hair caddis and a 16 red quill. Several large Rainbows came for the dry flies but rejected them at the last second. The fishing on top was slow. I finally changed back to the wet flies.

The guide, John Hunnicutt, had told me beforehand that a man had caught about 30 fish from that area and I was skeptical. Now I am a believer.

I want to tip my fly rod to the members of our Club that tied trout flies for the fly swap. They have all contributed good patterns.

I have gone into detail here because the guide has worked the Duke Creek where we will be fishing in North Georgia next month. He said that the fishing there should be equal or better.   -- Dave Ferris

Fishing Report -- Turtle Mound
Five intrepid anglers showed for the trip to Mosquito Lagoon Thursday morning, March 9th.  We arrived and began fishing at 9:00 AM and encountered heavy wind which became stronger as the day progressed.  The wind and white caps made fishing at our favorite sandbar very difficult.  Despite those conditions, fish were caught, albeit not all by the long limber wand. Sixteen spotted sea trout were landed, two of which were "keeper" size and now reside in the respective anglers fridge. In addition, Felix caught three silver trout and as usual, the fly rod never left his hand all day. Roland brought in an incredibly grotesque critter, somewhat resembling a fish, in that it came out of the water and had what could pass for fins. No identification, but it did eat a fly. I spoke to several bait and lure fishermen in the area and they stated that the trout are in and they had been catching them in spite of the wind and weather. -- Larry Semple

This would a great place for the club to line up for fishing trips. Nice little park with benches and ample parking. We stopped at Island Marine & Tackle (# 9 on the map) for information. It is just north of 528 on Banana River Drive .

There are two routes for getting there from the Tri-County Area.  One goes near Orlando by the Turnpike and the 528.  The other is almost all two lane roads throught Sanford -- this route took 2-1/2 hours each way with fairly clear roads. -- Bill Kugelman

Fishing Report -- EG Simmons Park (Ruskin)
March 7th, seven TCFF Members went on an exploratory fly fishing at E.G. Simmons Park (just outside Ruskin on the east shore of Tampa Bay).  Three guys were in kayaks and the rest, waded.  This is a textbook area for snook, trout, redfish and every other inshore saltwater fish you can name -- protected waters, lots of mangroves, grassy bottom, water depths to ten feet, etc.  We even had good sand bottom for wading from a 150 foot sandbar extending into the estuary.  With all this, not one fish was caught. (Not counted was the tiny grass shrimp Felix Nieves snagged).  We did have 20+ MPH wind blowing into Hunter Pass (the entrance to the estuary from Tampa Bay), but were able to find enough sheltered water to cast.  (Even the people using live shrimp fishing the same area got skunked!)

For kayaks and canoes, there are plenty of places to launch all around the Park.  There is even a boat ramp in the northwest corner.

Though we zeroed-out at this Park, everyone agreed that this general area, along with the Park, has excellent potential -- miles of flats to wade and pole in Tampa Bay, Little Manatee River just to the south, canals and estuaries on both sides of the Park. -- George Hintz

Fishing Report -- Hilochee Wildlife Management Area
(February, 2006)  A good time was had by all at Hilochee on Saturday, despite very windy conditions. And, a fair number of fish were caught, too! It almost was a non-starter though, when it was discovered that the combination to the gate lock was wrong! With 3 kayaks and a canoe waiting at the Stock Lake gate, and 2 boats and 5 fly fishers waiting at the Peat Lake gate, someone walked ¼ mile or so into the Refuge Headquarters (past that locked gate) to find a person who could tell us the correct lock combo -- just as we were all ready to pack up and leave in not very good humor.

Several Bream (Sunfish) and small Bass were boated at Stock Lake. "Many" Bream, an 18 inch Bass, plus other smaller Bass were taken at Peat Lake -- reportedly on Muddlers. Ed Rapisardi caught an (estimated) 7 pound toothy Mudfish and wanted his fly back; without a fish grabber it was reportedly quite a sight to see.  -- Doug Dombek

Ft. Desoto Park Trip Report
(February, 2006)  Fourteen hardy souls traveled to Fort DeSoto on February 16th . The majority spread out along the shoreline in the Arrowhead Picnic Area. A couple tried the shoreline East of the East Beach Swimming Area. The tide was incoming, the weather perfect, but nobody caught any fish while wading! (Both areas have produced in the past.) One member launched his kayak into the Canoe Trail, a channel leading from the canoe rental to the main inside pocket of water, and stumbled into a pod of Ladyfish in one of the deeper holes in the channel. He landed four and missed several more --get this-- on a Muddler. (Guess who!) -- Doug Dombek

Lake Toho Overnight Trip Report
(February, 2006)  Eight Club members made the trip to "Toho" in the Kissimmee-St. Cloud area January 11th. It was the Club's first overnight outing. We stayed at the East Lake Fish Camp, which provided suitable accommodations including a decent restaurant. Fishing the East Lake was disappointing. The lake is a huge (11,000 acre) sand-bottom bowl with a reedy, slough-like shoreline, with very little development as a consequence. A few small bass were taken in one of the few lily pad areas along the shoreline, none on a fly. There was scant evidence of activity within the bream category.

Therefore on the second day we drove to West Lake Toho, with a similar (but better) result. Several bream and a small bass fell to flies offered; a few bass were taken with small rubber worms as well. This lake offered much more in the way of structure, weed beds, islands of vegetation, and creeks entering the lake. One, Shingle Creek, was absolutely beautiful, with Cypress on both banks, and was reportedly the scene of the biggest single stringer of Bass taken in recent times. (West Toho is also the locale for a major Bassmasters Tournament in February.) Never the less, a good time was had by all, and "why don't we do this more often" was an oft-repeated comment.  -- Doug Dombek

Salt Springs Trip Report
(December, 2005) On Thursday, December 15, about a dozen members went on a Club-organized fishing trip to Salt Springs. Though on the edge of a cold front with a little bit of wind at times, the weather was beautiful.  The fish tales are a little hard to come by as the fish didn't cooperate in the 60 degree water – some bass were spotted near the spring, but weren't biting.  Again Larry S. seems to be the big winner for the day (remember November's Picnic Island eleven-pound redfish) with a couple small bass.  The rest of the group had to be satisfied with a few small bluegills.  Bill K. did manage to land an eleven-inch crappie.  As with all Club fishing trips, the day of camaraderie wound up with a great lunch with the Stew & Grilled Cheese Sandwich being a particular favorite.

Honeymoon Island
(November, 2005) On Monday, November 28, Doug D., Gary K., Bill K., Felix N., George S., Mike W. and I went to fly fish Honeymoon Island northwest of Dunedin . The island offers a variety of fishing opportunities – beaches, seawalls, mangroves, rock jetties, sand bottoms and muddy bottoms. For those with small boats, there is a boat ramp on the causeway leading to the island. For those with Gheenoes and kayaks, there are several places to shore launch.

The weather wasn't very cooperative as it was quite windy, but we did wet our lines. We fished the SE end by wading around to a bay somewhat sheltered from the wind. At the north end of the bay, there were thick mangroves, but the bottom got quite soft causing problems with wading. A couple redfish were spotted in the water and Bill K. got a strike on a clouser.

A Park Ranger advised us that a sea wall area might provide a little more protection from the wind. The seawall is accessed from a parking area about 50 yards past the park's entry booth on the north side of the road. After about a 50 foot walk down a path, you come to a semi-circular quarter-mile long seawall. At the north end was thick mangroves where several trip members waded on rather soft bottom. No strikes, but several trout and lots of bait fish were seen. This would be an ideal area to fish with a kayak as you are protected from south and west winds. (There is a parking area where kayaks [and maybe Gheenoes] could be launched just before you reach the parks entry booths.)
-- by George H.           Directions to Honeymoon Island.

Click Here to see satellite photo of the south end of Honeymoon Island. The first bay fished is to the southeast of where Causeway Boulevard divides and comes back together (that is the park entrance) and the seawall is just to the northwest of the entrance.

Before going out on the island, it is recommended that a visit to the Dunedin Bait & Tackle is well worth the effort. Larry (the owner) is very knowledgeable of the local waters and what is biting.

Dunedin Bait & Tackle
1307 Bayshore Blvd.
Dunedin , Fl 34698
727-736-3474
(The shop is located about three miles south of the turnoff to Honeymoon Island on the east side of the road.) -- George H.

Picnic Island in Tampa -- by Larry S.
(November, 2005) From my perspective, it was a great day. I managed to luck into my first snook on fly, it was roughly about 3lbs. Several casts later over the same weed bed, I hooked another snook which took to the air, peeled out all my fly line down to the backing before breaking off. Oddly enough, fifteen minutes later at this same location I hooked a large fish, identity unknown, until nearly forty-five minutes had passed, this critter took out all my fly line and half my backing before turning parallel to the shore and giving me an opportunity to regain something on the reel. At any rate, it turned out to be another first for me, my first redfish on a fly. It weighed a speck over eleven pounds. All four of us had fish on and broke them off or they spit the fly. Until the tide turned and started in there was little action, as soon as the incoming began, the fish turned on. Roland B., Dave F., George S. and myself were on the trip. Directions to Picnic Island.  -- Larry S.

Scouting Trip To Indian River Dike Road and Environs
(November, 2005) Six Club members ventured to the Indian River and Titusville area in search of good wading areas for a future Club Outing. A similar trip made last year found the Dike Road closed off due to a massive renovation of the road and dike system. The work is complete and the road looked great, but unfortunately, a cable across the South entrance blocked access. (We will follow up on this to see if we can get access somehow in the future.) The other areas checked out were the " BioLab Road " area, and an area opposite it on the West side of SR3. Both had been recommended as possible sites by The Fly Shop in Titusville . In both locations, the bottom quickly became too soft as we entered the water, although Warren R. did catch two small sea trout at the second location. Disappointed, we headed for The Fly Shop to commiserate by buying a few goodies, and then enjoyed grouper sandwiches at a local restaurant before heading home. Directions to Indian River Dike Road

Scottsmoor Landing
Scottsmoor Landing has a nice boat ramp and two covered picnic tables.
A hard sand bar starts about 100 yards south of the boat ramp and extends for some distance. Wade the bar and fish both sides.
There is a trough between the shoreline and the bar, so be careful! ( A shallow draft vessel would be very useful here to access, and to scout the bar.) Directions to Scottsmoor Landing

Boat Rental Information (As boat availability changes over time, it is best to call and make reservations first.)
Withlacoochee River - Dunnellon (fresh water)
Anglers Family Resort - (352) 489-2397
12189 S. Williams St. (U.S. 41 near bridge)
Dunnellon, FL 34432

Take SR 484 West out of Belleview into Dunnellon.
Turn left at U.S. 41 South (at light); Look for sign near bridge.

4 hours or less $45.00
All Day $60.00
Canoes $25.00 daily

Salt Springs Run (access to Lake George)
Salt Springs Marina & Landing - (352) 685-2255
25711 NE 134th Place (Off SR 19)
Salt Springs, FL 32134

Rowboats
1/2 day $10.00
All Day $20.00

Power skiff
1/2 Day $25.00
All Day $40.00

Lake Panasoffkee
Pana Vista Lodge - (352) 793-5863
3421 CR 421
Lake Panasoffkee, FL 33538

Take SR 44 West to CR 470 South
Turn left onto CR 470 to CR 421
Turn right onto CR 421 (Just past sharp left turn)

Power Boats
$40.00 or $30.00 after 3:00 PM (6 HP)
$45.00 or $35.00 after 3:00 PM (8 HP)
Canoes $15.00 daily

Cedar Key
Island Hopper (at City Marina) (352) 543-5904

8 Hour Rental (All with tops)
16 ft. w/15 HP $90.00
17 ft. w/30 HP $120.00
19 ft. w/ 50 HP $150.00
21 ft w/ 60 HP $175.00
2 Hour rates available