Post Florida…offseason

30 days of travel is a lot.  The trek from Washington to Florida was a doozy. Kristen and I learned a lot about how to trout bum travel and also the inability of vehicles to perform when needed.

That being said I also learned a lot from Florida. It’s a lot like LA in California but swampy.  Lots and lots of people.  And concrete. The waters are…different.  Salty rivers that are more like big estuaries, mangroves filled with dolphins and manatees, and silty, sandy, lagoony waters. 

It’s a lot like lake fishing in the PNW. Sneaking around trying to see feeding fish in some form.  The redfish tail, push, and splash a lot like carp. They are spooky, a lot like carp, and they eat little crustaceans or Crunchy flies, like a carp.  If you haven’t figured it out it’s similar to carp fishing.

The motor boat is to get you to and from these places separated by large open areas of water. It’s not the easiest thing to fish out of compared to a drift boat. The skiff is cumbersome compared to the dory or drift boat.  Weighted by a 200lbs motor, battery, fuel, and then people and gear.  It’s considerably clunky compared to moving and using a drift boat. I’m sure it’ll get better with practice, but it’s definitely not in the same realm as the dory.

It needs some mods to fish better.  Smaller casting platform in the front, with a space for an anchor to also help weigh the front end down a little more.  Which will help with poling. A longer stick will get me motor clearance while poling, but the boat rides like a spoon with 70% of the weight in the rear.  Getting the nose of the boat into the water will help keep the boat from spooning while poling.  As will practice.

The motor was never opened up to full throttle.  Never needed it. At 3/4, throttle we are at 20 mph, and it’ll go 30 to 35. By the last day of us on the water, I was more comfortable running the boat. It still needs the steering wheel upgraded with a different part, but she works. I logged 6 days’ worth of hrs on the boat. Far less than I had planned for in the 20 plus days I was down there.

We had a lot of shenanigans that almost busted the whole trip. Almost left without the boat. Had one of the worst business experiences with a Marina in Orlando and wasted well over $800 on gas just in the first week of being down there. Almost got screwed out of $3000 if it weren’t for some awesome Crystal River Locals. Once we had the boat working, we were dealt some shit weather and were put down for 5 days. We scrapped our plans to drive and experience more due to a stack of issues when we finally arrived. And that was after the car troubles on the way down.

Long distance trout bum travel is a different thing. We see a lot of this leisure travel life shit in social media all the time. It’s an insane amount of money. I’ve been to $1000 plus a night places, fancy lodges, hotels, and outfits. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The trade-off is sometimes your guide rig tries to explode, or your camper you’ve lived out of for a year has its water pump go out. But the AC works, and the bed was wicked comfy compared to anything I’ve ever slept on. But the on the road life after camper living all guide season definently tugged on the patience during our trip. Kristen and I got through all of it without anything crazy. All issues were handled even when the truck was getting funky 200 miles left to go. We drove over 4000 miles together, saw countless things, and experienced some real stuff that was different and new. To be able to share the whole adventure was dear to me. We travel and live this trout bum life well.

Experiences that are raw and self-made are the best. I got to see 16 new states I’d never been to. I got to see some of the real beauty and diversity this country has. Meet all sorts of people with a dash of culture shock in areas. I set out to have that experience. Dealt some shit but learned and will have a different experience next time. Planning only works so far. The ability to wing it and be comfortable in the chaos is key.

I went to Florida to see if I could see myself guiding in that space. The short answer is no. I don’t. At least not where and with what I experienced. More is needed. The areas I was in were too populated, too busy, and not what I want to guide in. It’s a little too like lake fishing for me. I plan on trucking back down there before I come back to the homewater for the spring season.

I got to experience some fish, but that wasn’t my goal. Fish come later. Just like trout did for me. Kristen got into fish, and next time we will take a guide trip earlier in the trip, we got too burnt out to perform at that level by the time it came around.

It was quite the experience to be on the poling platform and see redfish pushing, see snook move for baitfish. Dolphins hunting in the backdrop, manatees breathing and breaking the surface. To see Speckled Trout come from nowhere and smash shrimp fly patterns I tied was neat. I got to see my partner light up with the success of saltwater fish on the fly after a hell of a time on the trip.

I watched huge thunderstorms 30 miles out in the Atlantic. Saw Alligators and Armadillo. Listened to 2 dolphins hunt together one night less than 40 feet from camp. Could hear them clicking and sounding to each other, swimming fast breathing hard, then smashing food in the mangroves. Pretty cool, that was a new one.

My time in Florida reminded me of my time in Alaska. I dug a lot of the experiences, but it definitely wasn’t a full-time or part -time thing for me. Florida left me with similar vibes.

I’ll be back, and I’ll be visiting more places. I want to go back to Louisiana really bad. That place is cool. But I am also looking forward to trout season. Trout are one of the cooler things you can chase on a fly anglers. I fished for a lot. Trout definitely have a lot more going on. These kind of experiences do make me appreciate my time trout fishing.

I’m really looking forward to chasing trout here in Michigan. Totally different than out west. And that new boat opens up a lot of things for me.

There are 47 days left open for Yakima Dates in the Spring and Fall. Michigan stuff comes soon, and a hosted trip to the St. Joe in Idaho is in the works. I’m getting started on fly tying and working on a bunch of soft goods and stickers that go up on the web store.

Reserve your dates early. They go quick anglers. Trip prices have come down below $500. I’ll have a slew of my own hand tied flies for guide season. But trips are now bring your own lunch. I also have Bass dates open in late April to May 10th with the new boat!

Regular blogs will be coming out. Discussing topics and integrating with my social media. I’d like to hear from anglers on things they’d like broken down and cracked open. Fly tying videos, other content, and partnerships with Troutfreckles and Trout Psychology over the offseason. New things happening, chasing fish all over. Let’s get ready for 2024.

See ya riverside anglers.

Tamarack