BALLS TO THE WALL FISHING

The only place to stay current on the latest manic ramblings from the Florida Panhandle.

CHEEKY FLY REELS, THE OFFICIAL REEL OF BALLS TO THE WALL FISHING

Friday, December 22, 2023

WADE FISHING FOR SHARKS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS WITH THE FLY ROD!

With a one day window to grab the fly rod and drive down to the Florida Keys, you have to fish whatever hand you are dealt with the weather, water clarity and tides. Plenty of shots were had on this day including a giant tarpon shot while wade fishing off of one of my favorite beaches to fish in the middle keys. There are so many opportunities to chase dozens of species in the keys from the sand, here are a few of them...

Monday, December 11, 2023

BONITO FROM THE BEACH ON THE FLY ROD, IMPOSSIBLE?

When the Bonito are here on the gulf coast of Florida, there will inevitably be a week or two when it is possible to cast a fly at the schools from the beach. It is not the easiest way to take a fish with a fly rod, however it is possible, and on the right day, with the proper wind, tide and currents, you can have days when the shots at these schools go on for hours. A 7-9 wt. fly rod will get this done for you and these mini Tuna will give you all you can handle during the battle. Any of your favorite minnow imitations will work if you are persistent. Hook up and hang on for the fly fishing experience of a lifetime off the beach!

Thursday, December 7, 2023

FLORIDA KEYS WADE FLY FISHING FOR ANYTHING THAT SWIMS IN LONG KEY STATE PARK

A one day trip to Long Key State Park in the Florida Keys produced some toothy critters as well as some memorable catches on the fly rod in one of my old stomping grounds from my South Florida days....

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

THE BEACH BUM OUTDOORS SURF FISHING CLASSIC CONTROVERSY. HOW WAS IT RESOLVED?

The Beach Bum Outdoors Surf Fishing Classic was held on the Gulf waters stretching from Gulf Shores, Alabama all the way to St. George Island, Florida. This is roughly 200 miles of surf fishing real estate on the north end of the Gulf of Mexico. 538 anglers registered for the first edition of this tournament, a big number for the first year. Winning anglers would be determined by weighing in each anglers top three Pompano and Whiting catches during the eight week period. Fish would be weighed at five different bait shop locations along the Gulf Coast. It was a fantastic tournament and the prize money was substantial. Pompano payouts were $5000, $2000 and $1000 for the top three spots. Whiting payouts were $2000, $1000 and $500 for the top three anglers in that category. The competition was fierce. The tournament was not without logistical and weigh in issues which is to be expected the first year. This video is my overview of how it all went down from my YouTube Channel The Forgotten Angler. Please like and subscribe to the channel and leave questions and comments both here and there if you have any. Thanks for checking in!

Monday, June 26, 2023

ANDY MILL'S SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL FROM 7 LAKES LODGE IN MEEKER, COLORADO, 1998

Many years ago, in the prime of my fly fishing guiding career in Colorado, I worked at a very high end lodge called 7 Lakes Lodge. The lodge was owned by Henry Kravis of the global investment banking firm KKR (Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts) and it was palatial. As guides we rubbed shoulders with many of the World's most notable celebrities, athletes and politicians, as well as some of the most wealthy people on this planet as they came to this remote playground to get away from their jacked up busy lives and try to relax and recreate for a week at a time. They would fly fish for giant hatchery stocked trout, shoot sporting clays or manufactured hand thrown bird shoots, hike, ride mountain bikes, have spa treatments, float around in boats, hike, horseback ride and drink and do business in the lodge that would in some cases change the world, or have affairs and make sure we kept our mouths shut with more than handsome tips. It was an amazing time in the fly fishing industry which was fueled by the movie "A River Runs Through It" which over glorified the sport of fly fishing and made it fashionable for the wealthy to wave a fly rod around in a fabricated fishery so we could send them a Christmas card with a picture of them holding a giant stocked trout for a season greeting. It was a bizarre time in my life for sure as myself and the other guides wondered how in the hell we ended up in this guiding utopia and wonderland. Some of us were chosen to do television programs which helped promote the lodge and it's offering. I was chosen to guide Andy Mill, the legendary tarpon fisherman of the Florida Keys and Olympic Ski Racer in the late 90's for his Outdoor Life Network Program, Sportsman's Journal. This was transferred to a digital format from VHS tape for the upload to YouTube so it's a bit rough, but you will get the point. So now enjoy Andy Mill's Sportsman's Journal, from Seven Lakes Lodge, with myself as Andy's guide.

Thursday, June 15, 2023

FLYFISHING SOME OLD COLORADO FAVORITES AND A GOPRO MOUNTAIN GAMES WEEK RECAP FROM VAIL, COLORADO

I'm struggling to stay on top of videos on my The Forgotten Angler YouTube channel, Frankly, it's a lot of work and time that I find is barely worth the return and I struggle with sharing all the local knowledge and secrets that I have gathered over the last 18 months from some very talented and good local anglers. There are SO MANY YouTubers here in the panhandle of Florida jockeying for the same space in the Social Media world as well as looking to make a couple of bucks off of their channels and EVERYTHING is over sensationalized to try and gain as many clicks as possible on these often repetitive video themes that rarely live up to expectations. This is one of the reasons I'm going back to old school blogging, I find that actually reading something is a much better platform than over sensationalized videos of people doing what a million other people are doing. What these content creators do not understand is that they are going to blow up their own world in a hurry, because more is NOT better when you have a piece of limited real estate to enjoy for your own pleasure. Make no mistake about it, ALL of these people say they want to help you catch more fish, but there is a bottom line here, they are trying to gain as many followers as possible attempting to make money off of your curiosity and sell you stuff, whether it is for their own benefit or the benefit of someone who is "taking care of them" on the backside. Buyer beware, there is a ton of stuff out there people are trying to sell you that you simply do not need. Do your research and due diligence and figure out what will work best for you. Catching fish is not terribly complicated. Personally, I've learned a fair amount from many of these outlets, but it is all stuff you can find out from your local tackle and bait or fly shops, which is what I recommend you do. Support your regional shops the best you can, the internet provides plenty of old inventory deals, but you won't get the service that comes with a local purchase. With all of this said, here is another pile of you know what video from my trip to Colorado last week to work. It was a week filled with so many hugs from old friends as I wrapped up my announcing career at the GoPro Mountain games. The Vail Daily did a very flattering article on my path to and through my career which you can find by clicking HERE. I fished many of my old favorite spots, visited and stayed with some very old and good friends, and was super excited to be back in Colorado for the Denver Nuggets claim to the World Championship as a long time Nuggets fan. It was a great week.

Questions or comments? Keep them respectful below and we can have a discussion. Tight lines to you all.....




Wednesday, June 14, 2023

FISHING BALLS TO THE WALL IN COLORADO, THE OLD STOMPING GROUNDS

The Dream Stream section of the South Platte River

This past week was spent on my last trip to work the GoPro Mountain Games in Vail, Colorado after 21 years being involved in this event as a participant, announcer and event specialist. The weekend went mighty fine with exception of one dickhead who thought he was a comedian at the last awards ceremony I presented at the games, but I gotta tell you, it's pretty difficult to get through a big event in public anymore without some douchebag trying to jump in an make a complete asshole of himself, which this guy managed to do. Despite the weekend of "work" while wrapping up my announcing career, it was indeed Balls to the Wall fishing when I had some free time to chase trout in the streams that were fishable during a tumultuous runoff season which is typical for this time of year in Colorado's high country. The third week of June was always the benchmark for peak runoff and the anticipation of exploding caddis hatches which are just around the corner.

On my way up the I-70 corridor I stopped and fihed one of my favorite pools on the Idaho Springs section of Clear Creek, right nest to the interstate, however the river was still pretty high and very cold and despite fairly clear water, I could not hook up on the surface, which was my jam ther.

 I had to do some driving to get to the fishable waters which included the Dream Stream section of the South Platte river close to my four acres of property I've owned in the town of Hartsel since the 1990's.
Fortunately I still have many old friends from both Summit and Eagle Counties from my days ski bumming, playing music and guiding folks fly fishing, which made it easy to find willing and able crash pads during the week when I was not at The Hythe in Vail for work. The McDonnels put me up the first night I was in Summit, we had a great dinner and watched the Nuggets destroy the Miami Heat in Game Three of the championship series and the next morning I woke ealry and drove to the South Platte and my property.


Stream flows were super low at 38cfs which made finding fish very difficult as they simply were not up in the river yet, however, and the weir just down stream from the lower parking area, as I walked back to the rental car, a midge and BWO hatch was going on and there were a couple of dozen fish rising to emergers and adult mayflies and midges. I was able to take the better part of a dozen fish out of this pool with the Larry G Emerger pattern that has been my go to for decades. It was a great day on the waters I fished regularly in the 80's and 90's. I drove to Vail for the weekend to work. Stayed in Eagle with good friend Courtney Wuwuwuwuwuzup Gregory and his new family and headed to Vail the following morning.


 

Brook Trout, really small brook trout. These ponds helped my team in the Copper Mountain Golf Trout Tournament win my last year participating as we raised a pile of money for the Jimmy Huega Foundation.

     After working the games I checked water flows in Eleven Mile Canyon to see if it would be fishable, it was almost too fishable with flows in the low 40s, but I decided this would be my best bet to find big fish sipping small surface flies within a reasonable driving distance of two hours on my last day to fish my old haunches. It had been 30 plus years since I'd been in the canyon, It is still a spectacular spot to throw at technically difficult fish at very low water flows. The water flows are controlled by the Denver Water Board, and with so much rain in Colorado this spring, there is no call for water, hence the super low flows.


The drive up Eleven Mile Canyon is spectacular




The fishing was technical and perfect. I fished to one fish before I finally got the bastard to take a fly on the surface, hooked and lost, I considered it a huge win as these fish were rising once every 4-5 minutes with no real hatch to speak of from 7:30am until 11:30 am when the weather began to turn for the worse. I hooked and lost one more fish, another win during the session. It was a classic battle of small bug verses terribly difficult fish to fool in tough conditions
I scrambled out of the canyon, packed up and headed to Summit County to meet up with and stay with old skiing buddy Joey Klein on his birthday. The drive over Wilkerson Pass was super sketch with hail, rain, sleet and rain all mixed together and throw in a little lightening.


I made it to Summit and We grilled up some big ol steaks with baked taters, drank a bottle of wine and watched the Nuggets roll to their first World Championship. It was great way to wrap up an awesome weekend of work, fishing and visiting with friends.





Saturday, June 3, 2023

LET'S JUST GO AHEAD AND DO THIS....

Where have I gone? The answer is absolutely nowhere. I'm just not addicted to bicycles anymore, for a lot of reasons. However, for those of you that have known me for any of my 65+ years on the face of this wonderful planet, I am and continue to be a fishing addict, hence, instead of starting a new blog, where I will also speak the truth at the risk of alienating every single person on the face of this planet, which I seemed to do when this was a cycling blog, I will speak my own personal truth about the fishing world. Whether it is about my past in the world of fly fishing or my current life as a surf, inshore and offshore (kind of) fisherman in the panhandle of Florida where I currently live retired with my wife and enjoy some of the best fishing opportunities in the world. So welcome to the NEW FACE of A2B which is now and forever called BALLS TO THE WALL FISHING. This will be a random collection of ramblings and experiences from here forward with some insight and reflection from the past. I've survived cancer, Covid-19 and a falling out with Brook Watts and Lance Panagutti many years ago. Hope you enjoy the ride, I'm gonna.