Backcountry Fly Fishing




Saltwater flyfishing is one of the fastest growing segments of our sport and Charlotte Harbor and the Gulf Islands along with the pristine turtle grass flats in places like Pine Island Sound are beginning to become destination spots. A backcountry fly trip can consist of either working mangrove shore lines in places like Matlacha, Bull bay, Gasparilla Sound, or either the east or west shoreline of the upper harbor, or it can be sight casting for tailing redfish in the back of Pine Island Sound.  

In both cases, short casts of around 30 feet are typical with accuracy being more important than distance.  Around mangrove structure, it can be a lot of fun putting the fly into all the cuts and holes along the shoreline and the Rio lines I use allow you to load the rod quickly and generally only one false cast is all you need to set up the next shot. Even with an eight weight, this will help keep you on the bow for  quite a while without wearing out.

Out on the grass flats, it is more of a sight casting experience where we'll wait until we see a target before we throw. It's a combination hunting and fishing trip. You won't get to cast as much, but getting the chance to cast to a tailing redfish from close range within 30 feet is an experience you'll never forget. For this trip, we'll use the HPX Mirage technical poling skiff. It is very quiet with no hull slap (the noise made when water slaps up against the side of the boat) and when the reds are busy tailing with their nose in the mud, I'll put you right on them. 

  In either case, we'll be fishing in relatively shallow water of  two feet or even less throwing a seven or eight weight with a floating line and I'll be on the poling platform leaving you the entire bow of the skiff. Trip lengths can be  four, six, or eight hours. Tidal movement is a key element to fishing these inshore flats as the bite is always best when water is moving. The longer trips will generally allow us to fish an additional tide and I prefer an low incoming for fishing tailing reds.