SaltLife Optics Review

Hi there everyone, for about a month now I have been using SaltLife Optics sunglasses and they have by far become my new favorite pair. With Zeiss lenses and top quality Italian frames, they truly are the “Rolls Royce” of fishing sunglasses. Sight fishing the flats everyday, these glasses actually help me do my job better. They cut glare like no other in the industry, do not distort the true color of the environment and colors “pop” creating a better contrast between fish and bottom, the lenses repel water with a RainX effect and are lightweight to the point you forget you are wearing them. Check them out at www.SaltLife.com and you can read my full review at below. Lenses: Visibility through these lenses is extremely sharp and the colors “pop” off the background. The color distortion was negligible with the amber lens which allowed me to experience greater contrast between fish and bottom. I noticed the glare is significantly neutralized which offers a great advantage while on the water. There is no lens distortion around the extreme edges of the lenses and found them light and very comfortable to wear. There were instances where I was poling slightly into the sun and the glare was very pronounced yet I was able to spot a school of permit because of the masterful work the lenses did in eliminating much of the glare. Salt spray comes right off the lenses due to the water repellent coating in the lenses which give them a RainX effect. Frames: The frames are light weight and have a nice modern look to them making them fashionable performance frames, very appealing. They have a soft, rubbery feel that molds to your shape making them very comfortable to wear. I like the oversized sides on the frame where they touch the temple as it looks good and it functions to block out peripheral light. One great aspect of these frames is how light they are allowing for all day comfort while on the water. I have been wearing the LaJolla frames and absolutely love them!

Fun Tournament Coming Up!

Hi there everyone, I have been busy helping organize tournaments down here in Miami and wanted to let you know of one in particular I have spent quite a bit of time on. It is the Crusader Family Classic Fishing Tournament and it has a unique format and plenty of divisions and prizes. For you locals out there, I highly recommend checking it out and participating as it is going to be a big, fun tournament. We are also working out the details for fishing seminars prior to the event. I will be conducting the inshore seminar. Here is the link for more details. www.DadeChristian.org Have a great day!

August 6th, 2013

On a guides day off, silver was not on the agenda. Rather, trout was the target of the morning. Nice, easy, fun trout fishing is what I needed. Conditions were slicked out and there were schools of jacks, bait schools of mullet and schools pilchards everywhere. It didn’t take long for the trout to start slamming the artificial shrimp I was using and hooked about a dozen fish in short order. Moving a little shallower the bonefish and permit were very active with plenty of schools moving through to the north. A short run back to the marina as the storm began to build confirmed it was a good move. Off to wash the boat.

August 3rd, 2013

My what a difference a day makes! Today the early morning calm evaporated and we started fishing at 7:00am with 10MPH winds. Getting to our trout spot, we quicky hooked several trout and were treated to some close up manatee encounters. I then took Tom and son Matt to the finger channels where we were treated to a steady supply of bent rods and peeling drags including some big 3lb mangove snappers and nice sized red grouper. As the end trip ended we had gone through nearly five dozen shrimp with only a few to spare. That is a nice day in Miami's hot Biscayne Bay!

August 2nd, 2013

Calm winds and HOT weather has been the summer pattern we are finally getting now in Miami. Today I had Dan and his son Andres on board for a full day of sight fishing for bonefish and permit and then some potluck fishing. We started with slick calm water and a school of mullet being destroyed by a host of predators. A few casts of a top water lure into the school later the lure gets whacked but no hook up and the school moves on and settles down, the predators having had their fill of mullet breakfast. About 100 yards later we start seeing permit cruising along the shoreline along with small tarpon. We had some shots but none produced a hook up. Moving on, we caught some trout and then fished the channels for a host of snappers and grouper ending the day with a nice variety of fish and some incredible opportunities at world class gamefish.

July 26th, 2013

It’s finally feeling life summer with calm mornings and high humidity. We started this morning chasing bonefish in slick calm conditions and while we did find some exciting big waking fish, they were not around in big numbers. Moving on to permit, I found about 5 schools of permit in the slick calm edge of an oceanside flat but they were all swimming at an off angle to the boat but we managed a couple of shots. We did end the day fighting a nice 60lb tarpon which gave us some nice runs and three big jumps before breaking us off. By summer standards it was an overall slow day but I did manage to get my angler some solid shots at the big three (bonefish, tarpon and permit).

July 24th, 2013

Whew, I made it back alive! As expected there were hundreds of boats out today with divers searching for lobsters. I chose to fish the south bay shoreline and found a decent number of bonefish and had some great shots in slick calm conditions. The permit were MIA and the oceanside fish disappeared with all the diving activity. We did change gears and Carlos and Eric had a blast catching big mangrove snappers, bar jacks, jack crevalles, grouper, mutton snappers and one big monster fish that broke Carlos off on a coral head after about a 100’ run. Ouch! I will be back out on Friday, I’ll report back then.

July 22nd, 2013

Today the bonefish and permit were very active. I had Axel and Alex from Argentina fly fishing for bonefish and they had numerous shots at fish throughout the day. The best time was the last of the incoming tide and the last of the outgoing tide. The permit were moving in schools of 8-15 fish with one fish tailing in about two feet of water! The bones were all over the place with single, schools, mudding fish, tailing fish. It was great! I will be out during the first day of lobster mini season again, wish me luck because it gets crazy out there!

July 8th, 2013

Summer time I get plenty of calls from parents that want to take their kids fishing, many of which have never been fishing before an day was one of those days. I fished Al, Sophia and Laura for a laid back half day of potluck fishing. The morning started with a steady 20MPH east wind an I headed towards a reliable spot for one of the best baits in Biscayne Bay, pilchards. A few throws of the net and we had our bait in the well and we were off. Arriving at the finger channels, I deployed the chum bag and freelined the live pilchards which produced legal sized mutton snappers while the shrimp produced yellowtail snappers. With the tide shifting, we moved spots and arrived at the right place at the right ime as planned. The steady flow of chum raised a cloud of hungry mangrove snapers not 10' behind the stern and freelined shrimp and pilchards lasted no more than a few seconds. Several large mangrove snappers in the cooler and numerous others released it was time to head home and smiles were present on the ride back.

July 5th, 2013

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Gary and Joel for a 6 hous of fun rod bending action. We had a strong 20MPH east wind that made fishing challenging but I made sure my guys had a great time and caught fish. Fishing the outgoing tide, we chummed the South Bay finger channels and freelined live shrimp behind the boat and had steady action on mangrove snappers, yellowtail snappers,mutton snappers and grouper. We lost 4-5 monster fish including a big black grouper right under the boat. In the clear water, I motored on top of the big black grouper which we hooked on 8lb test and promptly rocked itself and watched him give in to the max pressure we could apply. Sadly, he rocked himself again for good and we admited defeat. We were able to land a nice black grouper but wished the other 4-5 fish, some of which I am certain were big mutton snappers, would have been landed on our 10lb braid.

June 24th, 2013

Hello everyone, this week Biscayne Bay has been producing the best bonefish and permit fishing on the outgoing tides while tarpon fishing has been slow due to the “super moon”. Trout fishing has been good around Key Biscayne on soft plastics and light jigs and some grouper are still around as Mikael from Sweden found out on a trip this week.