Plans for 2012

Man I've been lazy lately - this weekend I opted to stay indoors, watching soccer and doing chores instead of going kayaking or fishing.  I'm getting pretty spoiled when I turn down a sunny day with a high around 60, but hey, it was a windy 60 degrees!

Fortunately, I haven't completely wasted my time.  I've recently started making plans for some fishing trips in the coming year:

Pensacola, FL:  I'm definitely making another trip to Pensacola to do some more camping and fishing hopefully this Spring. Spring is supposed to be a good time for just about everything in Pensacola.  I'm talking trout, redfish, mackerel, ladyfish, pompano... whatever I can get!

Carrabelle, FL:  I'm considering a trip to Carrabelle for Tarpon.  Tarpon make the trip up the west coast of Florida in the Spring, and Carrabelle is supposed to be a great place to sight fish for them.  I'm wondering if they can be sight fished from kayak or on foot instead of dropping $500 for a guide.  This trip is probably the least likely, but we will see...

Alabama:  Camping trip to the Talladega National Forest in Alabama in search of redeye bass.  The redeye bass is a small species of bass that lives in small, cool streams in Alabama and elsewhere and is supposed to be particularly fun on a fly rod.

Redeye bass - a very pretty fish.  Photo source.

Northern Georgia:  I've been to northern Georgia for rafting and hiking before, but this time I'm going to chase some trout.  I'd like to find some tiny mountain streams and catch some tiny native brook trout.

Mississippi:  I hope to spend plenty of days this year on the Mississippi barrier islands by way of the ferry and the goodwill of friends, but I am planning one specific adventure of kayaking out to Horn Island and spending the weekend there.  I now have all the necessary seakayaking equipment, and I just need to practice flipping over and getting back in.  For anyone else interested in seakayaking, this is an awesome website for learning seakayak maneuvers. 

Leave a comment if you have any advice for these trips!

New Fiberglass Rod!

I haven't gone fishing recently.  I don't go much on weeknights at this time of year, and I spent last weekend enjoying the first round of Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans with my cousins.  Most people don't realize that all around New Orleans and the nearby Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras parades start more than two weeks before Fat Tuesday.  The Carnival season actually starts right after Epiphany.  Anyways, in-between bites of king cake, I made an exciting purchase - a new fiberglass fly rod!  I've been eyeing Cabela's line of fiberglass rods for a while, and when Cameron over at TFM posted about a sale, I made my move.  (That guy is probably responsible for 80% of fiberglass rod sales in the country.  I sure hope he gets paid for that.  He does seem to get a lot of free fly fishing stuff.)

My new Cabela's 4 weight glass rod with an Okuma SLV reel

I just got it tonight, so I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet.  I'll definitely try it out tomorrow and report back at some point.

I might not use this setup too often down on the coast, but it'll be great for visiting Michigan, and I've got some plans to chase some trout in the mountains of Georgia and maybe some redeye bass in Alabama, so I should get some good use out of it this year.  I'm also going out west for my honeymoon this summer, so maybe I'll bring it along and see what I can get away with!

The days are getting longer so hopefully I can start fishing more during the week, and with any luck I'll post some more fishing reports here!