Getting back into the action, slowly.

It has been a long 3 weeks of being sick, getting nothing but bad news, and being off the water. However, I am feeling pretty good and I am hoping I can do at least one charter this week. I will never get back to being able to fish everyday with these beat up lungs, but I would feel a lot better being able to fish at least a few days a week. Next week I have several doctor appointments to get things in place to begin the lung transplant evaluation. I will also be setting up appointments with several lung transplant centers in Florida, starting with Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Then possibly in Gainsville at Shands, and if necessary look out of state like Baltimore or North Carolina. Today is the first full day of fall, and I am excited to start seeing some cooler temps. Cooler water temps will get those bass feeding up for the winter months. Although I haven't been on the water, I can tell you from experience the fish will begin schooling on shad in the morning hours. My years of fishing in October and November have brought many of my clients some big fish with top water baits fishing shallower waters 4-7 ft in areas with hydrilla that does not come up to the surface. I am also going to add some additional fish attractors over the coming weeks. The ones I had placed last year should start seeing some action as I placed them in shallower water. I finished adding all the LED lights from Blue Water LED to the boat, so this baby lights up like a Christmas Tree now. I love it !!! Also Next month I am going to have a small fundraiser for a friend that also has CF and is going through the steps to have a lung transplant. More details to follow. So if your coming to Orlando in the next few weeks and want to go fishing, I am back so feel free to call me.

02/10/2012 - Bringing back the blogging

It's been a long time since I have used this blog, but it is now part of my business website. I plan on talking about fioshing, battling Cystic Fibrosis, and any other thought that comes to mind. This year marks my 7th year of being a fishing guide. It's also has been the first year that I am truly excited to be able to take people out. It has taken me 3 years on my lake to really learn what does and doesn't work. Also adding artificial bait attactors over the last few months has proven to be a great idea by me, and is really making my clients happy from the big fish that have been caught off these attractors. The spawn is coming shortly, my water temperature is still below optimal spawning temp but hopefully in the next few weeks and some warmer weather the spawn will be on. I get a lot of questions during my charters but my favorite is why are my rates low. Many Captains will say you get what you pay for, well in a sense you do. You get to be in their $60,000 boat and $40,000 truck. I have taken harrassment from several Orlando/kissimmee Captains threatening me to raise my rates. It will never happen. I am proud to say I drive a 10 year old vehicle, a fully paid 16ft nitro bass boat that I have no intensions of ever getting rid of. Since I have very little overhead, I get to charge less, still make a profit, and gain more business. Plus last I checked the economy still sucks and people can't afford $250+ for 4 hours of fishing. I have been operating my own guide service since I left being a guide at Disney 5 years ago, so I must be doing well if I am still here. The pictures I post are clear evidence of what my clients catch and when they fished with me. Now some of the dates may be spread out, I assure you it has nothing to do with the bite. Having Cystic Fibrosis and having it constantly get worse, I sometimes have to take weeks at a time off from fishing. I also have a 2 year old son, and I never fish on days he has preschool. So with saying that, I am not on the water each day, but no matter the conditions, time of year, or amount of time off the water, I put my clients on fish. I have been back on the water a lot the last two months and below are just a few of the fish my clients caught. These clients caught these fish and I was out sick for nearly 4 months prior to their charters. I love fishing but I love watching my clients catch fish even more !!

Orlando Fishing Report 05/26/09

After 1 week of what was close to being nonstop rain, many Floridians are left with major clean up and some 30+inches of rain in some Central Florida areas. I wish all of those people the best in trying to recover from there loses.

The fishing has been very rough this past week, the lake I am on is at least 3 ft higher than it was last week, and the fish are no longer huddled up in my spots. I went from having my clients catch 25 fish in 4 hours, to getting less than 10 a trip. The high waters have caused these fish to become lethargic and spread out.

We are mainly catching these fish on deep diving crank baits or weightless sinkos. As for specific depths, I havent keyed in to that except anywhere. I have been catching fish in deep, and shallow water all week. The rains are letting up and its hot so hopefully in a few weeks the water will get back to normal.