big fish dreams

I'm getting excited for our upcoming trip to Florida and the Caribbean. Plans are being made and it looks like I'm going to get some good fishing time in.
We have two days in Miami before our cruise leaves and I've made plans to go with Cordell Baum, a local bonefish guide. I've been fishing with Cordell before but the weather was uncooperative and we couldn't chase bonefish. Here's hoping for better luck this time!Our cruise stops in Grand Cayman, The Bahamas, Mexico and a small island off the coast of Honduras. I don't know if there will be any opportunities for me to fish or not but I'll have my gear just in case.
After the cruise we are flying directly to Pensacola so Tara can attend a math conference. I have checked out the area with my favorite fishing tool, GMaps and
it looks like there is a lot of accessible shoreline within walking distance of our hotel. There is some great variation in the bottom and probably some substantial seagrass beds which means it is great habitat for all sorts of gulf coast species like the redfish below which was caught last spring in late march by a client of one of the local charter guides.

The Truth about Crayfish

My carp fishing lecture at Cumberland Transit last night was a success - meaning I actually had an audience! Apparently someone poached the announcement from the Cumberland Transit Website and put it in the Tennessean Newspaper's outdoor events calendar. So, thanks to whoever did that, thanks to CT for hosting me, and thanks to everyone who showed up. Also, congratulations to Miles, who won a free guided fishing trip.

For those of you who couldn't make it to the talk, I thought I'd share a little bit of the information that I covered:
When it comes to fly fishing for carp there is a lot of talk about crayfish patterns, but as they say, talk is cheap and the proof is in the pudding. Take a look at the chart I've included:

I made this chart from information on the Canadian Carp Registry. The first thing to notice is that nymphs win. They beat out both crayfish and baitfish patterns by quite a bit. Now take a look at the second column labeled "buggers." This column includes woolly buggers, crud flies and puke flies. These flies don't have special names because they are not imitations of specific food items. However, all of these flies are essentially generic nymph imitations. Therefore I argue that the buggers column should be lifted out and placed on top of the nymphs column, in which case nymphs out-fish crayfish about 4 to 1! So next time you find yourself wondering what fly to throw at a hungry carp, reach for a nymph.