I hoped to wet a line at least once more while down here in FL and today my wish came true. Not only that, I went with my longtime friend, Paul Bruun. Paul was a mentor of mine when I arrived in Jackson Hole, WY back in 1987, he wrote the foreword to my first book and we’ve had numerous amazing fishing days and trips over the last 35 plus years including back in December when I spoke down here.
Paul and his wife Jean are still Jackson Hole residents but snowbird their way to FL each winter. We arrived at their house in Fort Pierce on Sunday afternoon. It was right on time for Super Bowl festivities. We had a feast and caught up on fishing stories.
This morning we casually left for one of Paul and Jeans sneaky small rivers for a variety pack of species. I fished here with Paul back in 2020 when I spoke in FL. Paul has a tiny skiff so the girls went on their own non-fishing adventure. They launched Paul and I then we headed out. Living in a van I’m limited on rods and chose to use my casting demonstration white colored Winston rod. It’s a 5-weight so a little light had I hooked into a tarpon!
It’s a lovely little river close enough to the ocean its affected by the tide. We purposely put on around 11 AM so we’d catch the falling tide all afternoon. The river was very high and the water was gushing to sea. Paul took us way upstream to start.
Fishing was good right out of the gate. I had on a 3” long white and gray streamer and the baby swordspine snook were all over it. I landed four of these cute little guys. Most folks are unaware that there are several snook species beyond the common snook. The swordspines are abundant in this part of Florida but overall a rare species.
Paul knows this river by heart and guided me all day. By the end of the day I’d landed lots of fish. A highlight was a chunky little jack crevalle but even better than him was an absolute dinner plate of a bluegill. Paul had me tossing a large bass popper in hopes of getting a big largemouth in a back slough. While the bass were laying low, this beautiful purple-hued gill grabbed ahold. First bluegill of the year comes in February. I like it!
It was wonderful to get the extra day on the water I was hoping for down here in FL and awesome that it happened with Mr. Bruun. And more good news, tomorrow Paul and I are gonna head out again. Stay tuned!
Jeff,
Glad that you had a nice day of fishing in South Florida – a place I called home for almost 40 years.
Just caught your fishing bio in Fly Fisherman email – very interesting story through 2018:
https://www.flyfisherman.com/editorial/trout-bum-love-granny-and-jeff-currier/152124?utm_source=WhatCounts-Email&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=FFN&utm_content=FFN%20NL12%20Months%20Engaged%20Use%20this%20one
Tad