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Fishing Report for Homosassa, Florida
Capt. Mike Locklear
March 6, 2002
Homosassa - Saltwater Fishing Report
When I am not fishing regularly, I like to go to fishing shows and learn from the best available and to discover new products. Booking a trip or two to is a motive as well as rekindling old friendships. Making new contacts is always a plus in our business.
While in Atlanta at the shallow water expo, I was fortunate enough to have breakfast with Lefty Kreh, the top draw for the show. I have Ken of Gangler’s North Seal River Lodge to thank for the introduction. Lefty is a regular up at Ganglers and Ken told me were going to meet up with him first thing in the morning.
Breakfast with Lefty was special and he had the attention of 4 of us telling stories about how the Abel fly reel came about, then how the Tibor fly reel came into being. Capt. Mike Hewlett was in on the discussion and the conversation got sailorly. It was funny and I was holding back laughter as the hotel lobby was filling up with little kids sitting nearby. I hope they did not hear the cussing that was going on.
Out of the blue, Lefty said that the new reels by Gold Cup were pretty darn good for the money and might be a great back up reel. Lefty further stated that he was impressed with the light weightness of the reel. I thought, what a small world man, I just inspected that reel last night at Bass Pro Shops.
I took one apart in Bass Pro Shops as Ken was shopping for his lodge in Manitoba. The large arbor WF-9 holds 230 yards of 20 pound backing while the WF-12 tarpon size holds 330 yards of 30 pound. The carbon fiber disc drag on these reels seemed to lock down fairly smooth and tight. I was able to check the drag with a good rod bend with about 6 pounds of drag pressure at BPR’s White River Fly Shop.
The matching 9 foot fly rod by Gold Cup is a good looking IM-7 graphite in midnight blue. What is really awesome is the $289.99-299.99 price of a complete outfit. Included is the rod, reel, flyline, backing, tapered leader, and rod case. This is sure to be one outfit that I will recommend to my clients as an inexpensive entry level rod.
We both got a personal fly casting lesson before the show opened. The tips that Lefty gave me are burned into my mind and I will have to practice a lot, perhaps months or years to break my old bad fly casting habits to develop a fast, tight and small loop like Lefty’s.
Yeah, I can cast a tarpon fly at 90 feet regularly, but it ain’t pretty and effortless like Lefty’s cast. What is really amazing about Lefty is that he can cast with either hand even though he is naturally left handed. His comment to me was “you can’t teach fly fishing left handed to a right handed caster.”
A few other neat things about Kreh was his ability to teach. His willingness to teach. When he’s done giving you a lesson, he makes you gives you tips that will improve your cast, because first he is going to show you your mistakes. His fly casting seminars seminars are first class.
Because I think you will enjoy his teaching as well, you can learn about Kreh from logging on to www.flyfishinsalt.com Click on the “Ask Lefty” bar. By subscribing to the magazine that host this web site, you will learn fresh tips from Lefty in each bi-monthly issue of Fly Fishing Salt Waters..
A side bar to this article: Before you leave the Fly Fishing Salt Waters web site, click on the forums and scroll down to the topic about “Do world records have a place in today’s fishery.” This topic stems from the 202 pound world record tarpon submitted by Capt. Steve Kilpatrick and Jim Holland, Jr. in Homosassa last year. I find this subject interesting to say the least. I have mixed feelings on this issue but ultimately agree the fish harvested in Homosassa for record purposes are but a drop in the bucket compared to the Boca Grande deal where dozens of sharks eat dozens of tarpon each day.
Back to Kreh, I just researched a web site that will tell you about this jewel of a man at: http://leftykreh.com
The last new product I was introduced to was the Tibor Pacific. The largest of arbor reels that I have seen. Possibly this reel was meant for billfish, but I am sure that it will make a great tarpon reel. You can really reel in some line quickly with this reel and it is one of the best made on the market. Last year’s world record tarpon was landed on a Tibor Gulfstream reel. I was told by John Maddox Jr. that everyone in Atlanta who owned a Tibor Gulfstream, bought a Pacific. The Fish Hawk in Buckhead stocks these reels.
Good luck and good fishing,
Capt. Mike Locklear
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