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Paying it forward ....... A guides treat
Capt. Lenny Leonard
May 6, 2016
Key West - Saltwater Fishing Report
If you were blessed enough to be handed a fishing rod around the age of two, then you might be lucky enough to still be fishing. I look back at my younger years and think how blessed I was to have a Mother & father who would spend countless hours with me fishing. Undoubtedly in some horrible shit condition on the banks of Lake Erie or on the boat small mouth fishing or on the bow of a skiff in the Florida Keys. Some bad days and some epic days. For them or for me? I'm not sure who loved it more. Perhaps my whole family is sick about fishing.
Anyhow, fast forward 30 years later with 20 years of guiding under my belt now. I'm still grateful for those moment growing up. I'm certain I have the greatest job in the world. A fishing guide in Key West, Florida.
No one likes a last minute cancelation, however, when the fishing is good and your Pops is in town. Well it's not such a bad thing to get canceled for a charter.
Having no problem convincing my father to go at 0700.
We headed out to look for some tailing bonefish & permit.
Two flats - no fish.
The water is not right depth. Don't worry the fish will be here.
Like clock work - here came the bonefish.
School after school for almost a hour the bonefish pushed up an over the flat. Not sure how many we hooked, but we landed 5 bonefish on that flat and opted to go look for Permit.
First flat we pulled up to, straight away we scared a few tailing permit. Now with the push pole at hand and pops on the bow we pushed forward. Here they come ! Left to right swimming from 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock. A school of 8 permit, all lit up. First cast in we came tight. One eat, one permit
to the boat. Not a huge fish. 10 pounds if I had to guess a weight. The time is just after 12 and I now have my angler/ my father sitting happy with several bonefish an a permit released. The next obvious move was to go look for tarpon!
After checking a few spots and waiting on the tide, here came the tarpon. After several shots we finally got a bite. Two jumps and gone. One tarpon in the air is better than none in the air right? Hell yes! Going to to toe with the silver king is not always easy. I think we hooked on more tarpon. Anyhow , we never did land a tarpon on this day
But as far as I'm concerned it was one of the greatest days of fishing in my life. World can't describe watching your father chase down the big 3 on the flats. Back to the dock we traveled, smiling like little school kids.
What a day for us......
Perhaps i had a brief moment in time to give payback to the countless hours my dad spent in his life time taking me fishing.
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