Capt. George Tunison

Over the years I’ve often seen unusual ways “experienced” anglers hook and fight fish with spinning, bait casting and fly equipment. I’ve had half a dozen members of the sky high, “superman power set gang,” which resulted in the anglers going overboard backwards on hook-ups. I always get a kick out of the upside down and reverse reeling, spinning rod and reel club, which always reminds me of that magazine cover of President Bush at Boca Grande fishing with his spinning reel on top, winding backwards.

Recently I fished with a member of the power crank association. This group gets hooked up, panics, then points the rod at the fish and starts non-stop power reeling. They completely forget the rod is used to fight the fish in conjunction with the reels drag and continue to madly reel non-stop, whether the drag is slipping or not. I set the drags on all reels before giving it to the visiting angler to fish with, and with the inexperienced, ask them to never touch it.

The latest finally noticed a redfish had eaten a dead shrimp. The expensive rod combo sliding briskly along the boat’s deck toward the water was his clue. His first move was to grab the rod and instantly lock down the drag to stop it from slipping. He then pointed the rod at the fish and started power cranking. Being a smaller redfish, he had little trouble and without missing a beat cranked it right up, redfish nose flush to the rod tip, slung it over the side and onto the deck where he proudly held it down with his shoe. Obviously, my earlier 10-minute tutorial about rod pumping, drag usage and proper fish handling had gone in one ear and out the other.

Fly rod abusers usually begin their fishing careers with standard spin equipment often learning bad habits that they carry over when trying fly fishing. Mostly they are members of the superman power set club which means on the strike the rod is instantly snapped back behind the head resulting in a dangerous arc pushing the rod to its limits.

The other group I call the weight-lifters. Let me explain. For years I’ve hosted a two-hour, total beginners saltwater fly fishing school. (Please email for course info). After completing his course, “Dr. Jones” was anxious to get out on the water, which we did the following week. He arrived with a beautiful, brand new 8 weight $900 Sage rod and high end reel. Luckily the fish cooperated and soon he boated a few Spanish mackerel, but on the next cast, tied into a heavyweight, high-speed bonito that dove straight to the depths, peeling drag. Panicking, he locked the drag that I had pre-adjusted and with the rod tip already underwater, lifted with all his might till the rod took on a horseshoe shape and basically exploded. When fighting deep-running big fish on fly rods, the rod is held in a near horizontal position lifting with the butt section of the rod, or with even bigger game, pointed at the fish using the reel’s drag to do the work till the fish can be somewhat controlled, saving the rod.

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Despite very low concentrations of red tide along Lee County, early November fishing is red hot. Shallow juvenile tarpon, redfish, snook, trout, pompano and killer bluefish are all eating well. Never pass up hot spot oyster bars! Pass, to-close-to-the-coast bonito and Spanish macs are looking to fight, with delicious tripletail of various sizes hiding under anything floating, be it wood, plastic buckets, trash or crab trap floats. Gag grouper come in close in the fall, even up to mangrove shorelines, surprising redfish and snook anglers. Near- and offshore shore numbers provide various snapper and grouper action along with cobia and migrating tarpon opportunities while others are kingfish ready.

Overall a great month to fish!

Capt. George Tunison is a Cape Coral resident fishing guide. You can contact him at 239-282-9434 or via email at captgeorget3@aol.com.