Fished Islamorada with Jeremy on the 23rd, 29th and 30th. Our guide was Brent Johnson out of La Siesta Marina.

23rd – Drove to Islamorado early in the morning from Miami. Drifted in the everglades for trout in the morning and fished with cut bait in afternoon. It was a very cloudy day. In the morning, we fished with soft plastic without weight. Caught lots of fish. In the afternoon, we caught spinner sharks, pompano and jacks. Jeremy caught the biggest shark which was about 4 ft. long. A small tarpon hit my bait, but i didn’t snag him.

29th – Gregory joined me on Thursday and we drove back down to Islamorada and stayed the night. The water was very choppy from the previous week and it was still pretty cloudy. In the morning, we met up with Brent and went to a permit flat to start the day. He poled for about an hour and then we went up into the mangroves to find redfish. The fishing for the reds was different than what i have seen in texas. The water was very clear and it was all sight casting to fish cruising the banks. The fish were also more finicky than any Redfish i have seen.  At about noon, Brent said that if we were going to cast to fish that wouldn’t bite, they might as well be tarpon. He took us to the pocket where we were the only boat and we immediately saw and cast to some tarpon. Nothing took. But, it was still amazing to me to see those enormous fish in the shallow water. I can’t imagine getting use to it.

30th – On this morning, we fished the atlantic side. The water was clearing up but still 50% clouds. After taking turns for the first hour, Greg resigned to let me cast to the fish as he felt the odds would be better with me at the front of the boat. I must have cast to 15 schools of cruising fish. It was tough though as most fish were moving fast and we didn’t have visibility past 15 or 20 feet. Didn’t jump a fish. An enormous manatee swam up to the boat which was just fantastic.

All in all we had a great time which I will always remember. Brent was a terrific guide. Kept wonderful company, put us on fish and gave us plenty of shots while keeping things light. I really enjoyed fishing with him and had really looked forward to fishing with him many times in the future. On a horribly tragic note, I went to his website about three weeks ago to learn that he passed away in a boating accident on mother’s day.  So, here’s to you Brent and thank you for a wonderful time on the water. May your family be blessed.