A few Florida pics and the second CD release!

Made it back from another great trip down to New Smyrna Beach Florida. For those that are unfamiliar, it is the beach directly south from Daytona Beach and located on the island between the ocean and the Intercoastal/Mosquito Lagoon. The beaches are fantastic, the bars are plentiful and friendly, and the fishing is off the charts...generally. On this trip we drove in on the back of the remnants of a tropical storm so for the first five days my kayak never left my car and the rods remained in their tubes since the wind was at ridiculous constant levels and gusting north of 50mph.

Finally on Thursday I was ablt to get the kayak deployed at dawn to pole around the lagoon for a bit. I drove in to the Canaveral Seashore before light and made a beeline to my favorite parking area as the sun was cresting the waves.

I started out poling farther south to see what I could find. The conditions started out fantastic; sun was rising and wind was hovering around only 5mph. It was calm and gorgeous!

I did run across plenty of Redfish...literally ran across since I could scarcely spot them from the low vantage point until I was just a few feet away. I did find a few that were tailing but just could not seem to get the kayak in to position to let the wind push me in to casting range without spooking them. I switched over to casting a Pole Dancer to try my blind fishing luck as the clouds became more prevalent. I did have a Redfish wake behind it then turn at the last minute and a few good size trout slash at it, but nothing to hand this day. It ended up being my only day out this time, but I will give it a shot again next May!

Now it is time to buckle down and get in the show season mode; The International Fly Tying Symposium is coming up quick!

The day I took off to head south I found a package on my doorstep as I was doing one last walk through the house. The ACF Step by Step volume Two CDs made it! There are a few less patterns this time around but it is extremely streamer heavy with a lot of articulation involved.

On Volume 2 you will find the following patterns:
- Back Winged Scandi
- Hawk Sculpin
- Luscious Leech
- Mike's Fish Candy
- Mike's GHB Sculpin
- Mike's Gorgon Craw
- Mike's Mufasa
- Mike's Neversink Hex
- Mike's Red Rocket
- Mike's Stinky Mayo
- Mike's Voodoo Squatch
- Senyo Sensai Mouse
- Senyo Shaggy Minnow
- Senyo Sick Puppy
- Super Steech (larger version of Schultzy's fly)

I have added this CD to the website for $15 and will have it along with me at the shows as well.

Now back to unpacking and work...

-mike schmidt
www.anglerschoiceflies.com