Dog Days of Summer
The dog days of summer are upon us. It’s hot out there and unless you are sitting next to a cool air conditioner, there is no relief from the heat in sight. Summer days are normally very warm, little to no wind with an afternoon thunderstorm brewing up to briefly cool this place down, then it gets uncomfortably muggy. And I for one love it. I hate everything about the cold, I live for the heat. Those flat calm and hot mornings are my favorite. They are also perfect opportunities to find rolling tarpon, which is always a great way to start off any day. Permit and bonefish seem to like these conditions also, especially with a morning, low incoming tide, when they will get as shallow as they can to find a meal. You can see them rooting around disturbing the surface of the water from a long way off. But get too close or make the slightest sound in the boat and they will shoot off to the safety of deep water. When I find permit and bonefish tailing in super shallow water, I will often have my anglers get out of the boat and walk toward the fish to get lined up on them. Wading for permit and bonefish under these conditions is almost mandatory. It’s much quieter and a person walking in shin deep water disturbs much less water than poling a skiff. This allows those fish get very close and make for a more successful shot. Because it does get pretty hot during the day, I try to keep fishing to the early morning hours to no later than lunchtime. By that time everyone is hot, sweaty and ready for an ice cold drink and the pool. If I’m out with a buddy we’ll usually bring along the spearfishing and lobster catching gear. Lobster season is just opening (Aug. 6th) so hopefully I can find a few areas that haven’t been cleaned out during the lobster mini-season last month and get a few for dinner. Though there is very little relief jumping in the water at this time (water temperatures around 90 degrees) it’s better than standing on the skiff getting crushed by the intense sun. I love getting in the water, though I don’t do it nearly as much as I would like, to hunt for lobsters and hogfish. I try to take advantage of every opportunity to go spearfishing, but it always seems a difficult task to get schedules lined up with friends that enjoy spearfishng and lobstering as well. I guess another pitfall of having an eight hour work day Monday through Friday! After a long day in the heat and sun chasing fish and lobsters around the ocean, I too am ready for an ice cold adult beverage and a cool air conditioner.
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