For this week’s How 2 Tuesday, we talk with Captain Brandon Simmons about how to make the most out of your deep drops. We cover reading transducers, looking for humps and depth changes on the bottom, what species options you have, rigging for these depths, and much more. Brandon operates the Into The Blue boat out of Hawks Cay, and has a lot of experience deep dropping. Be sure to follow Brandon on Instagram at @capt_brando to keep up with his fishing adventures!
Read MoreCaptain Brandon Simmons recently was part of a team that set the Florida Keys All Time One Day Record for Sailfish at 76! He obviously knows a thing or two about how to find these fish, so he breaks down current, wind, and locations for having the most success in a day of targeting sailfish. We also break down rigging rods, having the proper gear ready ahead of time, and some other tricks to have you making the most of your day. Take the tips and techniques used to catch the record number of fish and apply them to your fishing for more success.
Read MoreFor How 2 Tuesday this week, we sit down with Capt. Scott Brown of Hooked on Family to discuss taking your kid on a guided trip. Scott has a ton of experience fishing with kids and knows what to look for in a guide to have the most success with your kids on a guided trip. We discuss the right questions to ask when searching for a guide, what types of fish are the best for kids to target, and much more. Follow Scott at @hookedonfamily for more content on fishing with your kids.
Read MoreMarking your fly line is a simple trick that can make your life so much easier. Once you start accumulating a number of different lines, it can be easy to get mixed up on which one is which. Some lines now come pre-marked, but a lot still do not. Brian Butts from 239 Flies shows us his simple method to make sure you don’t get your lines mixed up again. This seems like a simple trick, but can save you a lot of time and frustration when you’re organizing your fly lines.
Read MoreThis week on How 2 Tuesday, we talk about the easiest way to catch dolphin with Capt. Brandon Simmons. Brandon is the captain of the Into The Blue boat at Hawks Cay, and has lots of experience with mahi. He talks about tackle, location, and some specific strategies for keeping the school of fish happy. This will result in a lot more catches, so be sure to listen in for your best chance at having a high-number day out on the water.
Read MoreFishing with kids can be difficult, frustrating and a real test of your patience. However, if you can successfully get your child or grandchild into the sport you will have a fishing buddy for life. I fished with my kids when they were all very young. In fact, my oldest was on the boat strapped into a car seat while I was jumping tarpon on fly. His career progressed from there and all my children developed a love of the water and the fishing lifestyle. Today, my children are 16, 20 and 22.
Read MoreThe Everglades National Park is home to a wide variety of species. One of the most popular is the Snook. Capt Anthony Vargas runs the Saltwater Experience boat out of Hawks Cay Marina and targets the snook often with anglers of all skill levels. Anthony goes over everything from A-Z on how he targets, locates and catches Snook on his charters. Knowledge is dropped on this one and you can take it and find some snook of your own!
Read MoreThere are 42 bridges in the Florida Keys and most of them will hold tarpon at some time. Capt Anthony Vargas runs the Saltwater Experience boat out of Hawks Cay and fishes the bridges for tarpon often; sometimes triple half days. He has to know how to find the fish fast, get rigged up, and instruct his anglers very efficiently to catch fish on a short time schedule.
Read MoreThere are 42 bridges in the Florida Keys and most of them will hold tarpon at some time. Capt Anthony Vargas runs the Saltwater Experience boat out of Hawks Cay and fishes the bridges for tarpon often; sometimes triple half days. He has to know how to find the fish fast, get rigged up, and instruct his anglers very efficiently to catch fish on a short time schedule.
Read MoreFlyfishing for tarpon is definitely one of the most exciting ways to fish for this incredible gamefish. It takes a coordinated effort between angler and guide and many things can go wrong in the process of presenting the fly, stripping, setting the hook and landing the fish. Often when you set the hook you have 30-50 feet of line at your feet. Getting that line onto the reel is a major obstacle in landing tarpon. I go over some tips on things to concentrate on that will have you setting the hook and clearing the line like a pro.
Read MoreCapt Scott Walker explains Trackback and how he uses it to mark spots he finds while fishing
Read MoreCapt Scott Walker joins us to answer a question about using Fish Icons and Alarms on the Simrad units. How can an alarm or icon help you to catch more sailfish, marlin, and dolphin? Scott tells us exactly how he sets up his units for maximum performance
Read MoreHigh Chirp, Low Chirp, Downscan…What is the difference and when should you use each setting? Capt. Scott Walker joins us today to walk us through how he sets up his Simrad units for maximum performance both inshore and offshore. He shows how he changes the settings to find pilchards over grass beds and then go offshore to find tuna on the humps.
Read MoreScott Walker gives a step by step instruction to mark birds on the Simrad Halo Radar. He explains the Harbor, Offshore, Bird, Weather Modes as well as how to do split screens. He explains how he sets his screen up to use the offset mode to look ahead and how he sets the distance so that he can find birds, boats, weather or boats. The new Simrad Halo radar has preset modes that make it easy to switch between them or you can save your own settings if you prefer. Revolutionary!
Read MoreTom Rowland of Saltwater Experience asks Capt Scott Walker of Into the Blue about using Mapping chips. Scott uses C-Map Reveal with his Simrad NSS Evo 3 16" unit. Scott installs the chip, selects the map, and shows how he would use the chip to find inshore spots like coral heads or lobster spots. Tom asks about using the C-Map Reveal chip to find swordfish spots in deep water. Scott explains and shows, step by step, how to get high-resolution bathymetric imagery displayed, and what he looks for in a productive swordfish spot. He shows how to find spots in 1500-1800 feet that would be productive swordfish areas.
Read MoreWhen you get on the boat to go fishing do you have a dedicated go to, catch anything rod? Capt Scott Walker tells us about 2 rigs that he ALWAYS keeps ready on his boat, no matter where they are going or what they are fishing for. Find out what this rig is by listening to this episode with Capt Scott Walker of Into the Blue TV.
Read MoreTrolling motors have become quieter over time and we have started to use them more and more inshore and offshore to catch bait and fish and to explore. It has become a really valuable tool and in my pursuit to use the trolling motor all day I have gone through a bunch of different iterations of batteries and this year we had a breakthrough.
Read MoreCaptain Scott Walker and I talk about some of the do's and don'ts of reef fishing while we can tuna in his kitchen. The Florida Keys have reefs 4 miles out, easily accessible. Because they are easily accessible you need to be courteous because there will be many boats out there trying to fish. Charter boats are out there trying to make a living and you are out there to make your friends and family happy.
Read MoreSetting an IGFA World Record requires an angler to follow very precise rules to document a catch. The leader has to be tied a certain way and the line that you use has to break at the correct poundage. Many people think it is impossible to set an IGFA World Record in fishing but it really is quite possible if you learn the rules. Meredith McCord has over 180 World Records and has learned through trial and error, advice from mentors and from the IGFA itself, how to play this game within the rules. She is happy to help other anglers to identify a record and set up their tackle to successfully set a world record.
Read MoreI was in the boat recently with a couple of my friends, Jason Stemple and Jake Perry and we started talking about little things that make a big difference on fishing trips. So we each put our two-cents in on the things that are the cheapest and that might be the most important. If you could carry a couple of these items instead of just one, it would exponentially increase the enjoyment and productivity of the day. So here is our list of things that we think will make your fishing experience much better.
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