It is with a heavy heart that I write this article after Gary’s untimely passing. I want to thank you Gary for all of your support and patience every month for the last six-plus years. New guides aren’t always welcomed with open arms but, Gary made it easy for me to make this my home water by allowing me to share my experiences with you every single month and for that I am forever grateful!
Yes, I’m only running fly fishing charters but there are a few exceptions each year. One of them is when my Norwegian friends come and visit me with their students. This year they brought 17 students and 3 teachers. They love to come and visit the U.S., especially here along the Treasure Coast for fishing. Most of them are using light tackle, some live bait and a few fly fish. It is always a big challenge for me to run multiple trips per day to get as many fishing out on the water, but since I can’t fish all of them at the same time, the others fish from the shore.
We caught a lot of different species but their all-time favorite is shark fishing! They do have a wide variety of different species in Norway and a lot of these fish grow big in the cold ocean up there, but they do not have the aggressive power and speed of our black tip and spinner sharks. To see these kids (they’re actually the ages between 18 – 22) fighting these sharks is just awesome and their excitement takes it all. They also got their hooks into snook and jacks even on fly which was a big step up for most of them.
I don’t have to tell you that Florida has so much more to offer than fishing, right? They always go to a basketball game and visit the Universal Studios but what always cracks me up is when they run wild at Bass Pro and Walmart since they do not have these type of stores in Norway.
The Fly Fishing Column is written by Capt. Michael Mauri, www.mauriflyfishing.com, michael@mauriflyfishing.com, (772) 485-3321.
