GCC launches a raffle for a Crescent Kayak!

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Catch Cormier

This Spring, the FFI Gulf Coast Council is raffling off a Crescent Kayaks LiteTackle 12 kayak and paddle. Every ticket purchased helps to support GCC conservation and education initiatives.

The LiteTackle 12 is one of the hottest new fishing kayaks on the market. Made in the USA, it has received strong reviews for it’s hull design that offers an optimum blend of speed, stability and excellent tracking. Fly anglers will appreciate the open cockpit, strong enough for stand-up fishing. The transom is built to accept electric motors from Bixpy, Torqeedo, BassYaks and others.

Donations are 1 ticket for $10, or 3 tickets for $20. A limited number of tickets will be sold. The drawing will take place on April 15th, 2020.

We will be selling tickets at several events across the Gulf South during the next few months. In addition, we will soon have an online ticket sales available. If any clubs would like to sell a book of tickets to their members (or others), please contact us. You send us a club check, and we’ll mail you a block.

A very special thank you to Crescent Kayaks for their support of the Gulf Coast Council, and also to Donald Dehm of Floating Feathers Kayak Fly Fishing School for his assistance.  For more info about Crescent Kayaks, go to www.crescentkayaks.com.

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Cenla Festival kicks off 2020 events in GCC

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Catch Cormier

Cenla Fly Fishing & Light Tackle Festival
Saturday, January 18, 2020
8:30am to 3:30pm
Kees Park, 2450 Highway 28 East, Pineville, LA
FREE admission!

The start of a new year brings several events across the Gulf South, beginning this weekend with one in central Louisiana.  The Kisatchie Fly Fishers, an FFI affiliated club in Alexandria, hosts their biennial Festival.  Proceeds from their raffle will benefit The Food Bank of Central Louisiana, along with the club’s conservation and education initiatives.

Held in even years, the Cenla Fly & Light Tackle Festival features mostly fly fishing, but also some elements of light tackle spinning and casting.   On tap are seminars on bass fishing Toledo Bend, fly fishing the Little Missouri River (Arkansas), and kayak fishing. Over 20 fly tiers and jig makers from several states will be demonstrating their craft.

There’s also fly casting instruction and a “Casting Skills Challenge” led by several FFI Certified Casting Instructors.  If you’re an FFI member, it’s a chance to earn your casting accomplishment pin.

There’s also several exhibitors and a huge raffle and Gamblers Draw featuring several one-of-a-kind items.  A pastalaya lunch will be served along with choice of tea, lemonade or bottled water for just $5.

For complete details, including schedule and list of tiers, go to www.kisatchiefly.org.

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Make plans now for the inaugural Sweetwater Classic!

Posted on January 2, 2020 by Catch Cormier

Gulf Coast Sweetwater Classic
Friday-Saturday, March 13-14, 2020
Percy Quin State Park, McComb, MS
Free admission to park & festival
Entry fee for tournament: $25

The FFI Gulf Coast Council will host it’s first-ever Sweetwater Classic fly fishing festival and freshwater tournament this Spring on lovely Percy Quin State Park in Mississippi. This event will feature two tournaments, fly tying demonstrations, flycasting instruction, a Casting Skills Challenge, an Iron Fly Tying competition, and a large raffle to benefit the GCC’s education and conservation initiatives.

The event will take place on Lake Tangipahoa, considered one of the South’s premier big bass waters. The lake also has a reputation for large crappie, with many 2+ pound slabs taken in the last couple years.

PQSP has nearly two dozen cabins and several motel rooms available for daily rental, as well as top-notch RV facilities, and tent campsites. PLEASE book ASAP as weekend rental of cabins are very popular in Spring.

There are also numerous motels and restaurants in nearby McComb, roughly five miles from the park entrance.

The festival kicks off on Friday at 1pm with fly tying and a few other activities. There’s an optional “Big Bream” CPRE tournament from 3pm to 6pm. Following that, it’s the Captains meeting for those anglers fishing the main tournament. The Tournament Directors will go over the rules for Saturday as well as give the latest fishing report.

Bass in Lake Tangipahoa love flies!

On Saturday, things kick off early with the main tournament, with Bass, Crappie, and Bank Divisions. This is a CPR tournament with roughly 50 percent of the proceeds going to winners, and the remainder donated to the FFI Gulf Coast Council. The tournament runs from 6am to 12pm. At the awards ceremony, each of the winners will be required to tell the audience the tackle, flies and techniques they used to target their big fish. The value of this tournament is to share information on actual fishing – much the way that many kayak tournaments do.

The festival portion kicks off at 8am and runs until 4pm. There’s fly tying demonstrations, casting instruction, a Casting Skills Challenge, an Iron Fly Tying competition and much more. We are also working on a couple of speakers for the afternoon session.

Again, the festival is free. Admission to the park is free when mentioning you are attending the Classic. Say “I’m here for the Classic”. Only if you enter the tournaments is there a fee. The “Big Bream” tournament is $5 cash payable at the event. The “Sweetwater Classic” tournament is $25 with online registration in advance, or payable onsite Friday until 8pm.

A complete webpage with detailed information, including tournament rules, registration links, and info about Percy Quin is under development and should be up in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, book your cabins, rooms, RV spots by going to this website:
CLICK HERE.

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Welcome to 2020

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Catch Cormier

Get your bass bugs ready for our Sweetwater Classic

First off, wishing all our fellow fly anglers and their loved ones the best wishes for a safe, healthy, and prosperous year ahead.  May your loops be tight and your flies get victimized often.  And may there be many great fishing stories to tell, even if some are borderline truth.

As you can see from the Calendar page, there are many great activities coming up this Spring for those of us in the Gulf Coast Council, and in our neighboring councils.

The highlight for the Gulf Coast Council will be our first-ever “Gulf Coast Sweetwater Classic” on Friday-Saturday, March 13th and 14th at Percy Quin State Park near McComb, MS.  This event will be part tournament, part festival.   Many activities including casting instruction and skills challenge, fly tying demonstrations, a seminar or two, raffles, and of course, lots of fishing!  Lake Tangipahoa is a trophy bass fishery, but also offers great crappie and redear action too.  Proceeds from the tournament and raffles/auction to benefit the GCC conservation and education projects.  Admission to the park and festival is free, there’s an entry fee for the tournament.   Look for the Classic webpage here in the next week.

A trio of regional clubs will be hosting festivals featuring seminars, fly tying demos, casting instruction, and much more.   The Kisatchie Fly Fishers will host their biennial “Cenla Fly Fishing & Light Tackle Festival” on Saturday, January 18th.  The Red Stick Fly Fishers will host their annual “Red Stick Day” fly fishing festival on Saturday, March 7th.   The Texas Fly Fishers of the FFI Texas Council will host their annual “Dr. Ed Rizzolo Fly Tying Festival” on Saturday, February 8th.

In addition, the Kisatchie club and the Fly Fishers of Northwest Florida (Pensacola) clubs will be having introductory fly fishing clinics this Spring.  These intensive clinics put a premium on casting – the gateway to fly fishing success.  They’ll have FFI Certified Casting Instructors leading their programs.

 

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FWC to rule on final seatrout management plan

Posted on December 2, 2019 by Catch Cormier

The December meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will be held December 11th and 12th in Panama City. On the agenda are several marine fisheries management items, including the final proposal for changes in spotted seatrout management.

Florida’s spotted seatrout fishery is currently managed in four geographic zones: Northwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast. A stock assessment completed by FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute suggests that spotted seatrout are not meeting the Commission’s management target in some of these zones and that the population status is declining in all zones.

At the October 2019 Commission meeting, the Commission approved a series of draft rules intended to improve both the fishery and angler satisfaction. At the December Commission meeting, FWC staff will present a final rule proposal that incorporates input heard at and since the draft rule hearing.

The proposed changes of interest to anglers in the Gulf Coast Council (extreme northwest Florida) include:
– splitting the Northwest Zone into a Western Panhandle Zone and Big Bend Zone
– adjusting the slot limit in the WPZ to 15″-19″, with one over the slot limit allowed per day
– reducing the daily creel limit in the WPZ from 5 to 3 fish
– impose winter closures in the WPZ for the month of February

More information on the final proposal can be found by clicking on this link.

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Fly Fishers of NW Florida announce 2020 course

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Catch Cormier

FFNWF 2020 Fly Fishing Class
Mondays, March 16-May 4, 2020
6:00pm to 8:00pm
Mira Flores Park, Pensacola, FL
Cost: $60
Pre-registration required, limited to 15 students
Sponsored by Fly Fishers of Northwest Florida

The Fly Fishers of Northwest Florida are again offering their annual Fly Fishing course in 2020.  The popular class begins March 16th and will be held each Monday through May 5th. During this sixteen hour course students will learn the basics of fly fishing, including:

  • equipment selection
  • fly tying
  • fly casting
  • knots
  • practical applications for both fresh and salt water

The cost of $60 includes instruction, all course materials, and use of club equipment for fly tying and fly casting. Also included is a complimentary membership in FFNWF for 2020.

For more info on course content, or to register for the course, call Russ Shields at 983-9515 or email rkshields@bellsouth.net. The class size is limited to 15 people so early registration is strongly encouraged.

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Co-Ed Casting & Community Event coming to New Orleans

Posted on October 23, 2019 by Catch Cormier

New Orleans Co-Ed Casting & Community Event
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
3:00pm to 6:00pm
Next to Bayou Paddle Sports, corner of Florida Avenue and Moss Street

** Event is FREE and open to EVERYONE!! Drop in and say hello anytime. **

3:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Meet and Greet
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Breakup into Groups and Go Over the Casting Skills Challenge Tasks
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Casting Skills Challenge, Help with Casting or Socialize

Join Heather Hodson and Jen Ripple of Dun Magazine for a low-key, fun and non-intimidating evening of casting and community, in conjunction with the New Orleans Fly Fishers club and the FFI Casting Skills Challenge program.   Or just come socialize and hang out.

SweetWater Brewing Company is providing the adult beverages that will be kept cold by YETI.  This is a plastic free event so we ask that you bring a reusable water bottle and we’ll provide the ice cold water.

We’re happy to show off the fun FFI Bronze Casting Challenge at these events. For those interested, we’ll run through and practice the obstacles.  For FFI members, we have qualified observers to complete the challenge certification.  For non FFI members, we’ll have applications for those wishing to join.   There is -no- obligation to join FFI unless you wish to receive the certificate and pin.

Hosted by Rip and Hopper’s Adventure, Fly Fishers International, Sweetwater Brewing Company, United Women on the Fly, Dun Magazine, and Heather Hodson (Northwest Fly Girl)

Details on the Challenge can be found at the FFI website Casting Skills Challenge Page.

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Seatrout regulations to be discussed at October FWC meeting

Posted on September 23, 2019 by Catch Cormier

2019 may be remembered as the “Year for Spotted Seatrout Regulations”. Alabama and Mississippi have implemented stricter regulations, and Florida and Louisiana are considering changes after both states latest assessment results fell below their conservation targets.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission will hear from FWC staff and biologists at their October 1st meeting in Cape Canaveral on public feedback of draft proposals the agency made public in Spring. There may also be changes in those proposals presented at the meeting.

Florida’s spotted seatrout (speckled trout) are managed regionally across four zones.

Of interest to the FFI Gulf Coast Council are proposed changes for the “Northwest Zone” of Florida coastal waters. The Northwest zone currently ranges from the Alabama border east and south to just north of Tampa Bay. One of the proposed changes calls for splitting this zone into “Western Panhandle” and “Big Bend”.

The new Western Panhandle zone would go east to the Gulf-Franklin County line. Two GCC clubs are in this zone – the Fly Fishers of Northwest Florida and the Panhandle Fly Fishers.

Current regulations for this zone are 5 fish per day, with a slot limit of 15-20 inches, one over 20 inches allowed. Annual landings in the Northwest Zone over the last three years have averaged around 1.4 million pounds.

The proposed regulations for the Western Panhandle Zone would be 3 fish per day. The slot limit would be changed to 15-19 inches, with no harvest above the slot. In addition, the regulations would re-establish a February closure that was implemented to protect cold harboring fish.

Florida is different from most Gulf states like Louisiana and Mississippi in that they manage for “Optimum Sustainable Yield”. Their target for Spawning Potential Ratio – the ratio of mature fish in current population compared to an unfished population – is 35 percent. By comparison, Louisiana and Mississippi manage for “Maximum Sustainable Yield” with a management target around 20 percent. The biological threshold – also known as the conservation standard – is between 14 and 16 percent.

One reason why the management target is so high is because extraordinary environmental incidents are not factored into the “unfished population” determination. Therefore making such things as red tide kills no different than if there had been a huge spike in fishing.

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