"CRACKER FOOD", is that like Florida?

The Florida Cracker Trail

Back in the day, Florida residents were known as Crackers. Mexicans were known as vaquero, in Texas they were cowboys and in Florida they were Crackers and they got this name because of their unique style in herding cattle. Cowboys used the rope or lassos. In Florida, it was a Bull Whip, and when it snaps it makes a Crack. Thus Crackers was attached to their names and what a Cracker prepared at the chuck wagon became known as Cracker Food rather than just grub, like the cowboys called it. The chuck wagon followed the cattle or horse drive on a regular basis. One of the routes started at a rendezvous point in Charlotte County, were cattle or horses were loaded onto barges and escorted out in the bay for waiting ships to transport them to Bradenton where they could continue there journey on the Florida Cracker Trail.

The Florida Cracker Trail runs from just east of Bradenton, and ends in Fort Pierce, a total distance of approximately 120 miles.

Now days, if your from Florida, not a transplant from say New York or Texas, you are a true Florida Cracker and now we know a bit of your history. Now getting back to the chow, grub, food or "Cracker Food", catch you up a mess of crabs and do up some killer crab cakes and while your waiting for those cakes to cook, read up on how to keep your Mackerel fishy free, another tasty treat to eat on the Florida Cracker Food Trail. This Cracker Food is presented by Captain Scott Moore, being almost a true Cracker since age six and that is close enough for me.

Also check out The Online Fisherman and their "Fish Spots" because those loading docks are long gone in Charlotte County now, but zoom on in with their Google maps and you too can find a new spot in catching crabs to slot reds. Good Luck and happy eating or bon apatite!

"FISH ON!"

The Mentoring Angler

Gary Anderson

Tarpon free jumping on Glass minnows

Redfish Florida fishing Daytona ponce new Smyrna beach

The Kings Highway

King Mackerels of "Days Gone By"

By Captain Gary A. Anderson

Trolleys posted on the end of the pier at Sharky's, are an indication of the onslaught to come in weeks, if not days ahead, of the annual Fall migration of Scomberomorous cavalla, the Kingfish or better known as King Mackerel. This biannual migration of the Kings occurs first in the springtime and then again in the fall before water temperatures become too cold for their comfort. Trolley rigs account for most of the Kings caught from on the boards of the pier. Stretching out more than seven hundred feet from the shoreline is the Venice City Pier, also known as “Sharky's on the Pier.” The pier is an excellent place to catch mackerels, sharks, Reds, Trout, Snook, Tarpon and just about anything that swims in the Gulf of Mexico. The reason so many fish are found near the pier and large sharks, to fourteen feet, along with monster King Mackerels up to fifty plus pounds is that the pier falls just short of a geological feature on the bottom, which causes a metalimnion to occur. A metalimnion represent a rapid decrease in temperature with depth; also called a thermo cline. Sharks performed a regular duel migration, spending the day below the thermo cline and rising towards the surface at night, as this is an adjustment to their internal body temperatures with the top of the water column being warmer than the bottom. This thermo cline acts as an air conditioner does to us; hence many sharks too are caught off the pier to which it is named. This small to medium drop-off or subtle cliff, follows the coastline for miles from offshore in to a point by the pier and extending itself northward to the reaches of Tampa Bay. As little as a two foot difference in depth to six feet or more turns this thermo cline into a flowing current or highway to which fish follow. During the spring and now that it is Fall, the biggest of the mackerels, the kingfish, will start their southern migration back to the tropics following the kings highway, as anglers wait in anticipation of catching a trolled King, over the subsurface terrain! READ MORE ON HOW TO CATCH THESE FISH ALONG THE KINGS HIGHWAY...

The Spey Cast

Spey casting is a method cast, just as is a roll over or overhead cast. In making any cast with a fly rod, energy is loaded into the rod 180 degrees from the target before the line is propelled toward the target, just basic physics, action to reaction. A cast cannot be made with a fly rod without this 180-degree principle and in the Spey cast, it gives you a side action rather than a behind you movement to load the rod, making sure your “D” loop always points to your target. The Spey Cast is the perfect change of direction cast when needed under hard to angle conditions. Any time you want to make a change-of-direction cast, the spey cast is your go-to method.

Fly Fishing Lessons - Part 3

Roll Cast & Overhead Cast