305-852-6918 home 305-393-2587 cell or email
Specializing in sight fishing for bonefish, tarpon, redfish and permit on fly or light tackle.
Capt. Barry Hoffman's
from the platform
8-14-2010
Still, they don't expect the oil to have an impact on the Keys waters. For the latest info.. http://www.fla-keys.com/news/news.cfm?sid=7729
6-11-2010
There is NO oil particulate at all. Just clean water and lots of tarpon. We had 41 shots today at the Silver King!
5-22-2010
Still no oil.. just gin clear water, tarpon and a little wind..
5-20-2010
The Coast Guard confirms the 40 tarballs found off Key West are not related to the oil spill.. More likely a cruise ship or freighter in the area. Again, I saw NO signs of the spill where I have been fishing. We all know there will likely be some impact, though not nearly as bad as they are experiencing in the northern gulf states. Just when, how and in what manner, we will have to wait and see. The local community has been on point and ready to respond quickly should the need to do so, arrives. Some areas will be more impacted then others, but all do not expect the doomsday scenario they are shoveling out in the news media. Please see http://www.fla-keys.com/news/news.cfm?sid=7729 for more information
5-18-2010
To those scheduled to fish with me: I can certainly understand your concern. Unfortunately, I cannot predict (neither can the "experts") what impact it will have. I can tell you as of today, we saw no sheen, tarballs or other signs of any oil. We are all hoping the media hype waits until there is actually something to report. There have been reports of tarballs in Key West, but the experts believe they are the result of large ships (which routinely pass our islands just offshore) emptying their bilges. This is an illegal practice. I am fishing the rest of the week and can only report what I see. There may be stronger impacts in areas and none in others. The weather will have an important role in this, and that is unpredictable. I'm sorry to have such little info on it, but I'll really have to have a wait and see attitude toward it. I'm crossing my fingers, Barry
5-14-2010
The wind continues to howl. My poor anglers have had to deal with extreme conditions for the past two weeks. On the pic just below, you'll see the wind conditions yesterday morning while trying to fish.. (26.4-30 mph)ARRGGHHH! Hopefully soon, the winds will lessen and the sun will part the clouds.. Oh yes, a client sent me a picture of what happens when you mix a graphite rod and a lightening bolt.. Be careful out there!
I believe i may now call this section "Rants & Ramblings", after the post below. Be patient with me, It'll let me vent a bit and save on any "boat rage" issues. ;0)
4-30-2010
Sometimes it amazes me who they allow to become a guide here in the Keys. Ok, so now you know where this is going. I had an incident with another "guide" today.. I was fishing in some very quiet spot about 15 miles in the backcountry of Everglades National Park. The wind was cranking, so this place was protected and actually held some very large trout. (ok, they're not tarpon but i can help a guy fly cast and catch fish). After about 40 minutes i can hear an approaching vessel coming into the same spot. This particular spot has a narrow deep entry, with and an adjoining VERY SHALLOW flat. I had anticipated there may be other guides making their way to this spot, and had staked out up on the flat to allow for passage of other skiffs. Amazingly this IDIOT is in a HUGE 22' BLUE PATHFINDER with a GIANT outboard. This is NO place for a 22ft boat to begin with. The area he has just navigated to get into this spot, averages about 16 inches to 2 feet at this time of the year. Instead of coming off a plane into the channel, he ROARS by me (about 15 feet away) ON TOP OF THE VERY SHALLOW FLAT. With mud and grass flying from the prop wash, .he screams as he flies by, "it's too shallow!" Well DUHHHHH of course it is you idiot.. I have some tolerance for some poor soul who has trailered his boat down from Kalamazoo MI, but this guy is supposed to KNOW the backcountry. Not DESTROY it! Why don't you learn the backcountry BEFORE you become a guide? YOU are the reason they are shutting down portions of the ENP. You know who you are, your initials are FF... Call me if you'd like to discuss our encounter. I'd like to buy you a chart of Florida Bay. Ahhh.. now much better ;0)
3-22-2010
I've been doing a bit of bonefishing this past week.. Unfortunately for my clients this week, they (the bonefish, err, maybe the anglers) decided to spawn. Long days and shots too far and few between. But for the population to keep intact.. (approx 326,000 according to Bonefish Tarpon Trust) it has to happen. I've just received two new Tibor reels from Tibor in Florida. I had one anodized in royal blue for myself and included a speed handle on it. This reel is sweet! You won't get your hands on it, but have no fear, I received a second Everglades model in black for my clients to use. I've used several over the years and these reels have the smoooothest drags one could imagine.. Real quality gear.
3-10-2010
Finally a warmup! Let's hope it's not short lived. I've had quite the international crowd lately. A Masaaki Sueyoshi from Japan, A Englishman.. John Rikker and today an angler from the north of Ireland. With Yoshi (Japan guy) we were trying to find him a bonefish. He spoke absolutely no English and I spoke even less Japanese. So, one might imagine that with the language barrier and the tough job of finding bonefish in 60 degree water, we were up for a tough task. We were. We did find only a couple of schools, but one school was floating on the surface in 4 feet of water. They were sunning themselves in 59 degree water. We caught two from the school, but i have to say that was the coldest water i had ever gotten a bonefish to eat. (prev. 65') Just goes to show you.. you can't catch them if you don't go. I have to admit, the past few weeks had been extremely difficult getting the shots.. and I thought it time to look for redfish.
Yoshi travels from Japan and gets his two bonefish.
3-5-2010
OK... I get it. I now know what cabin fever is. It's been a long cold Winter here in the Keys.. Record setting cold temps have dropped water temps to frigid levels. Today, we ran out back just to get a rod bent. Air temp, 46 at home, 45 by the time we made it to Flamingo. Not much to find, as we watched several other guides hopping arouind looking for a seatrout bite. (Hey when it's this cold, even I'll hit the channels for a couple of specks) I passed one friend who had tied us in his catch.. It was 11AM and we'd each caught one seatrout. We didn't do much else, save for a few more seatrout and ladyfish today.. We found a few redfish and snook that were nearly black in color. ( I suspect from the cold).. I've just got to remind myself they promise temps back in the 80's next week. Watch Out bonefish!
