Category: Event updates

Saturday, December 18th Outing

This is our annual Don Coleman Classic, also known as the Don Coleman Invitational. It’s the outing in which we welcome members of the Tampa and Sarasota fly fishing clubs to fish with us and slurp up and vote for the best chili.
Do you have a chili dish you like to make? Then email outing chair Bob Burkard.
You can fish anywhere around Fort DeSoto Park – open water or mangrove sheltered water. DeSoto Park is ideal for Park and Wade fishing. There are many places where you can just pull off the pavement and crash through the vegetation to fish. Some members have their own secret spots. (Yeah, we’re talking about you, Tim Elms.)
Ten dollar gift certificate to Bill Jackson’s Shop for Adventure will be awarded to members catching the longest snook, longest redfish, and longest seatrout. Measure. Take a picture. All entries will be final at noon.
The park opens at 7 am. There’s a $5 per auto entrance fee. You can start fishing earlier than that by parking and wading in at the FDP boat ramp. Park in a slot for automobiles without a trailer. Pay up and get a $5 parking fee receipt at the Pay Station
Meet for lunch at Pavilion #2 at 11:30. Hot, delicious coffee will be ready well before that. Introduce yourself to visitors from the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club and Sarasota’s Mangrove Coast Fly Fishers Club.
This is your last chance to win any category in our annual tournament.

Saturday, November 20th

Park entrance is at Bay Pines Blvd. Boat ramp is on your left as you enter the park. Picnic lunch is at noon at Pavilion #4. Wade fishers are
meeting up at Pavilion 4 at 7 am. Kayakers can launch at the beachy
area near Pavilion 4 or at the official kayak/canoe launch area.

We’ll be fly fishing Boca Ciega Bay
Saturday, November 20. There’s a nice
incoming tide that looks favorable for
catching, not just fishing.
Fly fish anywhere in Boca Ciega Bay north
of Treasure Island Causeway, including
Long Bayou and Cross Bayou.
Ten dollar gift certificates to Bill Jackson’s
Shop for Adventure will be awarded to the
anglers catching the longest snook and
longest ladyfish. Remember: measure your
long fish. Take pictures!
Wade fishers can meet up and join me and
Bill AuCoin at Pavilion 4 at 7 am.
At noon everybody will meet up for the
picnic lunch at Pavilion 4. This will be our
first picnic lunch in many months.
WooHoo.

Saturday, October 23rd

Well, after a couple of years of Covid concern, the Carl Hanson Memorial Outing on the Hillsborough River is back on the calendar. It’s our almost-annual fishing event with the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club.
The fly fisher who catches the longest fish (bass or whatever) gets to keep the portrait of Carl Hanson for a year. The member catching the most fish (bluegills, anyone?) gets their name engraved on the Carl Hanson trophy.
Carl, who died in 1998, belonged to both clubs. He loved fishing fresh water and to honor his memory we have been meeting up and “competing” with TBFFC.
This is TBFFC’s year to host the event Here’s the plan from TBFFC President Walt Durkin:
• Meet up early at Rotary Riverfront Park in Temple Terrace.
• Best fishing is from a boat, kayak, or canoe but you can also fly fish from shore.
• Come early and fish until noon then meet up for drinks and conversation to remember Carl.
The last time we met here was in 2019. SFF member Mark Hays caught the longest fish, a bass, and took the artwork of Carl Hanson. (And a year before that Mark won the most fish artwork catching 35 bluegills.) Robert Fischer, who belongs to both clubs, caught the most fish – 21 bluegills – and got his name engraved on the trophy. The 2020 tournament was held at Fort DeSoto Park. Robert Mitchell caught the longest fish, a 26-inch snook, and got to keep the Hanson artwork for a year. Once again Robert Fischer won the most fish trophy catching nine saltwater fishes.

Also post them on our club’s Facebook. site….facebook.com/scff2020

Saturday, September 18th Outing

Fly fish upper Tampa Bay north of the Courtney
Campbell Causeway. Or fly fish any of the
freshwater lakes, ponds, and spillways in Safety
Harbor.

The September outing is ON. And you getto fish the salt or the fresh.Alas, there is no picnic. When we will start having outing picnics again? Maybe
November. Maybe not. Only Covid knows.But we can socially distance on the water,and whoop and holler when we catchsomething.
You can fish the salt or the fresh anywhere north of theCourtney Campbell Causeway. $10 gift cards will go to members catching the longest snook, redfish, bass,
and bream. Measure. Take pictures. Email them to me at Bob Burkhart

Salty Waders: Waders meet up at 7:30 am with Bill AuCoin and other salty wade fishers at Phillippe Park in
Safety Harbor. Park your car close to Pavilion 2. That’ll give you quick access to the Tampa Bay shoreline and
it looks like there are some depth changes and sea grasses that hold fish.

Fresh pond pounders: Some freshwater anglers are meeting up at 8 am to fly fish the pond at Coopers Bayou Park. It has produced bass, panfish and even snook. (Just ask Tim Elms). Karen Warfel won the longest fish award in April with a 13+ inch bass. This pond is on your right heading northeast toward downtown
Safety Harbor on N. Bayshore Blvd. Yakkers. Slide your kayak in where you want to. There are lots of slide-in areas in Upper Tampa Bay

Also post them on our club’s Facebook. site….facebook.com/scff2020

After further review of delta variant we aren’t meeting this month in person but we are still fishing Lake Seminole. Please respect others space, mask if warranted and keep contact to a minimum. we aren’t going to fish Saturday.

Speaker: Maya Burke, Tampa Bay Estuary Program Subject. Red Tide

Their mission is to build partnerships to restore and protect Tampa Bay through implementation of a scientifically sound, community-based management plan. Collaborating with other scientists, TBEP monitors progress in achieving the goals of the community’s plan for a healthy Tampa Bay. Burke will discuss this year’s red tide event and what made it unusually bad for Tampa Bay. She will also summarize the state of nutrient pollution and water quality (including the latest effects from the Piney Point discharges), other harmful algal blooms (like Pyrodinium bahamense in Old Tampa Bay), and recent declines in seagrass.

• 6:45 pm: President Rick Warfel calls the meeting to order

Sorry group.

After further review of our fishery, we aren’t going to fish Saturday. Red Tide and fish kills were awful before Elsa and now mcuh worse so, we will postpone our outing until August. Lots of our club members have seen huge fish kills and there’s no need to fish this area. August will be our first in person outing. 🙁

Sorry group.

Our June outing is our long-standing and much celebrated docklights
outing, and now it’s our Docklights AND Beaches outing.

JUNE OUTING, Friday-Saturday-Sunday, June 18-19

• Fish from 8 PM Friday to 8 AM Saturday, then from 8 PM Saturday
to 8 AM Sunday.

• The outing prize goes to the fly fisher catching the longest snook.
Measure it and take a picture. Email it to robertburkard9@gmail.com.

• Fish anywhere in Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough, or Manatee
Counties.

Largest Snook wins!

Don’t forget to submit any annual tournament!

Saturday, May 22nd Outing

The Tampa Bay shoreline at Cypress Point Park in Tampa is a terrific place for wade fishers. Kayakers, too.
There’s lots of seagrass with interesting patterns and deeper sandy potholes. You don’t have to wade too far
to work the drop-offs. We’ll have a nice incoming tide from 7 am until 1pm. The tidal current speeds up as it
squeezes through the Howard Frankland Bridge which should bring bait onto the flat.
This is one of my favorite wading spots and I am looking forward to fishing with our members. Some club
members are meeting up at the park about 7:30 am to wade in and catch the inshore slam. Join us. You’ll see
fly lines flying back and forth. Yeah. That’s us.
Redfish like the flats around Cypress Point Park. Take a look at the 28-inch
redfish that member Robert Fischer caught in January. He caught it wading the
flats at Cypress Point Park. Maybe. We think. This is not confirmed. Still…
Some of us that have received our COVID vaccinations are planning to get
together for some socializing at this outing. If you are interested, please
bring your own brown-bag lunch and a chair. SFF will provide soft drinks
and water. The available shelters are on a 1st come basis, so I don’t have
the exact location, but look for the fly rods and the great looking fishing
outfits.
DIRECTIONS TO TAMPA’S CYPRESS POINT PARK VIA I-275
Take the Howard Frankland Bridge (I-275) toward Tampa.
Take exit 39 toward the airport.
Stay in the right lane. Exit onto W. Spruce Street.
Go ½ mile and turn right on N. O’Brien St.
Go ½ mile and turn right (W) onto W. Cypress Street
Go ½ mile and the destination is on your left.

Also post them on our club’s Facebook. site….facebook.com/scff2020

Saturday, April 17th Outing

Fly fish upper Tampa Bay north of the Courtney
Campbell Causeway. Or fly fish any of the
freshwater lakes, ponds, and spillways in Safety
Harbor.

Also post them on our club’s Facebook. site….facebook.com/scff2020

Saturday, March 20th Outing

March is traditionally our freshwater outing. We used to fish Walsingham Lake and meet up at a pavilion at
noon for the picnic. Not this time.
So, this year we must fish freshwater, but each of us also gets to decide where to fish. The only stipulation is that you can fish only in Pinellas, Hillsborough, or Manatee Counties. (So, if you live in a gatedcommunity with lots of retainer ponds with hundreds of hungry, stupid bass, your catch still qualifies.)
Members catching the longest bass, longest cichlid, and longest bream will win gift cards to Bill Jackson’s Shop for Adventure and if your fishes are the longest of the day you’ll take the lead in one of the outing tournament categories. Measure and email pictures of your possible winning fish to Bob Burkard.

Mayan cichlid? Catch and Consume. Yes, catching the longest version of this hard-fighting invasive will earn you a prize when and if we get back together in person. Here’s advice from MyFWC.: Flyfishers may use wooly worms and popping bugs. Good eating fish; take as many as you like, but do not live release them.
But, but, but…where shouldyou fish? It’s your call.

Also post them on our club’s Facebook. site….facebook.com/scff2020