"Red Dawn at the Water Hazard!"

    Sometimes, you need to just call in sick to work, fire up the car, and just drive until you feel like stopping, and see what might come your way. That is exactly what Brendon and his cousin Eddie did after they loaded up the assault vehicle and headed toward the sunset and the beautiful, less populated confines of the West coast of Florida in search of some much needed R & R. Right around sundown, they had the truck packed, and headed Southbound on I-95 toward the fabled Tamiami trail, to make the West-ward journey across the Southwestern portion of the Everglades.  This route is in no way the fastest or closest route to the other side of Florida, but when traveling the poorly maintained route through the Everglades, it allows you to encounter a wide array of angling opportunity's for a large variety of species (salt and fresh).

  Brendon made his way across the treachorous stretch of unincorporated roadway as the sun was getting ready to fall into the Western sky,which sends the signal out for the creatures of the night to arise from the bowels of the swamp, and converge on the still warm and seemingly endless stretch of asphalt extending West-ward. But it only took one short stop along a roadside ditch somewhere in the middle of the state to land a nice and healthy black water Snook, before the mosquitos became unbearable, forcing the back into the truck and realigning their focus to the trip at hand.

   They pushed on as darkness fell on the trail, thus giving them an opportunity to take in some of the unexpected sights and creatures you may encounter when traveling on the trail at after dusk. Kind of like this 8 foot alligator that was itching to become a speed bump for an unsuspecting traveler.

  After a semi-eventful trip across the state, Brendon and Eddie finally reached their hotel and checked in for the three day weekend ahead of them, and were finally able to sit down and try to figure out a game plan for the coming days.

   They were only able to manage just a few short hours of shut eye, Brendon arose in a daze to make a half hearted attempt to find the nearest Dunkin Donuts and indulge in his morning coffee and bagel. But on his journey through the light fog shortly after dawn, some explosions caught his eye coming from a private pond system on the edge of a neighborhood a few miles down the road from their Ft. Myers hotel. Brendon quickly pulled over to the side of the road to assess the situation, and to make an attempt to find the culprit behind the explosions he had saw just moments ago from the road. He sprung to action with a small zara spook he had on a light tackle rod that was still in the truck from the voyage over the night before, and after a couple of casts, an estimated 30lb tarpon opened its mouth beneath the spook, making the plug disappear into a small whirlpool before the fish launched itself toward the sky and popped his line.  High hopes and visions of silver raced though Brendons mond after the breif roadside encounter,so Brendon raced back to the hotel to wake his cousin, load up on tackle, and head back to the golf course water hazard to see if they could drum up any more luck. But when they arrived back at their new "honey hole", they did not know that this is where they would end up spending almost their entire vacation. Which the became clear once they saw finger mullet getting blown onto the banks of the lake in a full blown fresh water feeding frenzy.

 Brendon quickly sprang into action and began scooping the stranded finger mullet up off the grass laden shoreline with only his hands, and they quickly "released" the marooned baits back into the pond, with hardened steel sticking through their little mouths. It did not take long before both Brendon and Eddie were hooked upon a double, with species that they could not clearly identify, that is until both fish hit the bank after a short, vicious battle.

Cast, after cast, they began to bail abnormally large land-locked Mangrove Snapper onto the shoreline, with most of them being between 14 and 20 inches. They devoured every bait they tossed into the corner of the pond, until they had all been caught, or their bellies were full. But soon after the mangrove snapper destruction, another blitz of fish came barreling through, and began demolished the finger sized baits in the corner of the pond. This time it wasn't the nuclear sized snapper though, but another land-locked species was now moving in on the lame duck baits.

The day went on, and the blitzkreig of fish continued, with no signs of fading as the afternoon approached. They even began catching a new species every now and again.

As the sun began to fade over the Western horizon, the duo decided to pack it in for the night, and sample a little bit of the local night-life, but not before the redfish tally was up to around 10. However, that doesn't include the lone Snook, and the large number of prehistoric Mangrove Snapper which they captured throughout the day as well. But until the next day, it was time to tally up one more red, and kick back and relax for the night.

After sleeping through the morning bite, and trying to recover from the previous day/night, they headed back to the water hazard in an attempt to re-live the magic which they encountered the day before. It was not long before the two of them realized, that again, they would not be let down. Soon after the first baits were casted out towards the edge of the sawgrass, they began to land nice land-locked reds yet again.

   Again, they encountered hot redfish action, well after the sun had set, and their arms had gotten tired from the endless action they encountered throughout the afternoon. With the final tally for the afternoon ending up around 10 Redfish, they decided to again hit the town and return the next afternoon for their final attempt to land a few more quality fish, and to take one last crack at the Tarpon that had been eluding them for the previous two days.

  The final day began, fairly similar to how the previous day had began, with a very late start and then some fast action with some nice redfish. And again, they found that the redfish bite had never seemed to stopped from the previous two days.

But as the sun was fading on the day, and their departure time nearing, the two decided to fish a couple of more baits before they hit the road and headed back to the hustle and the bustle of the Southeastern coast of Florida, and ultimately back to reality. On Brendon's last bait, an eruption occurred on the adjacent shoreline, right where his mullet had been swimming freely, trying to avoid a confrontation with a predatory pond dweller. A silver bullet emerged from the water a split second after he drove the hook into the culprit, and the battle with the fish of the trip was finally on. Soon after a few massive and belligerent leaps across the pond, Brendon was finally able to land the first, and only tarpon of the trip. And after quick picture, the Tarpon was released to continue its reign as king of the pond.

 With their main adversary finally conquered, and the truck already packed, they hit the road and took the less distracting Alligator Ally back East while the reminisced about the success of their last second vacation. One of the perks about living in South Florida, is that you never know when you might stumble across some incredible angling opportunities, even if you are hundreds of miles from home, because you never know when you may be able to witness a Red Dawn in a water hazard on a fresh water golf course. 

New Sponsor Announcement- Barrett Custom Rods Signs on!

 

 You are all in for it now! We here at Team Rebel are VERY excited to announce that Barrett Custom rodshas officially joined the Unholy Alliance! Pete Barrett has quickly become one of the most sought after rod builders in the state of Florida, and with good reason. His rods are built individually to meet the standards of every customers personal specifications. And along with the modern twist and edge Pete builds his rods with, it isn't hard to see why he has even built rods for Zac Brown of the world-famous Zac Brown Band!

  Pete has an established reputation as an angler, and that is personified within his demon slaying creations! We here at Team Rebel have stopped a number of leviathans on Pete's sticks, and back his product a 110%, and one look at his work and the fish that have been captured on these monster stompers, you will see exactly what we are talking about!

 So keep your eyes peeled, because the next monster fish we drop lie a ton of bricks into the international fishing community will DEFINENTLY be on a Barret Custom Rod!

 Now lets get back to the surf and F*^k up some monsters!

  BEAST UP!

 With Barrett Rods!

Hurricane Irene - 2011 Expedition Report

 The word "hurricane" strikes fear instantly into most normal peoples hearts, but for other groups of thrill seekers (such as ourselves) bad weather or hurricanes provide endless opportunity's for miscellaneous and rather careless endeavors. And with the monstrosity of a storm which had been dubbed "Irene" passing just offshore of the South Florida coastline, there was no question that we were going to promptly mobilize the Team Rebel unit, and see what trouble we could get into, while most normal people were perched comfortably inside thier homes.

    The trip began as a solo mission after i had woke up to find that all our favorite Bass and Snook holes for bad weather were lacking the current that would normally be sending the freshwater bite into overdrive. So the corporate command decision was made to head toward the Deerfield Fishing pier to see if there was any signs of the impending mutton snapper bite that usually follows these large weather systems. But shortly after I had arrived at the end of the pier, a leviathan of a wave in excess of 20ft came crashing over the Eastern railing, which was enough of a scare for the city to immediately evacuate, and close the pier down. As I was loading the truck up and draw up a new battle plan, Tyler pulled into the lot, fresh off his long road trip back down from Connecticut. We shot the breeze and came up with a new plan, while we marveled at the humongous surf that the outer bands of Irene were creating along the coastline.

   We decided we were going to head over the the Inlet in Boca to see if anything was moving around in the mouth of the turbulant inlet, but were met with many similar sites from our previous location. But that didn't deter crazy Captain Al from doing what he does best.

 Random surfers and old salts watched as others brave the surf, and to wait for their own opportunity to move into the rather thin line-ups just off the beach.

 After we have had our fill of watching mother natures fury batter our coastline, we began to head West in search of a potential late afternoon Freshwater snook bite, but were met with heavy resistance from sporadic but violent rain bands from Irene's outer edge.

 We arrived at the spot late in the afternoon, and the driving rain had stopped just as quickly as it began. But we lacked a crucial piece of the puzzle required for snook fishing, the bait. So we quickly started moving up and down the canal, blanketing the canal with cast nets in search of what proved to be a very scarce bait source. Time was running out on our adventure, with no fish to show for our effort still, but with one throw of the net, two baits emerged from the depths. The first bait was a perfectly sized Mayan ciclid, and the other, well we weren't too sure what it was.

  One thing that has been constant over the years here in South Florida, is that when you fish in freshwater, you never know what you will catch, due to our tropical climate. Also, it always seems that some of the strangest creatures we encounter are during large storms, and one is always more interesting than the rest, thus making this little guy was the mystery creature of Hurricane Irene.

 Upon close inspection, we determined it was a mullet for sure, as it had the rounded head and mouth to compliment the distinct mullet dorsal fin, but the difference was that this mullet was gold and brown in color, with various faded broad, black stripes. After doing a little bit of research, it turns out that this is a species called a "Mountain Mullet". Its primary range is in the Caribbean, mainly Puerto Rico, but has been documented here in the United States before, but in 24 years of fishing here along with many of our friends, nobody has ever saw one. So we decided after a few quick pictures, to release it back into the freshwater canal we found it in.

  After our quick photo session with the "unknown mullet", I took our lone ciclid, and dropped it just a few feet from where I stood and into the flowing water. Within seconds of the bait making its descent, I felt the unmistakable "thump" of a snook at the other end of the line. I came tight with the fish laying just a couple of arms legnths under my feet, and the battle was on. And after a drawn out battle that took me in and out of trees and through a couple of rocks, I was able to put this beautiful freshwater snook on the bank for a couple of quick shots and a safe release.

 This was one of the more disappointing storms for us (fishing wise) but in the end it turned out to be a hell of an adventure anyways. That's the one of the perks about living in Florida, you never know what will you are going to see.

 Until next time.....Team Rebel out!

- Also, to anybody who is expecting a landfall from this monstrosity of a storm, be safe, be prepared, and we here at Team Rebel wish you the best! Goodluck, and see you all on the otherside.

The Sour Taste of Summer

 As we quickly near the annual kick-off of Florida's dreaded hurricane season, the fishing is starting to heat up quickly, along with the asphalt that is now hot enough to fry an egg on, thus signifying that summer is in full swing here in South Florida. Along with summer, some of the lucky ones get to indulge in three month long vacations and all the other benefits that come along with being young still. So to sample the temperate waters, Viktor headed north in search of the somewhat absent Lemon shark to kick off the summer festivities.

 Viktor arrived at location-x at about 2 p.m. to prepare for the tide switch that would be occurring in the next hour or so. And as quickly as he got there, his shark baits were soaking a short time after as visions of large sharks swam in the waters of his day dreams in anticipation of the bite.

After a couple hours time, and a few pesky black-tip bites on his baits, Viktor was soon hooked up to a decent fish that was landed after about a ten minute battle. The fish was quickly subdued and left in the wash from the waves while the hook was removed from this nice Lemon Shark.

 

After a quick Removal of the D-D Extreme Tackle hook, the shark was back on its merry way, to keep terrorizing the surf zones of the North, as the mating season for the Lemon Shark is nearing fast.

 

 Not to bad for an impromptu trip, congratulations to Viktor on yet another fine catch, and a great way to kick-off the summer season of fishing for him. At least now, the sour taste of summer has been taken from all of our mouths...

Until next time....

Team Rebel Out!

This Fish was safely caught and released on a DD Extreme Tackle Shark Rig!!

"We're Back! Osama Death Day Bait Bonanza!"

   Wow! it has been a long time since we have reported in, I fell I'll for the better part of the last month and am finally back at 100 percent and ready to wage a war on the fish of Florida. But a lot has changed since last season, people have come and gone and others you cant rely on, so its time to get a little bit of fresh life in Team Rebel, so a couple of new recruits have been brought in to see if they have what it takes and the drive to defy death in a lot of cases and become part of the metal militia that is Team Rebel.

  Sunday night, as me and Cody were preparing to head north on a bait gathering trip to continue our relentless pursuit of land-based big game, we heard the GREAT news of the timely demise of the infamous Osama Bin Laden, so we have therefore dedicated this report to his death like any good American would!

  We geared up and hit the highway at the crack of dawn to see if we couldn't round up a plethora of fresh jacks to hunt some Icthyans later in the week, but we were in fact met by rough seas at the legendary Juno pier, but still the ocean was pretty active, as large swarms of jacks made their way between the rolling waves just east of the "T". We sprung into action and nabbed about four ranging between 13-25lbs before the tide became low, the wind died down and the sea again became a wasteland.

   Hours passed with nothing to show but a brutal sunburn and our bait that we were trying to preserve under the shade of the fillet table with a moist autographed and personalized Guy Harvey T-shirt due to the mis-communication and lack of sleep from our celebrating the night before, we somehow managed to leave the giant cooler back at Shark Command Central, so we had to make due. Out of no where a football field sized school of silver mullet came barreling through the surf around 4 p.m. and with the lack of bait at the pier we sprung into action and were able to snag 5 lunker sized baits before the pod moved out, thus securing our bait for the waning hours of the day.

   The action was slow and the pier began to crowd, but Cody insisted on placing a 12inch mullet out on his trolly rig to see what would come up for the offering, I was skeptical at first but within twenty minutes of the initial soak, I heard a loud explosion and some other fisherman begin to shout. I leaned over the railing to see a large king-fish about 15ft out of the water with Codys mullet lodged between its razor teeth. Cody sprung into action and after a little bit of a fight and some nice tangles, Cody put this stud king on the deck.

   I was now a believer of the power of the mullet for the day, and with less than an hour until the closing of the pier I took our last mullet and deployed it down my rarely used trolly line. The mullet quickly swam down the line and away from the pier, but within a minute of the large bait leaving our view, the mullet came barreling back at the pier with a green fast moving king-fish chasing it like it was a SCUD missile. The explosion happened just a few feet from the pier and another nice hookup was solidified, and after a brief battle I put another nice king on the deck.

The action was fast but nobody else was landing any on X-raps, so Cody made a reach for our last live bait which was a runner that had been fished 4 times in the past few hours and was barely kicking. Cody was still motivated and slid it down the line with less than ten minutes left until the pier closed and the threats of Sheriffs coming to "take us off" the pier were echoed through the loudspeaker. Within two minutes of the broken blue runner hitting the water, the reel let out yet another hellacious cry and Cody was bowed up once again. He had to rush the fish to the pier as it was literally closing, and with a quick shot on the gaff another nice king hit the deck.

   We quickly gathered up our catch with our tackle haning and dragging off us looking like a giant moving birdsnest and made our way off the pier. For the first trip with Cody it went better than planned, we got a ton of fresh shark bait and got three stud kings while the rest of the pier got blanked on this day. I am looking forward to getting back into the game now as I feel the groove is finally swinging in my favor for the first time this season, so while we are feeling lucky, we are headed in search of giants...

      Until Next Time....God Bless America

  and

     Team Rebel Out!!