On the 12th I fished Naples beach in the morning.
The beachwaters had cleared after days of westerly winds.
There was still not much bait on the shores and no working birds to be seen for miles.
At 09:00 I had seen no fish so I got some coffee from the consession stand.
As I walked on the pier I could see some huge snook coming in. After my coffeebreak I fished the shoreline and was able to make some casts to passing Snook.
The Snook where to wary, only fish followed the fly.

I left the beach skunked so in the afternoon I headed for Lake Avalon to catch some fish.
I skipped the lake and fished one of the back creeks/canals.


Canal behind the lake.

As usual there was lot of life in the canal.
Mullets where jumping, baitfish where fleeing in the shallows and all the blue crabs where wandering along the shoreline.
Those crabs surely liked the black clouser I was fishing because they went for it as it passed over them.


Blue crabs in the canal

It did not take long before I had my first Mayan cichlid on the clouser.
Pretty strong fish for their seize, next time I come down I have to take the four weight with me.
I guess Mayan cichlids are on of the prettiest fish I have encountered in the freshwater since I have been here.



Mayan cichlids.

So the Mayans saved my day again.
The small Snook did not let me down either, many of them where
lurking for bait just in the shallows.
In an hour or two I had caught several Mayans and Snook on the
black clouser.




Small Snook from the canal.

My fishing session was cut short by a typical Florida downpour that had me scrambling for cover as the heavenly sluicegates opened.
Once I reached safety I was already soaked.


Start of the downpour.

I sheltered in one of the pavilions at the lake when lightning just struck behind me.
It was pretty close as I could feel the pressurewave, very scary...
The heavy rains lasted more than 45 minutes, it was dark as I left the park amidst light rain.
It was a great day except for that lightningstrike off course.

Great report as usual