Fishing the Flats with Henry Waszczuk
Fishing the flats in Florida used to be a frustrating experience for me. For one thing, that crazy Florida weather played havoc with my plans. One minute it’s fair, the next minute a thunderstorm has moved in, and has settled down for hours. All I wanted to do was fish the flats in peace.
Waszczuk is an unlikely provider of fishing the flats TV. Born in England in 1950, he crossed the pond with his family as a toddler. Football was his first love, playing for Kent State, and later professionally, before setting down to teach high school Science for a decade or so. It was around this time he began fishing the flats in Florida and elsewhere.
The appeal of fly fishing the flats is easy to understand. Perched on a fishing platform on a typical shallow water skiff, an angler first of all takes in great scenery. To fish the flats means to enjoy the peace of the Florida shoreline, with miles of salt marshes, native birds and swaying pine trees.
Low tide will find you in 12 inches of water, staring down into a sandy bottom thatched with turtle grass, or a muddy bottom dotted with manatee grass. Either way, the fish will be darting around, hunting baitfish, or in cool weather sunning themselves against the sand. He who would fish the flats in search of redfish will do best with an 8-weight rod, with a floating line.
When fishing the flats in Florida, the choices of site are endless. If you don’t want to worry about tides, you could fish the flats around Mosquito Lagoon, or the Banana River Lagoon. This area is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, world famous for its redfish.
What about further afield? Fishing the flats TV seeks bonefish in the Bahamas, an outsize specimen called roosterfish in the exotic environs of Costa Rica, and shark, of all things, in Long Island, Bahamas. Fishing the flat marshy waters of Louisiana is an unforgettable experience, poling a skiff along back waters dimmed and darkened by Spanish moss draped trees.
Exotic locals alone do not make for riveting Fishing the flats TV. Your host, Henry Waszczuk, also provides knowledgeable guidance on gear. What kind of skiff is required to fish the flats of St. Augustine for flounder, for example? What kind of rod is best, what kind of line, what kind of lure?
So, to sum up, once I figured out that the best fishing is usually when the tide is coming in or out, fishing the flat waters around my home has become a blast.