Read more about the FWC meeting and the new regulations set to go into effect on Jan 1st, 2012 by clicking on the picture link below.

And again, a big shout out to everybody who helped make this possible! Thanks again for your support!

 A long endless year of heat here in Florida this year has been more unbearable than ever before, mostly due to the fact that this may be the worst year of fishing I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes. But there has been a couple of bright spots during the course of the seemingly endless purgatory of fishless-ness, and this report is one of our best moments of the year.

   The heat index was hovering around 109 degrees, with the humidity in the air being so thick, it makes even the simplest of tasks a burden this time of year. But even with the scarcness of good angling, and the stiffling heat, Brendon made the phone call to me asking if I would like to join in on a trip to a legendary wade fishing spot of ours, which i graciously accepted.

   We got our gear set and hit the water at around 1 P.M. not knowing what to expect, as many of our trips to this honey hole of ours have left us heart broken, or heading home empty handed throughout the course of the year. But after leaving the spot alone for over a month, and the mullet starting to make their annual migration in the area, it renewed our hope that maybe something would be different on this trip.

   We set up our customary base camp in the normal spot, and began the task of rounding up some mullet to prepare to fish the tide change. Luckily for us, there was mullet swarming the surrounding flats, so it was a nice change of pace, as we have had to fight tooth and nail just to be able to obtain bait this year. After about twenty minutes, we had all the bait we needed for the afternoon, so we began drifting the 12inch mullet down current towards the edge of the now grassy flat.

  Just like the rest of the year, hours went by of standing in the luke warm water, without a bite, or a sign of life to be seen anywhere. Needless to say, morale was low yet again, and it wasn't looking to promising just like all the previous trips to the flat during the year. That was until Brendon began retrieving his mullet and prepare for another drift. Brendons massive mullet was about a foot and a half from where he stood in a little more than ankle deep water, when I looked over toward him to check out what he was up to, when I noticed a large black shadow raising up just a couple of feet away from him at the end of the flat. In a split second, there was a massive eruption just inches from Brendons feet, and his rod was bowed over as far is it could bend, all while he was trying to regain his footing and composure in a frenzied state of panic. Mud was being thrown all over the shallow flat everywhere the fish traveled, and amongst the massive boils I could see shades of green and yellow, indicating it was the fish we had been looking for all season long.

   The battle raged on for a few minutes, before the fish had finally wore itself out enough to be chased down on the flat so it could be landed. I grabbed the fish, while still leaving it submerged, and yelled for brendon to grab his phone to take a picture of the beast he had just beaten in the shallow water, and what a nice fish it was.

   After a couple of quick pictures, Brendon placed the big snook back into the water, and began to walk her down the flat to let her recuperate after the vicious shallow water battle, before she shook once violently and slowly cruise off the flat back to her home in the channel.

  It was nice to see not all hope has been lost for the remainder of the year, and with a little bit of luck, and a much needed boost to our morale, maybe we can end the year of 2011 strong. Great job on a trophy wade fishing Snook Brendon, and hopefully it will be the first of many more to come.

So until next time....Team Rebel Out!

  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. 

 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!

    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.

  Dorien Schroder, team leader, described to the Cape Times what happened next: "Next thing I know I hear a splash, and see a white shark breach out of the water from [the] side of the boat hovering, literally, over the crew member who was chumming on the port side."

 The shark was kept alive for almost an hour with the use of a raw water hose, while a crane was dispatched to the location to help raise the shark off the vessel and release it back into the water, where it will now continue to terrorize the local seal population.

Huffington Post

  We arrived at the beach a couple hour before sundown, with the conditions less than favorable for snook on the fly, but Chris was determined to try to show me the benefits of using the fly rod for snook in the surf, as I myself am not particularly into the fly-fishing scene. After walking the weed laden beach for the better part of half a mile without seeing too many snook, but that all changed in an instant when we stumbled upon a pod of hungry snook feeding on some very small sardines. Chris loaded up the rod and slung his clauser minnow against the wind and began to navigate the fly with precision between the floating sargassum, when all of a sudden he rose the rod quickly in a vulgar display of power, and the battle was on.

  The fish took multiple blistering runs taking Chris into the backing of his fly reel, but after a short time and some crafty work with the rod, he landed this beautiful, overslot, summer surf snook.

So after a few quick pictures,Chris sent the stout female back to the depths to continue its spawning regimen, and to help repopulate the snook stock that has taken a large hit in recent years due to our unusually cold winters as of late.

Chris decided he was going to take one more shot at another snook before we had to make the hike back to the truck, and I tentatively agree to the motion put forth. And after another cast, Chris was bowed up yet again, but this time to a smaller specimen. But shortly after the initial hook-up, Chris felt a hard "thump" on the other end of his line, and line began peeling off his fly reel at an alarming rate for a few moments before the line went slack again. Chris reeled in his line to find a small snook attached to the end with its tail missing from a fresh shark bite.

 As we made our way back up the beach to the truck, I realized that maybe there is some advantages to using fly-rods on the beach, as it seemed to me that the fish responded better to a small fly, than lures you can use with regular fishing gear. All I know is that I will definitely be back on the sand soon with Chris, and maybe, just maybe, wielding a fly-rod and cruising down the beach in search of a Snook fly by.

Until next time....Team Rebel out!

     "Backyard Waters is a revolutionary new web series, where your host, Zakk Miller will travel abroad to investigate the species living in your local waterways , all while giving the ordinary fishing show a fresh spin with a metal edge on it and a never ending quest to help understand and protect the species he encounters along with his crew of professional anglers . Join us as Zakk will get to the bottom of what may be lurking just out of sight, right outside your door, because after all, everywhere is somebody's backyard..."

While we ready the first episode for its premiere, here is a SMALL teaser of what is on the horizon, so sit down, Beast up, and keep checking back for updates on the new series and website either here or on our Facebook page.

 These are the two largest Hammerhead Sharks ever caught from shore, both were safely caught and released on BullBuster Line!   

Click on the BullBuster spool below to visit the BullBuster website!

 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!!