Thursday, December 6th, 2012

'Loaded up my gear and headed over the Skyway this morning to try out my friend DTB's secret spot on the south shore of Tampa Bay. I launched at Bishop's harbor and started the long paddle to the location. Along the way I threw my topwater spook and in a spot that was previously productive for me, got a nice hook-up. At first I thought it was a redfish, but as it got closer saw that it was a nice gator trout that measured in at 22".

I spent the next hour and a half consulting my google maps app and paddling around in complete frustration. I did, however, paddle through some really interesting water.

Eventually, I located DTB's secret spot and started casting, alternating between a Yozuri Crystal Minnow and a Flat Rap.

About 10 minutes in, the Flat Rap got a good solid take, and after a nice fight with some drag pulling, I brought a 23" redfish to hand.

At this point I knew it was inevitable that I would get a slam today, as the whole purpose of coming to DTB's secret spot was for the incredible snook bite. After a bit of fan casting, I located a school of small snook and in the next hour, caught 16 of them, with the largest coming in at a perfect 24".

Today's slam went: 22" trout, 23" red, and 24" snook, in that order. Pretty cool, and enough to win a lot of tournaments.

Here is what is left of the Flat Rap:

October 7, 2012

Kelly and I loaded up and rode out to Ft. Desoto together, launching by 7:00am.

It was a gorgeous morning to be on the water.

Straight off the bat, we paddled back to Snook Island, hoping to get a red or snook on the early morning bite. We stopped briefly at Carrabas and had some good follows from redfish, but no takers. 

Snook Island and the surrounding waters were really quiet for the first hour or so, so quiet, in fact, that I  was starting to think we should cut our losses and move out. Right about that time, Kelly caught his first fish, a nice snook on a Spook Jr.

A short time later, he caught a trout, leaving him with only a redfish left to complete the slam.

Meanwhile, I had caught two trout on soft plastics, and was back to throwing my Badonkadonk. I had drifted right up to the edge of Shell Key preserve, so I anchored up and started fanning out casts. A short time later, I caught a nice 21" redfish.

After this red, I had three more blow-ups from reds, so I waved Kelly over and we started slaying 'em.

I caught another in the same size, and then Kelly got his red, also on the Spook Jr. By 8:30am, he had his slam:

We hung out in this spot for another twenty minutes, each of us losing out a a number of reds, but then the bite died and we paddled out.

From there we went out to the major flat adjacent to Bunce's Pass and chucked a variety of artificials. Kelly added another two to three trout, and I think I notched another as well. We each caught a couple of pinfish which we then cut up for sharking.

Our first shark, however, was not a shark. It was a big ass bull red on the end of Kelly's line:

We continued to soak baits, with each of us bringing two sharks to the boat, all of them bonnetheads. It was a drag screaming good time.

*We also added in a "trash can slam" each, catching a catfish, pinfish, and lizardfish. I actually caught a trash can grand slam, adding a needlefish to my list. 

Sunday, July 8th, 2012

Kelly and I had an unusually smooth transition from pick-up to coffee to launch. We were on the water by 6:15am in anticipation of a 6:45am sunrise. We tried a couple of quick shots along the way, but mostly focused on paddling to our new spot, "Carrabas." 

We paddled until we found a few mullet schools, then started casting. I was throwing my SheDog early on, and after a few blow-ups, hooked up with a 20" trout. Kelly picked up a trout along the way as well.

We fished the mullet schools pretty hard until they dispersed into smaller groups, then started blind casting around the activity.  I worked a spot to the east while Kelly fished a spot to the west. I was able to hook up with a ladyfish on topwater, but the area I was in was too weedy, so I paddled over to Kelly's spot. He said he had caught a nice red in the area he was in, and was in the process of cutting up a big pinfish he had caught on his Spook.

I started pitching a gold spoon in the same area, and a few casts later got a big hit and hooked up with a nice red. He tried to drag me toward a piling out in the channel, but I tightened down my drag and used a free hand to paddle backwards away from the obstacle. Soon I had the red boatside.

A short time later, Kelly caught a big old stinky catfish on his cut bait. After freshening the bait, he got a big tug and had a solid fight on. A few minutes later he had a true slobberknocker of a redfish in his hands, a 28" behemoth.

At that point we decided to move, as we were running out of water at Carrabas. On our way to the channel I saw some commotion and threw my badonk-a-donk topwater toward it. The lure got slammed and a fish jumped out of the water. On the second jump I knew I had a snook on the line, and jumped out of my kayak to finish the fight. A few moments later I had the snook and hand and had completed my first every saltwater slam. It was a long time coming...

We finished the afternoon on Bunce's pass throwing everything we had at some bait schools. Kelly and I both picked up a trout or two and Kelly tried to pick up one of the bonnethead sharks cruising around, but by then it was 90 something degrees and it was time to get off the water.

We were due to have an epic day, and today proved to be the one. Great weather, wind, and a decent tide produced a good bite. I've the the fishing bug something fierce now.