January 1st, 2012

For some time, my barber, Don, has been urging me to fish the Cross Bayou Canal for snook. He's had a lot of success there, fishing mostly with a "Flat Rap" and has the pictures to prove it -- photo after photo of big ass snook.

With my bi-weekly fishing trip arriving and Kelly out of town, I decided to take my dad out with me in search of the elusive snook. I tried to keep my expectations down, but with stories from Don of regularly catching over a dozen snook per trip, I was feeling pretty positive that this was going to be a good day. Add to that a decent tide, a nice warm day, and an impending front, and the stars seemed aligned for success.

Dad and I launched at around 7:00am, just after sunrise.

The launch is decent, not much room to work with, but deep water from the start. We paddled up through the mangroves until we got into the actual canal, then pointed our yaks north for our destination. We stopped in a few spots along the way, fishing both the Park Street and Park Boulevard bridges without success. I was throwing a topwater, and I had hooked my dad up with a Yo-zuri crystal minnow and a jighead/shad tail combo.

The water was very clear, but there was a surprising amount of trash caught up in the mangroves and floating in the water. Since there didn't seem to be many people out there, it was hard to tell where it was coming from.

After about a thirty minute paddle, we came up on the bayou we wanted to fish. Dad and I started fishing the shoreline, both of us throwing Yo-zuri's and working them back to the yak. At some point Dad got a snag and drifted off the shoreline while I continued on.

About two dozen casts in, I was beginning to get a little frustrated, and starting to second guess my lure, my technique, and so on, but pushed on. Dad, in the meantime, had drifted out into the middle of the bayou and was lighting up the ladyfish. He was on some big breeders, and they were screaming drag, jumping and pulling for the deep. His first three casts netted three fish to the yak.

Shortly after, I got my first hit and was happy to see the fish come to the surface and tail-walk across the water. I saw the telltale black line along the side of the fish and knew I had my first snook. Boatside, it was only about 15", but I was psyched to get the skunk off and my first snook of the year after not catching a single one in 2011.

I kept hearing splashing and commotion as I was fishing the shoreline, but each time I turned around, it was just my dad hooking in to another ladyfish. Soon after, I would get a blazing hit that would tear some line off my reel, and I was sure I had another snook on, but it was one of dad's ladyfish that had ventured closer to shore. Fifty yards down the shore, I would get another hit, and this time it was the real deal--my second snook of the day, a cookie cutter version of the first.

By 10:30, I had fished a good 2/3 of the shoreline and was getting antsy to try another spot that Don had suggested, so I convinced my dad to paddle on, but not before he had boated his 20th ladyfish (not counting those that self-released). Interestingly, though the water was quiet and full of nothing but trash when we paddled in, it had now come alive with hundreds of mullet.

Our paddle out also showed signes of life, with more mullet and a dozen or so sheepshead spotted. Toward the Park Boulevard bridge, I saw something big -- either a tarpon or huge snook -- busting bait out of the water. Naturally, whatever it was didn't want our offerings.

We fished the last hour in a side creek off the bayou with limited success. Dad caught another ladyfish and spooked a big snook. I caught another small snook after a perfectly placed cast got underneath the mangroves. It was a red jighead/gulp combo, which I think got hit more out of a reaction than anything. I lost that snook at boatside, but it was the same size as the others.

On our way out, I threw my Yo-zuri in a deep hole and finally got a big snook on the line, but it threw the lure on its first jump. My next cast netted another ladyfish, and so we called it a day.


Great day on the water, fun to get my dad out with me and to see him light up some fish. Here's hoping to a mild winter and a good year of fishing.

December 14th, 2011

Kelly and I hit the Rally for coffee and a donut before heading down the road to the 4^th Street launch. We were paddling away a short time later, just at first light—about 6:30am.

Both Kelly and I had been anticipating this trip for two weeks. After such a huge day our last time out, we were eager to see if the gator trout and reds would still be at the Backyard. Add to the mix that the moon and tide were just right, the wind was down, and that a high pressure front was coming through later that afternoon, and you can imagine our anticipation. The recipe was right.

The water was calm but not glassy, and surprisingly quiet. No mullet jumping, no signs of bait, and the birds were still roosting in the mangroves. Just south of Steve’s Hole we saw some mullet moving along the shoreline and threw a couple of topwaters, but after a few casts and not a hit, we paddled on to the Courtyard.

At the Courtyard, Kelly went around behind a mangrove island and anchored up, and I drifted in toward the same spot and threw my super spook. Right around the same hole where I caught a trout and red last time, I got a couple of follows and short strikes, but no real commitments and no hook-ups.

As I drifted around the backside of the island, I heard Kelly let out shout and saw his rod bent over. A short time later he brought a nice trout to hand. Moments later, a fish crushed my topwater lure, and I brought in a 19” trout. Then, just as I released my fish, I hear Kelly’s drag going off and I can see that he’s got a heavy fish on, so I paddle over to see him pull in a fat 24” redfish. Not only was he happy to catch the red, but he caught both fish on a gold spoon.

Side note: Both Kelly and I spend a lot of time reading fishing reports, blogs, and anything else about catching fish in our area. From time to time we’ll read a report where some guy has caught a crap load of redfish throwing a gold spoon. So naturally, Kelly and I both had bought gold spoons, but neither of us had ever caught a thing using them. This morning, Kelly had committed to throwing a gold spoon, so catching a trout and a red back-to-back was pretty significant and interesting to both him and me.

We might have stayed in the Courtyard longer, but after getting the skunk off, we were pretty anxious to head over to the Backyard, so we paddled off. A few minutes later we drifted in and set up exactly where we had been just two weeks before.

Ten casts later, we were scratching our heads. Not a bite. No action. Kelly was alternating between a spook and his spoon, and I was alternating casting a spook and a 1/8^th chartreuse jighead with a DOA shad tail.

We kept at it, and I don’t know who hooked up first, but we spent the next hour catching fish at a pretty steady clip. I caught five trout, the shortest at 18” and the biggest at 22”. My biggest trout came on the jighead/shad tail combo. I also got into a school of small reds, catching three. Kelly also brought in 5 more trout, all in the same size range, and another rat red. We also both had notable big misses. I had a big fish hit my topwater like a bomb going off, but missed the hookset, and Kelly had a fish on that took off like a rocket and was screaming drag, only to have his loop knot fail. Unfortunately, he lost his bone colored spook as a result. That thing had caught a lot of fish.

The tide changed over and the wind died shortly after, and with it, so did the bite. We kept fishing pretty hard, but didn’t bring another fish to hand. I did scout out a nearby area that looks great for redfish, and both Kelly and I spooked a bunch of reds, but they weren’t really biting.

I didn’t take any photos of my fish, but I did take some video of most of them. Upon looking back at the footage, I noted that several of the fish were lacking in the girth of the fish from two weeks ago. I’m taking this as a good sign that they have dropped their eggs. November and December are closed to trout harvesting for this reason—they are spawning, and to take a fish with roe is like taking 100 fish. There is talk of opening up the trout season to harvesting year ‘round, and for the sake of the fishery (and common sense) I hope the measure is dropped.

December 4, 2011

Kelly and I met up at the Rally on 4th Street at around 6:15am, got our coffee and donut, and shot down the road to the 4th Street launch at the Howard Frankland.

Our goal today was to redeem ourselves at the Courtyard, and after loading up the yaks, we paddled out. The wind was not too bad to start, maybe 7-8mph, but within twenty minutes, it was over 10 and it would steadily increase throughout the day.We stopped a few times to throw the spook at our usual haunts, but we couldn't even muster a hit.

We finally paddled up on the Courtyard and after rounding the mangroves, got a respite from the wind. Kelly and I set up about 50 yards apart and started a slow drift as the incoming tide pushed us in. I alternated throwing a weedless DOA shad tail and my spook topwater. Kelly worked topwater exclusively.

I fanned casts out 360 degrees around me, just prospecting. After about 10 minutes, I got my first hit in the middle of the Courtyard. The fish missed the hit, but I kept at it and after a couple more blow-ups, finally connected with a nice 24" redfish. Interestingly, it had one spot on one side, and two on the other

At 24", he was right in the middle of the slot, so I put him in my cold bag and stashed him in the hatch of the yak. Kelly had paddled around to take the photo of my red, so I pointed him in the right direction and we both started throwing spooks in area where I had hooked up. A few casts later, I had a truly enormous redfish take my lure and run for the hills. I held on and got him turned, only to have the hook pull.

There was much cursing.

Kelly and I paddled over to another part of the Courtyard, but couldn't get a bite. The whole time there were pelicans diving back over where I had hooked up with the red, so we paddled back over, and in short time I caught a 20" beauty of a trout.

After a few more casts, we decided to paddle off to a new location that I will now call the Backyard. I'd been eying the spot on Google Earth for some time, and it didn't disappoint. I trolled the weedless DOA shad tail on the way in, and as I paused to throw my first topwater, I heard my rod bump around in the rod holder and the fight was on. To my surprise, I would pull in my second 20"+ trout of the day:

Kelly and I set up in the Backyard and started throwing topwater. The bites came fast and furious. I would soon pick up another 24" trout on topwater, and then another that was the biggest I've ever caught, a truly epic fish that unfortunately, I forgot to measure.

In the meantime, Kelly had at least a dozen blow ups on his spook without a single hook-up. I started making fun of him and eased up on my casting to get him in the zone. Just as his inability to hook-up bordered on the absurd, he finally got lit up by a 20"+ trout.

We would continue casting in the Backyard for another hour, and Kelly added three more gator trout and I added two. He topped off the session with a nice redfish around 27". Not included in that total were at least a half dozen big trout and reds that came unbuttoned after hooking up. Keep in mind that we were working the topwaters in a half-foot of chop, so imagine what might have happened in better conditions.

As we paddled back toward the launch, we both were just stunned by the quality of the trout that we had caught. To catch one gator trout can make your day. To catch ten or so between the two of us made our year.

We stopped in Steve's Hole on the way back where I caught three more under-slot trout on the DOA shad tail, then we finally got off the water.

Epic.

November 19th, 2011

I had been looking forward to fishing all week, partly because I had missed fishing last weekend due to a bad cold, and partly because I had just bought a new (used) kayak from my neighbor, Bruce. I debuted my Ocean Kayak Trident this morning at 7:00, just as the sun was beginning to rise. I'll leave the description and yak comparison for another entry so we can move along to the fishing.

Kelly and I had committed this morning to paddle out to a new spot he's dubbed "The Courtyard." The last time he had fished it, he had caught three redfish in short time, so I was onboard for some tailers. The tide was high and there was a nice cloud cover as we paddled out. The wind would increase throughout the day, starting around 10mph and peaking around 15mph.

Once we reached the Courtyard, we both started throwing our topaters--Kelly his bone Spook and me...well...I was throwing a super ugly Mirrolure She Dog that one of the guys at Mastry's had convinced me to buy. After Kelly caught three gator trout to my none, I switched back over to my bone spook.

It was really fishy back in the courtyard, but nothing was biting. I liked the protection from the wind and the nice muddy bottom, which is good for the fish to warm up on over the winter. The bugs were pretty horrendous, though.

After not getting any bites for a couple of hours, I told Kelly we had to paddle back to our usual haunts so that I could get the skunk off my new yak. We stopped in what we call "Steve's Hole" and I caught three trout on back to back casts, and the yak was officially a catching kayak. I paddled back to catch up with Kelly, and he had reeled in a nice flounder.

We made a quick run down to the Redfish Hole and caught a couple of trout, then back up to the Howard Frankland underpass, where we split up. I went over to one of my good producing spots and caught ten trout on topwater and popping cork with live shrimp, then got off the water.

Kelly stayed out a bit longer and netted a few more trout, and we probably caught over 20 between the two of us, but the reds eluded us for this day.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Location: 4^th Street

Tide: Outgoing

I was on the water by 7:15 this morning, and the first guy out. I couldn’t blame everyone for getting a later start, the wind was 15mph with gusts to 20mph, and it was a little over 60 degrees.

I fished two rods today, one with a Zara Spook and the other with a popping cork and circle hook for chucking live shrimp. My other pole is at the shop to have a guide replaced.

My first stop was at the south end of the Howard Frankland overpass. I anchored up in a spot where I could cast to the right at the rubble that runs along the seawall around the bridge, and to the left at a flat that always seems to be popping with action.

I alternated throwing shrimp and topwater, but it was the shrimp that performed best at first. On consecutive casts near the bridge, I caught a 15” trout, another 15” trout, a 15” redfish, and followed that up with a 16” flounder.

When that spot cooled off, I switched over to throwing at the flat, and caught twelve more trout on both shrimp and topwater, the largest going 18 inches. I might have continued catching them all day, but a dolphin came in and scattered the school, so I packed up and paddled off to the next spot.

Next stop was the westernmost point of the mangroves where a couple of creeks come in. I put my first cast right over a submerged oyster bar, and after a couple of pops, the cork went under and the line came tight on a real drag screaming fish. Five minutes later, I brought to hand my personal best redfish to date, a 24” one spot beauty. A manatee came by to see what all the commotion was, and hung out with me for about five minutes while I was fishing.

I kept at it in the same spot, and managed two more 15” trout, but overall the location was not what it was the last time Kelly and I were out, so I moved on.

The paddle was a bear getting back, waves crashing over the bow and the wind full in my face. I anchored up on the north side of the overpass and threw my topwater for awhile, but nothing doing. I tossed a few more shrimp and hooked up with another trout, but I wasn’t really feeling the spot, so I went back to the south side of the overpass to see if the trout were still around.

I anchored up and threw shrimp out over the flat. I brought in a 15” trout first, and then followed it up with a 20” gator trout that put up a hell of a fight. To my count, I was up to 19 trout on the day, so I decided I’d stick it out until I caught the twentieth. Instead, I caught six ladyfish. It was a bummer to not hit that 20 mark, but I didn’t have much to complain about at that point.

I was off the water at 1:00pm and there were still fish busting everywhere.

October 16, 2011

Location: 4^th Street

Tide: Outgoing

The wind was blowing hard out of the northeast this morning, averaging around 10mph with gusts to 15mph. For this reason, and because of a tide that wouldn’t have worked at Ft. Desoto, Kelly and I launched at 4^th Street this morning, just as the sky was starting to lighten.

We paddled out and set up our first spot just past the Howard Frankland. For most of the day, I threw my Spook Jr. and a popping cork with live shrimp. I’m not normally a big bait fisherman, but with the weather so bad, we decided to pick up a few dozen shrimp at I.C. Sharks before going out.

The first spot netted me a trout on topwater and a trout on shrimp. Kelly had paddled up further, and I caught up with him on the southern flat just outside of “The Cut.” I had a few hits there on shrimp, but no takers.

We spent the next hour on a full-out assault of The Cut. I anchored up in a good spot out of the wind and casted my popping cork and shrimp in and around a bunch of glass minnows that were raining on the surface. This technique picked me up another dink trout and a big grunt.

We started to drift out of the cut at that point, and Kelly finally got the skunk off his yak by hooking up with a ladyfish.

As we exited the cut, I drifted a shrimp off the back of the yak while throwing a topwater off the front. The typical walk-the-dog action wasn’t really enticing the fish today, so I tried to mix it up by really crashing the lure through the chop. On my first try with this new retrieve, I saw a big tail come out of the water right behind my lure, which was immediately followed with a crushing hit.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

My drag was signing at the fish took off full speed in the opposite direction. I scrambled to get my other rod and bait bucket out of the water before the fish tangled up in it. After two more drag-burning runs, I got the fish close enough for a look, and was pretty sure it was a juvenile tarpon. Moments later, the fish gave up and I saw that it was a HUGE Spanish mackerel, the biggest I’ve ever seen.

I was looking at all those teeth and wondering how to get my lure back when the line suddenly went slack and my lure drifted to the surface. I looked at the hooks and saw they were all bent to hell, with one of them nearly straightened. I didn’t mind too much that I lost the fish—the fight was so good that the hero shot would have just been gravy.

We continued to drift the flat all the way down to our Tarpon hole, where we anchored up for a few casts. Nothing doing there, we paddled down to the westernmost end of the mangroves where a creek flows into the bay. There were a ton of fish in there, and Kelly and I lit up the dink trout, baby reds and ladyfish. I caught four ladyfish and two or three more trout. I only caught one red, maybe 15”, but it felt awesome to pull a red in.

It was past noon at that point, so we packed up paddled back to the launch. Not a bad day, considering the weather. I ended up with 5 trout, 4 ladyfish, a redfish and an epic Spanish Mack.

October 12, 2011

Location: Coffee Pot Bayou

Tide: Dead Low

I went out for an hour and a half tonight and hit spots down the seawall from the Vinoy Basin all the way to the pullout at Coffee Pot Bayou. I was throwing a Zara Spook Jr. the whole time, and didn't net a single hit.

The good news is that the snook were stacked up in Coffee Pot. I saw at least two per dock, and at the Crescent Lake outflow, watched two high school kids reel in three snook in a row under a green dock light. They were throwing silver dollar size greenbacks. A higher tide and a Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow, and I'll be in business.

All the snook I saw were between 20 and 24 inches, which is the first stock of juveniles coming back after the freeze two years ago. It's good to see the snook population coming back.