Sunday, October 21, 2012

Kelly and I met up at 6:30am at the Bunce's Pass launch at Ft. Desoto. I was surprised to see at least a dozen other kayakers loading up their gear to paddle out. I can only assume there was some sort of tournament. That said, Kelly and I were able to launch first, and headed straight back to Snook Island to catch the last of the high tide.

The air and water were crystal clear. You could see stars in the sky and bioluminescent plankton in the water. I took the photo below just as the sky was starting to lighten up. You can see the Skyway in the distance.

We tried a few casts at Carrabas on the way in, and though Kelly had a few blow-ups on topwater, there were not connections. (I should pause here to say that Kelly's topwater Skitterwalk out-fished my topwater efforts at least 6-0.)

Out past Snook Island, there was little going on. There was very little activity, and what activity I could see was masked by the waves on the water. We fished the Snook Island area for a good 45 minutes to an hour before giving up. I managed a trout on a jig head/rootbeer shrimp tail combo. Kelly, to this point, was skunked.

We paddled back out via Carrabas and began paddling toward a big school of mullet that was jumping out of the main flat. Once we reached the school, Kelly was able to land a trout on topwater. A short time later, I caught a 22" red on the same jig/tail combo. We continued our drift toward the ATZ (Angry Trout Zone), and Kelly continued to pick up a trout here and there while I managed just a pinfish (which I kept for later).

I did spook a small school of reds on my drift, and Kelly, on a different drift, was able to bring one to the yak with the Skitterwalk.

We continued to drift and anchor intermittently, with Kelly adding another few trout to his tally. I was struggling to get a good hit on anything. We tried the main flat adjacent to Bunce's pass, but the wind was making it difficult. We finally anchored up over by some potholes and Kelly chucked his topwater while I tossed out a half a pinfish under a cork.

A short time later I got a good hit and hook-up with a fish that was zig-zagging crazily across the flat. I called it a Spanish Mackerel, but as I got it to the yak I saw that it was actually a juvenile Barracuda at about 15". I didn't really want to boat him, and thankfully, he shook the hook just as I reached for the leader.

We paddled back a short time later, ready to get out of the wind. Considering the weak tide and windy conditions, we did fairly well on the day.

October 11th, 2012

Got out solo this morning, good and early. The sun was just clearing the mangroves as I launched. This photo shows the calmest the water was all day. 

I started out trying to throw topwater, and did finally manage to catch a very fat trout in the 20" range on my She Dog. It was far too choppy to throw the Badonkadonk today. I had a number of near-misses after that, including a big fish that hit my She Dog so hard it launched two feet in the air.

I switched over to a jig head with a Cotee grub tail in rootbeer (it was the default, after failing to restock my other tails). I caught two more trout on this combo, both just under the slot.

The wind had really picked up at that point, and I could see the mullet and other baitfish getting pushed up against the mangroves, so I paddled over and anchored up. As I did, a charter boat came and anchored up just out of casting distance from me. Rude.

Fortunately, I'd get the last laugh, hooking up with a nice 22" redfish right where the grass line met the sand.

 The wind was peaking at that point, and the tide was nearly at its highest, so I paddled over to Snook Island to try and complete my slam. Unfortunately, for the next two hours, I didn't catch a thing. Except  a buzz.

No more fish pictures, but here is some kayak porn.

 Later, that redfish made a nice meal at the hands of my dad.

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. 

October 4, 2012

Dropped the girls off at school this morning and headed out for a quick fish at Bunce's Pass. The tide was super low as I launched, with only one other guy out fishing from a red kayak. He was set up on the channel that runs from the pass, by Tampa Bay Watch, and on to the residential canals. The guy was chucking shrimp on a popping cork, and from what I could tell, catching fish after fish.

I paddled up about 50 yards past him on the channel and started throwing my topwater along the edge where the grass drops off into the sandy channel. Over about 45 minutes, I caught four upper-slot trout on my Badonkadonk topwater, and had countless other blow-ups.

I continued to work my way out to the pass, anchoring from time to time to work a particular spot. The topwater bite died down, so I switched over to throwing a 1/8 oz chartreuse jighead with a variety of tails. I caught six more under-slot trout in this fashion, and also caught a juvenile mangrove snapper.

Kelly showed up toward the end of my session and we compared notes, then I got off the water. Forgot my camera today, so no pictures, but it was another good session on the water.

Monday, October 1, 2012

I had to drop the girls off this morning, so I didn't get out until 9:30am. The only other guy out was a fellow who fly fishes from his silver canoe.

Since it was low tide, I paddled out to the southeast in search of deeper water along the channel. At some point I got into about three feet of water and anchored up. I started throwing topwater and had some good follows, but couldn't get anything to take the lure. It was 10-15 knots of wind the entire day, which made the topwater fishing pretty poor. Too much chop.

At some point I decided to put on a 1/8 chartreuse jig head with a DOA CAL shad tail, and immediately started catching below-the-slot trout. When the shad tail wore out, I put on a paddle tail. When the paddle tail wore out, I put on my rootbeer shrimp tail. In about an hour and a half, I caught 10 trout, only one in the slot. Still, it was good fishing.

My 11th fish hit really hard and fought like hell. I was super surprised to see a juvenile gag grouper on the other end of the line. (Sorry, couldn't get the photo to rotate.)

With just an hour left before I had to get off the water, I drifted back toward our angry trout spot, with a  popping cork and half a pinfish dragging behind. In the meantime, I threw the jighead/shrimp tail combo, which eventually rewarded me with a very nice redfish. 21-ish inches, and so bronzed up. Sexy redfish. I took it home for dinner.

Solid fishing for two and a half hours on the water. Nice to have it all to myself. If it had been a calm day, it might have been epic.