January 13th, 2012

Kelly and I went back to the scene of the crime today on an unseasonably warm January morning. As we paddled out to DTB's secret spot, I was concerned that the heat would make the snook move out of the area.

My concerns were mostly confirmed a half-hour later when we were fishing the usual spots as hard as we could, but no snook could be found. I finally got the skunk off with a trout caught on a jig head/shad tail combo, and Kelly did the same with a jig head/paddle tail combo.

We fished mostly with those two lures. Mine tended to catch trout, while Kelly's was bringing in more snook. By the time we were ready to paddle out, he had caught five snook to my two, though I held an edge on him with the trout, at five.

We paddled out and fished some of the bay outside of Bishop's Harbor. At one point I tossed my jig into a distant sand hole, and after one pop, got a nice trout on the line at 21".

Ultimately, it wasn't nearly as epic as our last trip out, but considering the warm weather, we did fairly well.

(No photos again. This time I couldn't find my camera.)

Sunday, December 23rd, 2012

Kelly and I launched on a good high tide and paddled straight out to DTB's secret spot. From the very first cast, the bite was on. I caught snook after snook on the Flat Rap, and in a few hours,  had brought in 30 snook. Unfortunately, I don't think any of them were over 15", but it was good catching nonetheless.

Kelly was at it as well, opting (as he is wont to do) to throw mostly his topwater Spook. His dedication to that lure almost paid off with a big snook catch, but after several attempts the fish just couldn't get the lure squarely in its mouth. Kelly managed to pick up a half-dozen snook with other lures once he gave up on the topwater.

It felt good to finally have the epic snook day that I had known was possible in this spot. Looking forward to getting back.

If you are wondering where the photos are...I didn't take any. I was too busy catching fish!

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Headed back to DTB's secret spot today for some additional snookin'. I launched at 10:30am, and after a good 30 minute paddle, was able to access the snook hole on a good high tide.

The conditions were generally unfavorable, mostly due to a 15 knot wind whipping across the water. In addition, it had rained heavily the night before, which made me think the fish would be uncooperative, and they were.

I was a good 100 casts in without a bite before I was able to get the skunk off with a topwater hook-up with a very angry jack crevalle. The location that was holding big schools of small snook on my last time out did not produce anything, so I went to the windy side of the hole and started throwing my big She Dog topwater at the shore. It was tough fishing. The chop on the water made it nearly impossible to walkt he dog.

About a dozen casts in, I had a huge blow up through the chop, and a sizable snook took hold of my lure. About five minutes later, I brought it to the yak. I don't have any photos of the beast, but it was my personal best snook, coming in at 29".  I've got video of the catch here.

A short time later I had another monster snook follow my lure up to the yak, only to turn back when it got sight of me.

I finished up fishing the area, picking up two more small snook and a nice trout on my Yo-zuri Crystal Minnow. On the paddle back I tried a few casts, and caught another trout on topwater. I also saw a big school of snook holding off one of the spoil islands, but they were uncooperative. Still it's good to see the snook making a nice comeback.

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:

Friday, November 2nd, 2012

I got out on the water late today after dropping the girls off at school. I launched around 9:00am, just thirty minutes before low tide. Despite the bad timing, the weather was ideal. Clean, glassy water, blue skies and 75 degrees.

I fished the channel right at the launch all the way down to Tampa Bay Watch, and after a good hour, had only one topwater blow-up to show for it. The bite was simply off. I did get visited by a manatee, which was cool.

Eventually, I would catch a couple of ladyfish and three lizardfish. I was so pissed at the third lizardfish that I brought him aboard and turned him into cut bait. By then the water had started to fill up the flat I chucked the cut bait out under a float and started to drift the flat. While drifting the flat and throwing the Spook Jr., I started to get blow-ups on nearly every cast, and soon brought to hand about 10 trout, ranging from 10" to 18".

By the time I hit the ATZ, the bite had died down again, and except for a lone catfish that took the cut bait, the bite was dead. Not the best day of catching, but a gorgeous day to fish.

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.

July 21, 2012

My dad and brother were looking to get their pier fix on, so we headed out around 6:30pm on Saturday and set up on the South pier. We were about 100 yards past the bait house, fishing an incoming tide. 

Early on, we set up some big rods with live pinfish, and those pinfish swam around happily untouched for the rest of the afternoon and evening. In the meantime, I sabiki-ed up some greenbacks and used them for cutbait. 

I chucked them under the old Skyway span in front of me, and over the course of the night, had good success catching snapper, with 5 keepers coming home with us. I also caught a nice trout on a live greenback, and dad rounded out the cooler with a big grey snapper. 

The next day dad did what he does best, which is to marinate, bread, and fry our catch in pure Crisco. There is nothing like fresh fish...southern style.

June 16th, 2012

Kelly and I launched this morning from our Bunce's Pass Launch at 7:00am. As usual, it was windy as hell, but we had a great high tide topping out at 2.2 feet, so we were able to get pretty far back into the mangroves to get a break from the wind. 

Early on, we each had a few small blowups on our topwater plugs but no hookups. We eventually retired the topwater and started throwing gold spoons and jerkbaits. I had my first good chance at a fish on a gold spoon, with a nice red following it up to the boat and taking two good hits at it before turning away. 

A short time later, Kelly was doing some exploring and found a school of lower slot redfish. He pulled one out of the school on a spook. I came around the corner and took my shot, throwing a big She Dog topwater at the school. There was a red on it as soon as it hit the water. 

The school spooked at that point but we continued to fish the area, seeing a lot of action, but no further hookups.

Toward the end of the time we drifted out over a flat and started blind casting our spoons. Kelly was rewarded with a big pig of a redfish, a rod bending 24" beauty.

We chucked some bait toward the end of the day, but couldn't get anything going there, and finally got off the water after a little contest to see who could catch the first trout.

It was me.

June 3, 2012

I launched this afternoon from the east end of the bridge to Bay Pines into Long Bayou. It was hot and windy with a falling tide.

I started fishing the oyster bars around the bridge, alternating between a weedless shad tail and a flat rap. It looked really fishy, but I didn't get a single bite, so I paddled around to the mangroves below the Cross Bayou Canal and worked them over with the same combo of lures. Eventually I hooked up with a ladyfish, but the water was otherwise quiet back there.

I continued along the mangroves and up into the entrance of the Cross Bayou Canal, finally seeing some action as a gamefish was busting bait flowing out of the canal. I made a few good casts, but there was nothing doing.

I ventured 50 yards up the canal, casting at the mangroves, but it was dead, so I drifted back out and returned to the bridge to fish the now exposed oyster beds. I saw a big red tailing and made a few casts at it with my shad tail, but to no avail. I was wishing for a popping cork and a few dozen shrimp at that point. I finally hooked up with a trout a short time later on a shad tail.


I ended the day by paddling up into the canal toward John's Pass. I stopped at the narrow bird preserve there and threw my topwater over and over and over. I had three blow ups there, but nothing big enough to connect. At that point, a thunderstorm was bearing down on me, so I paddled back to the launch and called it a day.

May 27th, 2012

"The sea was angry that day, my friend."

Despite the steady 15 knot wind with gusts over 20, Kelly and I decided to give fishing a go today. We launched at the south pier of the Skyway Bridge around 2pm, fishing the Miguel Bay area. Some of the swells we encountered were a good three feet.

Needless to say, the fishing was terrible. I was able to ward off the skunk with one ladyfish to boatside, while Kelly took a full skunking. The wind was terrible, the water quality was nil, and the only person I saw catching anything was a guy chucking hundreds of threadfins into the water to net a trout and and a red.

We were determined to stick it out till sunset, but had an unfortunate near-miss where a boatful of drunkards came hauling full-throttle through the mangroves, and had I not paddled quickly out to of the way, I might be chum myself. I looked at Kelly after that and said, "That's it, let's head in."

May 22nd, 2012

I left work Tuesday afternoon and tried a quick hit at the mouth of Coffee Pot Bayou. I launched from the beach adjacent to the North Shore Pool parking lot. It was an easy paddle to the right depth of water.

The reason I wanted to fish this area is due to the multitudes of mullet that I usually see in the area. Today would be no different. I anchored up near an area where schools were moving through, and tossed my She Dog topwater around the edges.

Using this technique, I was able to catch two trout, both in the 15" range. I had another five blow-ups without a hook-up. The bite was slower than I expected, but I'll definitely return in the near future, especially considering that I went from my desk to casting in under a half hour.

March 31st, 2012

Kelly and I paddled out at 6:30am this morning, which was about an hour before dawn. Though the wind had been forecast at 5mph all week, as we launched it was a steady 10 with gusts to 15mph. I don't think we've had a day of wind below 10mph for the last three months.

Our disappointment was quickly forgotten as we paddled out to one of the spoil islands. Each time that our paddle hit the water, a trail of bioluminescent plankton would light up the water in a blue glow.

The sky started to lighten up right as we were ready to start casting:

The fishing for the day was average. The wind kept us restricted to a small area of water, but we made the best of it. Kelly and I caught a few small trout on topwater and later I added a keeper trout on a DOA shad tail. The best fish of the day I caught on my first cast with a big honkin' She Dog Topwater. The trout was a good 22" in length and super fat.

I picked up another trout or two and a handful of ladyfish to round out the day. Kelly tried his hand at chucking bait, but couldn't get anything but catfish.

It was really fishy out there today, but the conditions prevented us from taking advantage. I have to dial up mother nature for a glassy day on the flats.

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

This morning I launched solo from the improvised ramp off Bishop's Harbor. Since Kelly was out of commission this weekend, I opted to do some scouting in a new spot. Don, my barber, had suggested trying out Bishop's Harbor, so on a whim I figured I'd give it a shot. With the tide flowing low to high, our usual spots would not have been great today anyway.

I paddled out at first light.

Bishop's Harbor is lined with mangroves, and from the start I had to choose whether to follow the shoreline on the north or south side. I chose the south. A few hundred yards up, I saw another boat on the north side, and they seemed to be having some luck pulling in some fish.

I decided to drift and throw the Spook to try my luck. First cast I had a big trout take three hits on my lure, but with no hook-up. The next cast I got a hit and hooked up right away, thinking I had caught the trout, but when I got the fish in close, saw that it was a 15" snook. I was pretty happy to have a snook to get the skunk off, and was optimistic that the day was going to be a good one.

That was the only fish I caught.

To be fair, I did a lot of paddling and scoping out different areas, instead of settling in to really fish an area. It sure was fishy out there: lots of varying depths of water, some good sea grass concentrations, clean water, good current and plenty of mullet jumping. It was fairly busy with boats out there, and they all seemed to be fishing the north side of the mangroves. Most boats I watched caught a least one fish.

I paddled on, all the way out of the harbor and into the bay. I could see the Skyway in the distance.

No catching for me in the bay either, but lots of pinfish and other bait out there, which is a good sign for the future.

Overall, it was a good, relaxing trip, a beautiful day to be on the water, and I definitely like Bishop's Harbor as a good low tide spot.

Tuesday, March 7th, 2012

Took a half day at work and met Kelly out at 4th Street for a little afternoon fishing. True to form, the wind was 15-20 knots. We decided to give it the old college try anyway, and paddled out with our beer and bait buckets.

Despite the wind, it was gorgeous out.

We spent most of our time like this:

We hit a half-dozen spots before Kelly finally hooked up with a trout just outside Steve's Hole. We anchored up and caught a good half-dozen fish each before calling it a day around 5:30pm.

Sure beat sitting at my desk.

March 3rd, 2012

Sunrise found us at the 4th Street launch. Kelly and I were both eager to fish after having to cancel our time on the water last weekend due to unfavorable wind conditions. When we launched this morning, the wind was around 10 knots with gusts to 15. Not great, but we were still able to throw the topwaters.

I got the skunk off early with a ladyfish, and Kelly followed soon after with a 15 inch redfish, both on topwater.

A short time later, he picked up another little red on topwater, and both of us had several follows and misses to keep things interesting.

We were stuck fishing close to the mangroves to provide some cover from the wind. The tide was working against us today, a slow incoming tide that didn't give us enough water to fish the shallows. When the wind would die down, Kelly and I would drift out into 3-4 feet of water and throw our lures.

I was mostly throwing my spook and Yo-zuri shrimp, but at some point decided to toss out the flat Rap, and on my first cast hooked up with a lunker. The fish ran hard and long, but I got it turned and worked it in slowly. After awhile I saw that it was a big red, and I called Kelly over to take my hero shot. It was 24 inches on the dot:

Though we would fish another couple of hours, that red would be the last we would catch on the day. I started paddling back at 11:00am and ended up back at the launch at 11:30am after a continuous, arduous paddle. The wind was so fierce that at one point I was paddling without moving forward. When I got back to the car I checked my wind app on my phone and it showed a steady 20 knot wind with gusts to 20 knots. Crazy.

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.