Fishing for Reds in Placida

October 29,2013

Placida

I took my kayak to Placida this morning looking for some Reds.  I went to my usual place where 8 out of 10 times I can find redfish, they don't always want to bite though.  I found them today feeding and tailing with a bunch of Mullet.  I tried Gulp, a white paddle tail, top water, ladyfish cut bait and they didn't want anything to do with any of those baits.  I'm glad I stopped and bought some shrimp before I got to the launch site, because that's what I finally caught one on, it was 20".  I only had one other bite this morning and I missed it.
I like to take some live shrimp with me just in case the fish don't want any of my artificials.  I'm really surprised they didn't want the ladyfish or the gulp.  Those are the two baits I usually catch them on.  I keep several bags of cut ladyfish in my garage freezer.  I like to soak the cut bait while I'm working an artificial.

I'm not sure what's  more frustrating , finding reds and having them ignore your baits or not finding them at all.

See my tips for kayak fishing.

Fishing Gasparilla Sound

Oct. 22, 2013

Gasparilla Sound

I fished Gasparilla Sound yesterday, this is my favorite place to fish for Trout.  I wasn't disappointed, I caught 8 Trout, 4 were 16 inches + and very healthy, I caught 1 on a gulp and the rest on my favorite lure, a mirrordine.  I used one with a dark green back, a 17MR.  In addition to the Trout I caught 2 small Grouper and 2 large Bluefish, they were about 3-4 pounds.  One of them inhaled the Mirrorlure, wasn't sure I was going to get it out.

All the action took place between 9-11 am. at low tide.  The water was really clear and it was very calm.
I took some pictures of the sunrise, you will see why I like getti
ng an early start on the water, it was beautiful.

Fishing Stump Pass

October 12.2013

My wife and I went to Stump Pass on Saturday with our tandem pedal kayak in hopes of catching some Trout or Redfish. It was just as I expected, there was a lot of boat traffic in the back water where we kayaked.  Most boaters don't have much respect for kayakers when it comes to slowing down when they pass  a kayak.  We rode many wakes today, something we weren't out to do.  Going through the pass towards the gulf was easy because the tide was going out, but coming back was another story. The tide was ripping through the pass and coming back through it against the tide was way too much work to be fun.  I finally walked the kayak for about 100 feet around a point to where it was a little easier pedaling.

Pedaling back to the launch site was a lot of work, we were going against the tide all the way back.  By the time we got to the launch site we were wiped out.  We were tired the rest of the day.

Oh yeah, the fishing report, we caught a couple of lady fish, 2 blowfish and 1 lizard fish.  Even though we didn't have much luck fishing it was a beautiful day that the Lord gave us to enjoy.

If you go to Stump Pass and paddle or pedal the back water to the pass, I would recommend if the tide is going out when you are ready to return to the launch site, going back via the gulf would be much easier than fighting the tide in the back water.  However, getting the kayak from the shore to the parking lot you have to carry or drag your kayak through the beach sand.  If you have a kayak cart with big wheels it wouldn't be much of a problem.