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.

Fishing in Horseshoe Beach in the Big Bend Area

Sept. 16,2013

I started fishing Horseshoe Beach for about a year before I moved away from the area.  This was a hot spot for my son and I for Speckled Trout.  We always caught our limit of trout.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to fish here again since I was staying in Gainesville for a week. It's about a 11/2 hour drive from Gainesville.
This would be my first timing fishing here from a kayak, but I knew I wouldn't have to paddle too far to get to the grass flats.  As it turned out I only had to paddle a few hundred yards to find fish.  When I first got there the sky looked really bad, there was lightning and thunder for awhile.  I decided to wait it out and after about 1 hour I launched my kayak.  I paddled about 100 yards from the launch site and right away started catching Trout.  I could have had my limit it 45 minutes if I would have landed all the fish that took my bait.  Some got off at the kayak and others I simply didn't set the hook in time.  It didn't help that I was using 2 poles at a time.  After 2 hours I called it quits with my limit and the fish still biting.  Horseshoe Beach is still one of best places to catch trout.  Here's some pictures.

Fishing in Gainesville

Sept.9

My wife had to go to Gainesville for work for a week.  I went with her to keep her company and to fish during the day.  We stayed with some friends who just happen to have a pond in their back yard.  It's big enough to put a kayak in.  I fished every day for bass using artificial lures.  I caught 37 fish for the week using a plastic worm.  My friend Tony told me about a new way to hook the worm, some pros are using this method as well. It's called wacky worm, you hook it through the middle with both ends of the worm hanging down, it looks weird but it sure worked good.  I tried the traditional way of hooking the worm weedless but they didn't like it as much.

Kayak fishing in Panama City

My wife and I are staying in Panama city for a few weeks, so I brought our kayaks.  I found a kayak club here and asked if anyone would like to show me around.  Matt graciously offered to take me offshore for Spanish and King Mackerel.  Going out two miles in my kayak was new for me, I usually fish inshore.  We went out two times and both times the water was rough.  One day it was real choppy, the other day there were 4 foot swells, which was more comfortable than the choppy water.  The first day matt caught 2 kings and 4 spanish, I caught nothing, but I did have 2 fish break my line.
The 2nd day the surf was real rough, the waves were crashing the shore, so i wasn't sure how to land my kayak.  I learned that you shouldn't get out of your kayak until you hit the shore.  I jumped out about 30 feet from the beach and was going to pull my kayak to shore, BIG MISTAKE.  The kayak didn't flip completely over, but it tipped enough for everything to come out of the kayak.  I lost 2 fishing poles and everything else stayed afloat long enough to recover.  Three nice people that were on the beach came out and helped me collect my things.  Matt came in aboutm 20 minutes later and i saw how to properly land a kayak in rough surf, ride it all the way onto the beach then jump out quickly and pull it on shore.  Matt, I guess I should of stayed out in the water until you showed me how to do it.

Blackburn Bay Fishing

Caught speckled trout 24" from kayak in Blackburn Bay near Nokomis.  I caught it on a live shrimp under a popping cork.  This was on my 1st cast of the day.