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Did a little pre fishing down south in Placida, Fl for the upcoming IFA Kayak Series stop out of Punta Gorda. The tournament is a combination of one redfish and one trout’s combined total inches. There are some pretty good prizes up for grab including a new Hobie kayak and cash.
I launched my kayak later than I had wanted to today around the crack of 11 am. The wind was strong out of the NW with blue bird skies and high pressure from the cold front we recently had pass through. My goal today was to not necessarily catch fish, but find fish that I could later come back to catch on tournament day. I started the day out with a mid slot redfish and two pulled hooks due to a broken hook (dang, that doesn’t happen often). I then spent the rest of the day paddling and observing, taking mental notes of all the areas I saw redfish. I’ll be back down to fish this week hopefully, the tournament is this Sunday, March 7 so hopefully the fish I found today will be good enough for a win on Sunday!
Tackle used today, TFO spinning rods, Shimano 3000’s, 20 lb leader and the old faithful exude gold dart.
Also, today marks the end of February which means the end to this month’s 321.com online tournament. I finished with 52.8 inches of one redfish and one trout combined, which was enough to earned my second place. You can view the results here;http://321fish.com/scores/standings/142
Got Mike out yesterday to check an area that I had not been to since a year ago last spring. I knew it was a little early in the season for the redfish schools I was looking for to be in this area, but I had a feeling they might be early. We launched our kayaks around 9:30 in lower Tampa Bay and paddled out.
I saw wakes moving away as I poled into the area with Mike paddling along side me, first cast of the day resulted in a pulled hook on an over slot fish. I suggested we get out of our boats and wade on these spooky fish, which paid off with a red just over 29″ several casts later. Two more reds and a big 24″ trout later we called it a day. The tides weren’t the best with a slow incomer, but knowing they’re here will let allow me to target these fish until they leave the area. We got off the water around 3.
Tackle used today: TFO Gary Loomis spinning rod, Shimano 3000 reels, 20lb fluorocarbon leader, and exude gold and natural shrimp darts on a mission fishin jig head.
This past Sunday, February 21, I was out on the flats in my kayak on lower Tampa Bay when out of the corner of my eye I noticed two sickles standing out of the water. Having fished offshore by boat before in this area for permit, I recognized these sickles almost immediately. Intuition told me it couldn’t be possible – that we don’t have permit on the flats here in Tampa Bay, especially not in February – but on this particular day the temps were pushing into the 70’s and this one permit had managed to find his way up onto this particular flat, where he was slowly cruising, and tailing his way along.
I only had two rods with me, one rigged with a jig head but no soft plastic body on, and one with a gold spoon. I opted to throw the gold spoon thinking I had nothing to lose, and not wanting to make any noise fumbling through my tackle box trying to find the right plastic to present to this fish. Well, my instincts didn’t fail me, I loaded up and made the perfect cast out ahead of the fish. I let my spoon sink to the bottom, then jigged it up and began retrieving it. At the same time as I was jigging my spoon up, the fish’s fins disappeared from the surface of the water. At first I thought he had spooked, but before I could gather my thoughts to think any further it was fish on!
After an incredible fight I landed this awesome permit! Far from my biggest, but my first one sight casting on the flats, and right here in the bay. Just another example of the things you might encounter on a kayak fishing trip with me on the flats of Tampa Bay.
I paddled out in my kayak yesterday on Tampa Bay in some very windy and chill conditions. The area I had chosen was an area I was all too familiar with, but have no visited in several months. The wind was blowing a stiff 15-20 out of the NW and the tide was extremely low.
I struggled for the first hour unable to find any cooperative fish. I relocated to some deeper grass flats with deep potholes and began working a Gulp Shrimp on my new Gary Loomis signature series rods (which I love) and found redfish laid up in the potholes. After breaking the first one off, I waded back to my kayak to retie then made my way back to the pot hole where I had just hooked up. Almost instantly I had one on, and proceeded to catch 4 on consecutive casts out of the same pot hole. I continued to wade the flat and caught 4 more from 18-27 1/2″ in the next couple hours.
I decided to paddle in after having only been fishing for a couple hours, satisfied with my days catching and knowing that I will be able to come back to these fish at a later time. Takckle used today was; 3″ new penny Gulp Shrimp rigged to 20 lb floroucarbon leader on a 7′ 6-12lb TFO spinning rod and 3000 Shimano Sustain.
I entered my largest redfish of the day (27.6″) into an online fishing tournament for the month of February hosted by www.321fish.com, it is a month long combination of most inches of one redfish and one trout. This redfish was good enough to move me into first place with a combined inches of 50.2 (27.6″ redfish and 22.6″ trout).
With Spring right around the conrner the action should really start to heat up. Redfish schools will begin to move in from offshore to take up their summer haunts on the inshore grass flats. These fish average in size from 30-34 inches with fish upwards to the mid 40 inches being caught as well. When a school is located it can be non stop action with 20+ fish days very possible. Snook fishing will also begin to pick up with the warmer weather, their population was devastated by this years cold winter, but they should be hungry and more than willing to eat once the water temps rise. “Gator” trout are being caught regularly, with several fish over the 25″ mark having been caught lately. Trout fishing should continue to stay strong into Spring, and begin to slow down as the Summer months bring with them higher temps.
Check back for more reports, pictures, pointers and announcements soon!
