Tampa Bay Kayak Fishing

Merry Xmass and Soflobassfishing in the Everglades

2012-12-24T15:22:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year! My good friend Alain of Soflobassfishing on youtube took a trip to the everglades where the reds were fired up! Here is the footage:

Flamingo fishing in a Hobie Pro Angler Video

2012-11-25T17:46:00.001-05:00

Check out this great video fishing in a Hobie Pro Angler in Flamingo Fl in the everglades.

FLY FISHING FOR REDFISH SNOOK AND TARPON from daniel diez on Vimeo.

A Day in the Marsh (video)

2012-05-24T20:17:00.001-04:00

Haven't Been able to post in quite sometime. School is the priority and Ive had little time to fish. I did how ever make a video from a recent trip in to St. Marks Marsh. Hope you enjoy it:

Piney-Z Lake Bass n' Gators

2012-02-10T00:03:00.004-05:00

After so much success last trip we decided to take a trip back a few days later. We immediately went to the other side of the lake, to deeper water and the tree clumps. Caught a handful of fish and saw a bunch of wildlife including bald eagles, ospreys, gators, and a very curious otter that came over to say hello and stare at us. Overall another successful day on the water.

Pre-Super Bowl Bass on Lake Talquin

2012-02-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

Headed to Lake Talquin with Alain of www.youtube.com/Soflobassfishing on a foggy Sunday. Headed out of coe’s landing on the east side of the lake and proceeded to fish what locals call the iron curtain. The Iron Curtain is a group of trees that are located within the lake creating great structure for fish. We ended up catching a few fish here as well as loosing quite a few. On the outskirts of the trees I managed to hook up with a freshwater catfish which hit a senko worm with paddle tail rigged weedless. We continued on and ended the day catching a huge 5lb large mouth. Here are the pictures from the day!

Sight Casting Reds in the Marsh Pre Cold Front

2011-12-24T23:09:00.001-05:00

Started with the morning coffee, and arrived to St. Marks Florida at around 7:45am. Launched at an almost slack low tide, immediately started throwing top waters with no luck. Moved to a large bar with mullet all around throwing paddle tales and top waters and again had no luck.

Moved down the flat to the marsh entrance, poled the flat and ran up on a lone redfish sitting in a sand hole about five feet away from the bow of the boat. Sight casted a DOA Cal paddle tail to the fish and immediately hooked up. Took a couple of runs and then boated a just over slot 28” redfish. Snapped some photos and successfully released the fish to battle another day.

The tide started to move again so we decided to drift our way into the marsh. TONS of mullet were in the marsh going in with the tide, we successfully slammed with some more reds, trout, and a lone flounder that was caught on the way out of the marsh.

Ran back to the ramp with an incoming tide and was off the water by 12pm. Weather was beautiful at around 78 degrees with a 5mph wind from the SE. Until Next time Tight Lines!

Shimano Sahara FD 2500 Review

2011-06-30T19:09:00.000-04:00

My new Shimano Sahara FD 2500 reel is great, while still moderately priced. I picked up a 2500 series reel as I would be spooling it with 12 pound braided line, having adequate line on the reel for all my inshore applications. I have caught many snook, reds, and trout with this reel. It has worked flawlessly and is very easy to maintain, which is a plus. I would definitely recommend this reel to anyone. Here are some pictures of the reel on the water.

Picked up a Shimano Sahara FD 2500

2011-06-25T13:43:00.001-04:00

Review to come: spooled it up with 12lb braid and rigged on a 7ft ohero medium action rod!

June 1- June 10 2011 Outings

2011-06-10T22:05:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures from my recent outings earlier this month. One trip was a catch and release grouper trip, as the season closed June 1. The second was a kayak trip with my sister, it was pretty windy out so were were only out for two hours and we managed to get one trout.

May 2011 Trips

2011-05-24T00:51:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to show a few pictures from the past few outings. Enjoy!

Manatee swam over to say hello!

2011-05-17T22:29:00.001-04:00

May Flats Slam (Snook, Red, Trout)

2011-05-10T18:15:00.000-04:00

I hit snooze a few to many times and didn't get out on the water until 7:45am. Launched to a flat calm bay. Started seeing movement on the flats, lots of mullet activity. I was casting a mirromullet top water lure when I saw something following it on the flat. I slowed down the retrieve and received a blow up. I continued the stop and go process until fish finally took the lure the third time. I then boated a 35.6" snook. Snapped a few pictures and released the snook in perfect health.

I continued on throwing a DOA paddle tail and boated a bunch of small rat reds. Near a school of mullet. Moving deeper on to the flat I caught some trout to complete today's slam.

Overall it was a great day on the water

Trout on the Spook

2011-05-06T00:08:00.000-04:00

Was able to get out one morning to fish with my dad. Threw the spook and managed to catch some nice trout before the wind picked up.

Ohero Inshore Slam Gold Series Rods

2011-04-24T18:53:00.000-04:00

The Inshore Slam Gold Series Rod is another great product from Ohero. I purchased it a little over a year ago and it has caught countless fish including 32” snook and 40” redfish. It has been through it all and has yet to let me down. I have the 7 foot medium action rod. It has 9 silicon carbide guides, which rival those of any maker. This specific rod is has enough backbone to take on almost any fish the flats can throw at it with its IM7 graphite fibers. I purchased this rod a year ago and it seems like I just picked it off the rod rack in the store. This rod is perfect for a budget minded fisherman as this rod runs under $60. You can pick up this rod among many others in the series from Tampa Fishing Outfitters, justforfishing.com, and amazon.com. Support a Tampa company and have the best tackle in the business from Ohero.

Specifications:

Length: 7’0”

Action: Medium

Style: Spinning

Lure: ¼ to 5/8

Line: 8-17 Test

April Means Redfish on the Flats In Tampa Bay

2011-04-11T21:03:00.000-04:00

My dad wanted to fish shrimp again but we arrived to the tackle shop at 6am and they said they were out of bait until 7:30am. I said forget it and rigged some topwater lures up. We launched at 6:30am and paddled onto the flat. We saw mullet jumping and a few tails waving in the air. Third cast with my mirromullet I boated a nice 28” redfish that took me on a nice ride on my medium light rod. We continued fishing and caught a few rat reds and some trout the biggest being 20”. Another great day in paradise.

HOT April fishing in Tampa Bay

2011-04-10T00:40:00.000-04:00

We launched to an incoming tide. Zero wind the bay was slick calm. Came across a school of reds and mullet waving their tails in the air. Caught almost every species possible except a snook. The red fish are now schooling up on the flats, get out there and paddle with this low wind.

Ohero Fluorocarbon Leader Review

2011-04-05T23:52:00.000-04:00

20 lb. Ohero Fluorocarbon Leader

The most important part of your fishing kayak would be your line and leader on your fishing set up. Without a high performing strong and invisible leader that trophy linesider would get away. I have used many different leaders for my set up in the past, including the likes of Berkeley and Seaguar. Ohero, a Tampa based company, has developed a wonderful new fluorocarbon leader. I received a sample and decided to give it a try. The leader is more aberration resistant and more invisible than any other fluorocarbon leader I’ve used to this date. I even tank tested the leader to see if it was truly the most invisible and it sure was bar none. You can purchase it at justforfishing.com or Tampa fishing outfitters on W. Osborne Ave. in Tampa.

Another Tampa manatee

2011-03-08T18:33:00.001-05:00

Weedon Island Mangrove Tunnels

2011-03-08T00:17:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased a new kayak, as I had sold my Heritage Redfish 12 a while back. I purchased a Emotion Grand Slam Angler. With the new kayak my father and I went to Weedon island to do some exploring.

We decided to ride the tide out to the bay through the mangrove tunnels in the southern kayak trail. It is a wonderful 4 mile paddle, through all of weedon island preserve. Be wary of tides as it can be quite tricky to navigate if the tides are too high or too low.

We paddled around in the bay threw some plugs and got some trout. I spooked a a huge redfish sitting in a hole. Overall we did not fish to much, as we spent most of the time exploring and enjoying the wonderful scenery and weather.

If your interested in seeing real Tampa bay and its wildlife try paddling the Weedon island mangrove tunnel trail.

March Madness, not basketball but snook!

2011-03-01T01:48:00.001-05:00

Snook:
The waters have warmed up and the fishing is on fire. March starts the great fishing season into the summer when the Snook start there spawn on the beach. Right now the Snook have schooled up and are beginning to move toward the beach. Look for snook on spoil islands and around structure in the main bay. They are starting to move from there winter haunts up creeks and moving out into the bay eventually leading to the beach. Snook are starting to feed more and more sensing the warming trend. There are snook that did survive the cold snap. Remember snook season is still closed until further notice!

Redfish:
The redfish have been more active with the warm water and have also started to school. You can find some schools of over 100 fish starting to pop up around the bay! Look for the schools on a just before and after a high tide when the waters moving throw a paddle tail on a jig or a weedless jerkbait, and you'll sure find some nice porkchops.

Trout:
The trout are also more active, look for the larger fish to start moving off the deep water and on to the flats in 2 to 5 feet of water. Try using a topwater lure for some real fun on the larger female gators that are starting to feed like crazy. The schooled up males are still in deeper water with grass and dark bottom. You can find some moving out into the flats and they will especially with the warm days in the forecast.

The best of the rest:

Look for black drum in huge schools through out the bay, especially close to the skyway and cockroach bay. Soon enough tarpon will be coming into the bay and beaches so get your rods ready. Some tarpon may already be here!

Morning Pork Paddle Video

2011-02-25T17:07:00.002-05:00

Spring has sprung, the water temperatures have risen, and the fishings hot. Here is a great video from Calvin Brothers of color blind media:

Tampa Bay Sea Cows

2011-02-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

My dad took a picture of a nice big ol manatee sunbathing today in the bay off of a dock. Here it is:

Trout Season Opens & First Trip of the New Year

2011-01-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

Well its a new year, and the water is clearer than ever!

Trout season is back open. So you can keep 4 trout between 15"-20" and 1 trout out of 4 being larger than 20" per person. I decided to get out to get on some trout for dinner. Of course all i can find are huge schools of ladyfish!

I did manage to catch some small trout in the mix all around 13" so no keepers, as they were too lethargic compared to the vicious ladyfish. I caught over 50 Ladyfish. I moved on and caught a small 16" Redfish. And a handful more trout. I called it a day as the dolphins wouldn't leave me alone, seeing me catch so many ladys.

The begining of a cold front (11-26-2010)

2010-11-29T20:54:00.001-05:00

Took a trip out hoping to get out before the cold front came through. Of course we did not beat it and went out right as the tip of the low pressure system came through. A cloudy day, drizzled for a while but was still a great day in Tampa bay.

We launched at about 7am right at slack tide. We paddled to our spot and began casting doa paddle tails in the new "watermelon clear holographic" color. We coated the soft plastics in pro cure bait sent to make the lures more enticing. We managed to catch a few trout.

We then came across some manatee that came to close for comfort. So we had to move in fear they might flip the kayaks if they felt threatened. It was nice to see so many manatees in good health but the large sea cows can be quite intimidating in a plastic kayak.

We continued fishing a new area and came across a large redfish sitting in a sand hole in a oyster bar area with no luck, we moved on to catch more trout.

Pat Practiced proper handling techniques using a lip grip and trying to handle the fish out of the water for the shortest amount of time possible. He made sure to wet his hand before touching the fish ensuring the protective slime coating would not be removed from the trout. Please remember to practice proper handling techniques especially as it is trout breeding season, therefore season is closed on the trout. So remember to practice catch and release.

I managed to catch quite a few trout also but only took one picture of a large 18" trout.

As Always,
Tight Lines

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-25T19:51:00.000-05:00