Keeper Snook in Sarasota Bay

         Started out the morning in the Buttonwood area because of the heavy winds. They were blowing pretty good out of the WSW, but, where I put in it was glass! Before I even put the kayak in the water I could hear bait getting crushed on top of the water.Luckily I already had my Rapala Skitter-walk tied up ready to go. My first cast I had something follow me up all the way to the kayak. Second cast, Fish On! I continued catch trout after trout! I had just put in so I decided to start venturing further north. I saw large schools of mullet so decided to start casting both top water and jerk baits . Nothing! So I paddled on and saw birds diving on bait I hurried over there and pitched my line right in the middle of all the running bait. Immediately started ripping in good size trout and a couple of my lady fish friends. While working the school of bait I saw out of the corner of my eye a fin cruising across the top of the water. Looks like Mr. sharky wants some of the action also so I decide to paddle on. the sun was coming up further in the sky so i decided to go hit the lip of the channel. I ended up catching a perfect drift along the whole channel while catching lot more trout. They were so aggressive all I had to do was literally reel the jerk bait straight in!Lol! Meanwhile all the sudden a school of dolphins show up to mess my fishing up! They were acting very strange. Not sure if they were playing ,mating, or just trying to scare all the fish away in the area! So I got some good Go Pro footage because they were so close and acting crazy and then I paddled on. It was getting late in the day so I decided to start heading back to the launch. On my way back to the launch ,I was in about 1 1/2 ft of water so I stood up in the kayak to take a look at the water. I saw a few deeper pot holes in the middle of the super shallow grass flat  so I take a long cast at one. Bump, it lets go! I jig it one more time and BOOM it gets smashed! Line starts peeling out like a freight train! In the super shallow water the fish was kicking up so much mud, I had no idea what I had but i new it was nice! I turn on the Go Pro and the fight begins. Finally I turn the fishes head and see that it is a beautiful snook. After wearing the fish down and get a good look at him and I think to myself is this the first slot size snook that I've caught this year ? Anxious to get him on the measuring board. I carefully put him on the board and he is the perfect slot size! It has been over four year since I've had snook because of the ban on snook since the freeze and all of my snook have been either too big or too small so far this season. After being blessed with that fish I put the poles away and headed straight in. A great ending to a beautiful day in Sarasota Bay! I will be posting new videos on youtube  tomorrow of my today's adventures!

Schooling bull redfish in Sarasota Bay

Check out my newest video!   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2C6MWezso

The Rain Has left Sarasota Bay Finally:)

  Today, I headed out for the first time since all the rain!  The water was a little fresh and really dirty. But, It was a beauuuuutiful morning! Light wind blowing out of the NE. I think the temperatures are finally starting to drop a little.:)  My second or third cast into the trip I caught maybe the smallest redfish I've ever seen! It was almost the same size as the jerk bait I was using. Lol! We continued on catching numerous amounts of trout. Most of them were really good size for this time of year. Soon the gator trout will be here. Caint wait!  In the middle of catching trout, we managed to catch a few medium size snook. Nothing huge but big enough to pull some drag and a couple of nice jumps! Headed in early to get ready for my trip to Chokoloskee .(10,000 Island) If You ever want to go to one of the best places to fish in the world, that is the place! Let me know and we can set up an overnight trip.

40" Snook and Schooling bullredfish in Sarasota Bay

 Started my morning off heading north in Sarasota bay on the east side, trying to stay away from the winds.  I was picking up a few small trout,when I looked to my Left and saw explosions on top of the water with birds diving on them. I paddled as fast as I could to get over to them. I turned the Go Pro on. Hoping for them to be the school of redfish I had been on the hunt for the day before, while fishing the IFA Redfish Kayak Tournament. As i got closer I saw the bronze bodies lit up everywhere!!! I take a long cast at them and my mirror lure jerk bait gets smashed! Now there are literally hundreds of redfish swimming all around me. While reeling the redfish in there were other reds trying to take the bait out of its mouth.lol! Trying to keep my eye on the school, I finally land the fish. It was lit up beautifully bronze, and had a big ol fat belly. I release the fish and paddle back over to them. This time, I take a cast at them with my top water plug. They were exploding all over it! After catching a few fish I ended up hooking into a monster size jack, that pulled my kayak around for what seemed like an eternity. I finally land him and when I look up to see where the school went they had vanished.  My arms were burning! I was thinking to myself, thank goodness for good reels and St. Croix Fishing Rods! I checked all my knots and bent all my hooks back into place. lol! So I start to paddle back keeping an Eye out for the schooling redfish. I pulled up to a creek and decided to check it out. The last time I was in this creek , I had about a 4 ft. snook follow my top water plug all the way to the kayak. At the last minute, it almost jumped in my boat trying to eat the lure! Anyways ,I am paddling hard because the current was ripping out. I get about half way up the creek and decide to start fishing. I catch one snook hanging around a dock and  just let the current take me down the creek. Fishing all the way down, I come to where the mouth of the creek opens up. I take a cast right on the edge of the mouth. I feel a thud which felt like I hooked the bottom. The current ripping me out. Then the fish realizes its hooked and my line starts peeling the opposite direction towards docks.:( I manage to turn its head and in the mean time wedge my kayak up in the bank of the mouth of the creek. Then remembered to turn on the Go Pro in the middle of all the craziness. Still not knowing what I had hooked, I see this huge head surface. Snooky Snooky! I thought to myself how am I going to land this fish in these circumstances! Finally I land the monster! So beautiful with that big mouth and long black stripe running down its body. Take a few pictures and release her. I start paddling back in thinking to myself that I cant wait to see the video footage when I get home.That was the end of another beautiful day in Sarasota Bay!

  By the way I'm still trying to figure out this whole Go Pro thing. Will be loading videos soon and I have started a YouTube page:)  

IFA (Inshore Fishing Assosiation) Kayak Tournament

It was a great weekend despite all those big boats in my favorite fishing spots (there was a big boat fishing tournament in Sarasota this weekend also).  Since Sarasota was crowded, I decided to enter the IFA kayak fishing tournament in Ruskin, FL.  Went up on Saturday to do some scouting and had a great day of fishing- caught a nice redfish, an 18 inch pompano, lots of trout, snook, jacks, & dang blue-fish (kept cutting our lines)!  Despite all of the boat traffic I decided to fish Sarasota instead of Ruskin with plans to go up to Ruskin for the weigh-in.  Started out in south Sarasota- boats all over my spot, but was able to get one nice snook and a few nice sized trout.  Then I paddled back in, hopped in the truck and headed to LongBar.  I was excited because the first fish I caught was a small red, but unfortunately that was the only one!  : (  Despite that, and lots of wind, managed to have a great day catching tons of trout, 17 inch flounder, and a few other species.  No win for me today, but I was happy to participate in the IFA's tournament anyway!  Thanks for checking in!

Sarasota Marina Jacks Kayak Fishing

    The skies looked  beautiful as we put the kayaks in the water. We paddled for about five minutes when we noticed the wind picking up! Looked behind us and saw the only black cloud in the sky coming directly at us. Luckily, it was a small summertime rain shower.Rained for about five  minutes and blew right over us. As soon as the rain stopped ,Mike Woodman caught a nice size barracuda on a glow colored DOA shrimp. We continued to drift pass Selby Gardens out onto a beautiful grass flat loaded with white bait and schools of mullet. Immediately we started picking up healthy size trout. While we were drifting the deeper side of the flat I saw a huge wake pushing up in front of me. I picked up my pole with the golden bream lil john on it ,and casted as far as I could to get it in front of them. Boom, as soon as it touched the water it got smashed! Line started peeling out. I new it was a redfish with that bronze flash in the water. By the time I reeled him in, the sun was just meeting the horizon.  It was a beautiful redfish and a beautiful sunset. The best of both Sarasota's finest! We continued catching nice trout until dark.Another great adventure in Sarasota Bay.

Sarasota longbar

Today we got a late start on the water but, it was okay because the tides were dead  in the early morning. We started off catching trout on plastic jerk baits like the golden bream lil johns from mirror lure and smokin shads from exudes.Then I decided to start throwing the ol trusty rattletrap. First cast i caught a flounder on it! My whole life I've never heard of such a thing but,its true! lol! Didn't seem to get anymore bites on it so switched back to the plastics. Immediately started catching respectable sized trout with one small snook in the mix. Right before we started to head back I picked up a slot sized redfish which had a beautiful lit up blue tail. On our way back we continued to catch trout ,when in the distance we saw the water exploding! We paddled quickly and we both cast at the same time. Boom, double header of a couple of nice size jacks. Well most of the fish were 20'' and under, but we still had a great time catching all those fish on a beautiful day in Sarasota Bay.

Kayak fishing north Sarasota Longbar

   Today was a great day! Kinda overcast so it was not so HOT! Caught fish from 7:30 am till 1pm. Started out catching lots of trout, when all of a sudden my lure gets smashed by a huge redfish! In the middle of the fight I decide to grab the GoPro. Which was a bad idea, because my red popped off! :(  Now I was ready with the GoPro for the next group of fish:  lots of snook and trout!  Even though it was lots of fun, I still was on the quest to land a redfish. Time was running out and the afternoon wind was beginning to pick up. So I decided to start heading to the launch. I stopped in the same spot where I had hooked the previous redfish. Boom ,I hook into another one! Nowhere near the size of the previous one but it was still a slot fish. It completed my inshore-slam for the day! 

 Tight lines to everyone!!! 

Opening Snook Season

  Today is a great day because it is OPENING DAY OF SNOOK SEASON and it just happens to be my B-DAY also!  On top of that, I just got the results for the August Kayak Club Fishing Tournament! I received 1st place  in the flounder category 20'', 2nd place in the snook category 35.5'' ,and 2nd place in the inshore-slam category 93.75''                        Want to wish everyone a happy snook season! Tight lines to everyone:)

Sarasota Kayak Fishing Report

Today started out a another beautiful day in Sarasota, Florida! Paddled out into the calm bay on the hunt for schooling redfish. On  my way I came across huge school of whitebait and mullet all mix up together. First cast into it, I caught a slot redfish which pulled me away from the schools. So, I paddled back up to them and immediately hooked into a snook! I then continued to pick a couple of more snook and trout off the school. While I was following them, I saw bigger schools in the distance, so I decided to make a dash for them. I was heading that way and I heard a rumble in the sky. : (  The weather report called for no rain till later in the day, but, as I looked to the west and to the north I could see two storms merging together. I couldn't resist the frenzy in the water ahead, so I kept paddling towards the school which happened to be the same direction as the storm.,, Lol! I reached the fish, took a cast and something huge hit my jerk bait immediately! Pop! Line snaps! I start to retie and I hear another boom, and I could now see rain in the distance. I'm now rigged and read to go. I take a couple of more casts, and catch a monster snook! After a big fight and the snook pulling my kayak around for what seemed like forever, I snapped a quick photo, and decided to make a run for it before it got nasty out there. As I was pulling in, two women looked like they were in trouble. The wind was so strong  it had one of them stuck in the mangrove and the other trying to help. Almost watching them tip I hurried over and helped them in. We all were wet from the rain but safe. : ) My day was cut short from the rain but that's Florida in the summertime... and it was a great morning!

Sarasota Kayak Fishing Report

Today was a Beautiful day in South Sarasota Bay!  Started out with a couple of nice snook! Did catch a mangrove snapper on a jerk bait which was kind of weird,,, Lol!  As the day warmed up we decided to paddle over to the back of Turtle beach and walk over to take a look at the Gulf, hoping to see more snook, We didn't see any, so we decided to take a couple of blind casts. First cast, we caught a huge flounder- 22 inches! After catching a couple of other smaller fish, we decided to get back into the kayaks. It was now 11:30 and it was getting HOT, but, as soon as we got back into bay we started ripping in fish! While we worked our way back to the launch site we caught a few more snook, a nice redfish, trout, and another snapper. Crazy for it being so late in the morning,  We caught fish all the way back until we finished up at 1pm! Great day! 

Big 'ol Flounder