Started out the morning with a semi high tide but was moving out fast. We decided to stay near the mangroves while there was still a little water left on them. We through out everything from top water,jerk baits, to suspension baits .Nothing! Time to make a move. While heading out to our next spot I through out a paddle tail jerk bait to troll behind. Not even a minute in the water and boom a gator trout! We picked up a few more trout but ,when we had almost got to our spot. My Bait got SLAMMED! Almost literally ripping my rod holder off my kayak! Seconds of way of losing my rod and reel I grabbed it! Line screaming out I new right away this isn't no trout. Finally after wear the fish down I saw that it was a huge mackerel. Pushing over 30 inches it looked like a kingfish!lol! I held it up i the air by my leader (stupidly) to show Mike the fish and pop! There went the fish and my whole set up! After retying and regrouping from all the excitement , we paddle just a little more to our next spot. I stood up to see if there were any fish hanging in the area. I started seeing redfish and trout everywhere! We began casting at them with jerk baits but, they wouldn't eat them. Threw a mirro lure at them and we started picking them off one by one. Most of them being nice fish in the 20 to 27 inch range. After having our fulfillment of reds,we wanted to try and finish off our slam, Venturing off where my snook friends like to hang out. We decide to keep pitching the ol mirro lure sense we were having some much success with it on the reds. After working th mangrove linre pretty hard we drifted across this hole witch we ended up catching a couple of snook out of. One was nice about 25 inches and one was a little guy but fisty! That had ended a wonderful day on the water in Ruskin , Fl!
Fishing on fire in Sarasota bay!
The day started out good because one of my best friends and I were on the water ready to catch some fish! We headed out early in the morning with a beautiful sunrise in the distance. We were blessed with great weather- wind was blowing hard the day before. We headed down the intercoastal searching for some big snook. Casting towards the mangrove lines we managed to catch a few monster jacks. They put up big fights- my buddy's yak was spinning in circles- we had a good laugh about that one- got a great video of it as well. I will post that video on my youtube channel (search eric henson casting kayaks on www.youtube.com to see it) in a few days. We paddled on and picked up a couple of huge 'doormat' flounders- kept a fat one for dinner. : ) As we came up to a grass flat we started picking up lots of trout- a couple over 20inches! My friend (visiting from TN) really wanted to hook a redfish and the day was almost over. I took him to a hole where redfish hang out- he casted and BOOM- redfish on! Over 27inches- put up a great fight! What a great way to end a wonderful day. We didn't manage to catch any snook, but we caught a ton of fish and ended up with a great fish dinner! : )
Vamo on fire!!!
This morning headed out on the water a little late because of the cool weather. We started paddling out to the mangroves to see what was biting. First mangrove line we saw lots of mullet moving but, not one bite! We head to the next stretch and casted out the top water.It got crushed as soon as it hit the water. Snook on!:) We continued catching snook after snook with a couple of small trout in the mix. Now all we needed was a redfish to finish the slam. We paddled on to the next mangrove and on my way I see a 35-40 inch snook floating dead in the water. :( As we pull up in between two islands, there are mullet everywhere! The water is super skinny, six inches to a foot. I take a long cast with the top water and boom a red fish crushes it! I struggled to get the go pro on and got a little slack in the line. I reel the slack in and put pressure back on the fish.Pop! The lure comes out and almost hits me in the face! My next cast is into like six inches of water where I had seen redfish cruizing the mangrove line. Couple of twitches of the spook jr. and it gets SMASHED by a nice redfish! It was unbelievable watching the whole fish come out of the water and inhale my lure! The fight was on! When I got him close to the boat I realized he had completely swallowed the whole lure. So, I decided to bring him home. Then we paddled over to turtle beach, got out to stretch out legs and take a few casts on the beach side for flounder with jigs. We ended up catching 6 flounder within 1/2 hour. Then we jumped back in our kayaks and made our journey back towards the launch. We picked up a few more nice sized snook on the way home. Great day!
Longbar in Sarasota!
Started out the morning heading the opposite direction than I normally go do to diving birds. Tide was low and the bird were going crazy after all the bait in the water. There had to be 15 different types of birds feeding in one spot! My favorite of them are the all white pelican ,that are only down for the winter. They come all the way down from Canada and are twice the size of our normal pelicans! Beautiful, almost prehistoric looking. Anyways, as we headed towards the bait we realized they were diving in a foot or two of water. We start throwing top water and immediately we pick up a beautiful slot size redfish. Tail was lit up so blue. After catching a few more fish we decided to head down long bar heading north. I thought if we headed that way we could hopefully get sheltered from the wind a bit. Its laid down a little bit so I throw out the ol top-water again and BOOM a snook crushes it! Thinking he was a keeper ,I got him to the boat as fast as possible which wasn't easy. I could see the hooks barely in his mouth. I get the fish grips in his mouth. throw him on the board and he is a half an in shy of 28":( so I had to release him. Then we continued on our way picking up some decent trout. As we head back in we notice that the tide was so low that we were going to have to take the long route back. Even to skinny for kayaks! Oh well darn more fishing. Lol! We ended up catching a couple of more nice snook and few smaller trout. Despite all the wind and obstacles we had a great day! Got some cool pics of birds and also got some good video footage of a manatee that wouldn't leave my kayak alone!:0 will try and post video soon!
Winter low tides have arrived!
The winter low tides have Arrived! The winter trout are starting to arrive also:) Started out the morning throwing top water. Caught a couple of med. size snook and a gator trout right off the bat! The other guys caught a couple of nice size trout also. Then the dead tide hits and it takes the tide over an hour to start moving again. finally the tide starts moving and the fishing pick back up. I picked off a couple of jacks in the super shallow water looking for reds. After a bit we decide to make a move into the deeper water. Soon after we began picking up trout after trout. We caught ,not even joking over 50 trout with in an hour! The other guy managed to sqeek out a nice redfish at the end.We had our limit so we decided to head in and clean all our catch. Another great day on the water in Sarasota bay
Hunt for Red October! Site casting for Huge Bull Redfish!
40+ inch redfish in Sarasota Bay (The Hunt For Red October)
Well my day started out cooollllddd.... It was the first cold snap of the year. I decided to head out at sunrise like I normally do and it was not a good idea! lol! I didn't catch my first real fish fish till 11 am! Before that I had caught 3 lizard fish and 1 ladyfish. :( Once the water warmed up the fishing started getting a lot better. I picked up a few nice size trout. The jacks were everywhere I casted and my arms were tired from catching so many. So I started scouting out the area. Poling across the flats during the extreme low tides, you always find nice holes that you don't normally see on the higher tides. Meanwhile as I'm poling along I see this huge red log laying in the water. I take a closer look and see that it is a monster redfish! I pick up my pole with the redfish pattern mirro lure and cast it right in front of its face. Twitch it once and out of no where a jack comes up and eats it right out of the reds mouth. Now I'm quietly trying to real this fish in without spooking the red as the wind is pushing me further and further away. I take the fish off the hook. Pick up another rod with a golden bream lil john. Lather it up with some pro cure inshore sent. Put the Go Pro on and go on the hunt for red October. As I'm heading back, I'm praying I hadn't spooked him? Finally I see him out of the corner of my eye sitting right next to 2 other smaller redfish. I pick up my pole. Make a short cast right in front of his face. He turns his head and sucks my lure right up! FISH ON! My heart drops into my chest and the fight is on. The first time he comes to the top of the water I couldn't believe how big he was. I was praying to myself. Pleaaaaasssseeee don't break or come off. As I was reeling him in, other redfish started following him up. If there had been someone else with me, there would have definitely been a double hook up! I finally land him. My heart racing like crazy! I quickly throw him on the measuring board . When I first measured him I thought he was 39 inches but when I went back and looked at the pictures, I realized he was almost 42! I was in all! I put him back into the water to revive the beautiful bull when two guys and a dog came out on the flat. They were nice and snapped a couple of more pictures for me. I then turned the Go Pro back on for the great release. It was truly beautiful watching the redfish head back to nature for another day:)
Going back to Ruskin,Fl :)
Headed out this morning and the moon was bright like the sun. It was so beautiful watching the moon setting in the west and the sun rising in the east. Launched out the normal spot. The three of us started out throwing top water. Fish were following us up on every throw. The tide was kind of slow but, the jacks didn't care!lol! After our arms were done burning from all the jacks we paddled on. We came up to a super shallow flat with deep pot holes. Bait and mullet were everywhere. We started throwing top water again and this time it was reds,trout and snook following us up. We all caught a few few fish each and decided to move.. As we cut across the channel I casted out a brand new mirro dine into a pod of white bait. Boom a huge snook crushes it! I turn on the Go Pro and before I knew it was behind my kayak. It ends up getting tangled in one of my poles in the pole holder. So I grab the line and start pulling it in by hand!lol! I get it next to the boat and as I was pulling it up to show it off. POP the line snaps. It sat there for a second but as soon as I tried grabbing the fish it took off with my brand new lure.:( Then we saw huge schools of mullet everywhere. We followed the mullet pretty much the rest of the day catching Reds,Snook,Trout,and Jacks. The Reds were eating top water late into the day which was nice! The three of us almost all got triple slams (Red,Snook,Trout) Another Great day on the water!
keeper snook!:)
Tearn' it up in S. Sarasota
Headed out of the Vamo launch to see what was going on? The morning started out slow! Catching only one jack on top water in the first hour I was out there. As soon as the tide picked up though the fishing picked up. While I was paddling to my first spot i see the water erupting about a half mile down. I new it was probably a school of reds but, I had to make a though decision. I decided to stay put and hit mt favorite spot and boy glad I did! The first cast i took as I came up to my spot I hooked into a big ole snook. Pulled me around like a rag doll. I finally landed it and anchored up. Bait was busting o top of the water so I decided to throw the ole skitter-walk. Boom! It gets crushed by another snook. After that I threw the lil john in the mix and boom a beautiful redfish! My day was getting better fast. Lol! I ended up jumping a couple of more snook and moved on to the next spot. I continued catching snook allllllll day and even caught a nice blackdrum of all things. I saw many more reds but they didn't want anything I had for them. lol! Also got into a couple of schools of big jacks that burned the ole forearms up. I was done before 11:30 and caught over 15 snook! Thank you Sarasota for another beautiful day!:)
Heading to Ruskin,Fl for a Kayakers Heaven!
We left out at 5am from Sarasota for Ruskin FL. When we got there it was crazy! Forgetting tht it was a holiday weekend... we had to wait in a long line of boats all putting in on one single boat ramp. We finally got our kayaks in the water and on our way we immediately hear bait getting busted on the top of the water everywhere. I take a long cast along the mangrove line. Pretty much as soon as it hit the water, fish on! The sun not even coming up yet and this beast of a snook whoops me, pulling me into the mangroves! Luckily we had our headlamps on. I was able to finally land the snook. Now we had to decide what our next move was going to be? It was hard to leave but we had just put in and boats were blowing by every two seconds. We paddled out to the right working the mangrove line all the way to the mouth of Little Manatee River. We probably caught 15 snook mostly on top water plugs like spooks and skitter-walks. It was sooooo beautiful as the sun came up watching our top water lures walking side by side getting smashed every few feet! Some of the hits sounded like gun shots blowing the lures completely out of the water. next we decided to head out into a little deeper water to target some trout. Got a couple of them on top water but as soon as we switched to Jerk baits we started catching them almost every cast! While we were drifting we came across a small school of reds. Matt was able to pick one up on a flat wrap by Rapala. By the time I got close enough to him to take a cast they had moved on. Now the flat that we are on is about a foot or two deep. We decide to stand up and look for pot holes. The fist pot hole I cast in my jerk bait gets crushed by a big ole snook, Next thing You know we start catching snook, trout ,snook, trout. Those fish had some backs on them. They were eating good! We were catching so many fish that boats were trying to follow us. They kept getting there engines stuck in the flats. When that happened we shot across the channel to hit up the other deeper flat. We started catching snook and trout when Matt saw a bobber in the distance. He casted near it and snags the line connected to it. His line starts peeling out! Finally he wears it down and when it gets close to the boat he realizes it is about a 3-4 ft shark. It had broken someones line and he caught it. We were able to save the shark by removing the hook and line that was all over the poor thing. After a long day of catching over 30 snook ,30 trout,1 redfish, and a few other kinds of fish we decide to start heading back. On our way back Matt hooks a 35 -40 inch snook that came off the hook right at the boat.:( An amazing day in good ole Ruskin Florida.
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!
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!
Check out my new video!
Big redfish on Sarasota Bay!
Read MoreSarasota 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!!!