Happy New Year!
Kayak fishing charters have been pretty good. Did 8 out of 10 days before another slowdown. Just before the turn of the calendar, the trips went stale and I believe that it as a mix of lockjaw and also fish “on the move”. Even though weather patterns were not severe, the location of fish changed a great deal in the past ten days.
Yet another exceptionally warm December week on Florida’s West Central Gulf coast! In the seasonal pattern of fish, much of what was experienced in the past month was the same as it was last week: Redfish, whiting, silver trout, sheepshead, speckled trout, bluefish, spanish mackerel were all in the mix of fish caught. The big news this week was the appearance of some hungry sharks and cobia.
Cobia have been a long time “accidental catch” in my deeper water winter and springtime angling pursuits. Three were brought up to the boats this week. They were all under 30 inches but a thrill on light tackle. One thing I have noticed with the smaller cobia is that they have urges to jump. Two of the three cobia made exciting leaps during the fight.
Several blacktip sharks and about 5 bonnethead sharks were caught this last week. Other cutoffs were probably shark cutoffs as well. The largest blacktip inhaled a 15 inch silver trout that was being reeled up. It made a blistering run before the fish was turned. As part of my regular gear I take out with me, a sharp knife is excellent for the release of the fish. Sharks should be handled with caution in kayak angling and safely cutting the leader (with the sharp knife) gets these fish on their way with minimal effort on your part. The most dangerous shark is a hooked one.
Speckled trout fishing has become much easier than it has been since the bad Red Tide of 2005. As I reflect back on 2006 and think about how I was easily catching double the number of trout than I am now two years ago, I will continue to release them in 2007 as well. The positive signs are there that they’re a fish stock in recovery but I will continue to let them go for some time yet and encourage others to consider the same.
Redfish have still run on the small side but plenty of action for anyone wanting to go out with their light tackle and enjoy catching a lot of them. The fish seem to be “head down” and feeding when I’ve encountered them lately. Jigs moved very slowly will get their attention. Scaled sardines or live shrimp weighted with a single small split shot will catch many fish as well. If you’re in the right spot you may as well say to your bait before you cast it: “Something very violent is about to happen to you!”
Sheepshead are inshore in force now. A ten pounder may be reported this year. I anticipate several more to be caught that are larger than that one over the next 6 weeks. Fiddler crabs worked best several weeks ago. Shrimp seemed to be the hot ticket for them this past week (Fresh, not frozen) Me? I don’t bait hooks. An option, I just can’t bring myself to do it.
Kayak Fishing Skool resumes this month (Jan. 25th). The host site is the 8th Avenue Pub in Safety Harbor. The locals are catching on and Skool is growing. I will draft topics for 2018 in the next two days.
The Captain Mel Classic: May 12, 2018. The format remains the same. All lure. A fly division. Trout winners, redfish winners; grand prize category, longest combined inches of redfish and trout. Bonus species flounder. Entry fee the same at $30. All five divisions the same: Open; No Motor; Ladies; Junior and Fly.
Your past participation much appreciated, we hope to have you extremely involved again this year.
The host location will remain at the Fat Cat Tavern. Check in will be Friday May 11, 5 to 8PM.
We have the same volunteers to staff the event we had last year. Everything should go very well again. The charity this year will remain Suncoast Animal League.
There are openings in the schedule and I would be happy to get your outing scheduled!
As always: Be careful out there!
Neil Taylor
www.strikethreekayakfishing.com
(Cell) 727-692-6345
LivelyBaits@aol.com
- The Neil Blog… - July 26, 2023
- The Catfish - July 26, 2023
- update - July 22, 2023
