Archived Reports

Bass Pro Shops Next Generation
I had the pleasure of having Ben (one of the hosts of Bass Pro's Next Generation Television show) come down to do a redfish show out of the kayaks
with me. I met Ben at the Bass Pro in Ft. Myers on Friday to do some head and shoulder shots for the show. The next morning we met and headed
off to Pine Island Sound to fish. The tide was not low enough for tailers so I decided we should fish the pot holes. Fishing that day turned out to be
quite good. We managed a couple of hits out of every pot hole. I unfortunatly had alot of fish get off the hook that day, however Ben was there to pick
up my slack the whole time. The funny part about the day was that Ben had a banana with him so of course I gave him a hard time for bringing it
along and that was the reason why we had missed and lossed those fish in the beginning of the day. Lets just say I was proved wrong on the banana
theory out of the kayaks. Anyway I only landed two reds that day Ben however landed five or six with the largest one going around 8lbs. Bait of
choice that day was a 3" gulp with a 1/8 weighted hook. I would like to send out a big thanks to Ben, Jared (the camera guy), and Capt. Nelson Diaz
for poling the camera around all day. Thanks to their help and hard work it should be a great show.

January
I have regretably only been out once or twice this month in the kayaks, I have ben fishing mostly out of the boat. The weather and fishing has been
unbelievable. Like last month with the exception of the the first week or so the weather has been great. With only one cold front this month so far our
tempretures have stayed in the high 70's to low 80's. The redfish have been tailing like crazy on almost every flat in the sound and around Matlacha.
Snook fishing has been good if you can find the fish. With the higher than normal temps. the snook are still eating well for this time of year. The
offshore fishing has been great. We have had a couple of days on the artificial reefs with 25 to 35 kingfish hookups generally landing over half of
them. The kings have ranged in size, most of them being around 15lbs. with a good amount in the 20-30lb range with one smoker being 36lbs. Bait of
choice this month has been large live bait such as threads and whitebait. The bait has been loaded just off the beaches. "It is the most bait I have
seen for anytime of year in quite a while."

12/28/06 & 12/29/06 Trip Report(s)
The beginning of December was tough with the first two weeks being cold and windy. The weather now is the best it has been for the winter in I dont
know how long. "Perfect conditions (overcast and temps in the upper 70's) for fishing." My trip for the past two days was with a gentlemen from the
Carolinas. He has had a lot of kayak fishing experiece up north off the beaches but was looking forward to fishing in warmer weather. The first day we
spent in the backcountry of Matlacha catching upwards of 20 or so snook. Most of the fish were small but he had one snook that hit the 9lb mark on
the boca. The bait of choice for the day was a white jerkbait with a weighted hook.

The next day we fished Pine Island Sound for tailing red fish. For what ever reason we didnt see a single tailer. We started to fish the potholes and
managed seven or eight trout to 22". As the tide rose we paddled farther in the backcountry we started to see a few reds but most were spooked by
the time we were in casting range. By the end of the day we did manage to pick up four red fish out of different potholes. The bait of choice that day
was a 3" gulp on a weighted hook.

Beginning of December
It has been cold and windy this month with just a couple of days being nice enough to get out with a low tide to fish. I have unfortunately had other
commitments on those days and have not been able to get out. We are in that time of year where cold fronts each week only give us a day or so of
decent weather to get out. If you are lucky enough to be free on those days be sure to get out there.

11/28/06 Sport Fishing Magazine
One of the editors of Sport Fishing Magazine came down to fish with us (Capt. Greg, Capt. Nelson, and myself) to do an article on kayak fishing. The
tide was some what high in the morning but as the day went on the tide dropped out and the tailers came out. Capt. Nelson was the star of the day
catching some where in the range of a dozen or so redfish for the camera. Greg and myself caught a couple reds each, which were smaller rats. I
caught a number of large trout up to 5 lbs. The larger pot holes once the tide was low were loaded with ladyfish, every cast almost. The day turned
out to be quite good considering the wind for a little bit started to blow pretty hard. Luckily we just hung on the back side of some islands and it
stopped after a little while. The article should be out in about six months or so, so be on the look out for it next summer. Thanks to the guys from
Sport Fishing Magazine for such a great time they were a blast to fish with.

11/23/06 Thanksgiving Morning Tailers
Tails, Tails, and more TAILS, this mornings weather was picture perfect with hardly a breath of wind and cool air temps. The weather and conditions
were perfect from the start. We had an out going tide all morning. There were tailing reds from the first minute we started to fish fishing for myself was
tough though I only landed one red fish that day along with a number of large 2-4 lb. trout. Greg was along on the trip and landed many fish even
some on fly. Lure choice for me that day was the same as normal a 3" berkley gulp shrimp on a 1/8 oz. weighted jerk bait hook. The tide emptied out
the entire backcountry of water and left only the pot holes with water in them. There were about four or five fish stuck in each of the pot holes. Those
fish were pretty much locked jawed and very spooky because of how low the tide was. We headed back in around one o-clock just as the wind had
started to blow and back to the house we all went for a great meal. Great fishing, weather and a Thanksgiving feast followed by a little nap "IT DOES
NOT GET ANY BETTER THAN THAT"

11/15/06-11/18/06 Keys Boat Trip
Took the Path Finder to the Keys with good buddy Leonard for a few days. We had a great time staying in Marathon. The weather was a little windy
but fishing was good, we caught close to a hundred little grouper with a couple being keepers. Other catches also included snapper, barracuda,
hound fish, sharks, and lots and lots of tarpon being jumped at the bridges at night.

11/13/06 Ocean Kayak Film Crew
Ocean Kayak hired a film crew to come down and film us for a part of a video they are doing on there line of kayaks. We were filmed for the fishing
part of the video. Greg Bowdish, Crystal Murray, and my self were all involved in the video. A BIG THANKS goes out to John, Crystals husband, for
polling the film crew around in there little skiff. As the tide went out the tails came out. Not only were the tailers out but the fish were loaded in the
pot holes as well. The lure of choice for the day was the 3" berkley gulp shrimp "newpenny" with a 1/8 oz. mustad weighted jerk bait hook. I
personally landed about a dozen reds throughout the day. My biggest red which was just under 10 lbs. was landed on film the first part of the day.
Greg and Crystal both landed good sized reds and trout on camera that day. The film crew was quite happy with the day's action. The crew was in
town for three days and this was there second day and had plenty of fish for the video already.

The next day Capt. Greg took us to one of his big jack spots in Matlacha Pass. The action was intense with hundreds of jacks boiling the surface of
the water. We were all hooked up at once even and with some of the fish reaching over the 10 lb. mark the footage the film crew got was great.

You cant beat fishing out of the kayak in the late fall in Florida. It was kind of cool to here the film crew say that they have been all over the country
trying to get fishing video for different projects and that was the best action they have had or seen anywhere.

10/30/06 Trip Report
Today's low tide was around 3 pm, so we waited until mid morning to get started. We were on the water by 11 or so and had about a half an hour
paddle to get to the area I wanted to fish that day. There was a pretty good east wind which had lowered the water level even more. My clients that
day were avid fly fishermen from up north and had really wanted to catch a redfish on fly. We fished potholes for about three hours with only a couple
of strikes. I started to get frustrated with the fact that there was not that much action from the fish in the area, with fishing the same area a few days
before and catching numerous good sized redfish something just didn't seem right. Fly fishing is tough enough with out the conditions being perfect.
So when the fish are not cooperating and the wind is blowing fly fishing is not the ideal way to hook up. While sitting at one of the pot holes I asked
the gentlemen if I could through out the fish finder. With a puzzled look on there face I pulled a spinning rod out from the front storage hatch on the
prowler 13 with a 3" gulp shrimp on it. I tossed it out and after a couple of bumps I hooked up with turned out to be about a 7lb red. After seeing this,
the both of them decided to switch to spinning outfits with gulps on them. After switching they caught a couple of reds out of each pothole we fished.
We ended the day with 8 or 10 reds and about a dozen trout. Thanks to my clients Ken and Norm for such a great day and being understanding and
willing to switch to the spinning rods.

10/26/06 Late Start Great Finish
Got a call from Capt. Greg this morning about 9:30 seeing if I wanted to go out in the kayaks for a little bit. Finally about a quarter till noon we made
it on the water. The tide was just starting to slow as it was near the bottom of the tide. So off we went in search of some tailers. After about an hour
or so and nothing but a couple of spooked redfish and a million mullet we switched gears and started to fish the pot holes. Over the next hour and a
half we landed over a dozen slot sized fish with one just over the slot pulling the hook at the side of the kayak. With the colder weather it has caused
the water temp to drop a little causing the fish to be a little less aggressive. Switching gears and fishing slow with gulp shrimp saved our day turning
it into a great afternoon.

10/20-10/21/06 Cabage Key Open
I had the pleasure of fishing with team Lake & Bay this weekend in the Cabage Key Open. Fishing was great with strong incoming tides that took up
most of the day. The snook bite was on down south for us with 17.75 lbs for the first day. Unfortunately we could not find a red fish to add to the
board. The 2nd day of the tournament started with a much slower start. We spun a prop just after the shotgun start. After about a 3 hour delay we
headed off to see if we could catch the end of the incoming tide. We arrived with about 45 minutes of moving water left in the tide. The first cast
pulled out a 12.75 lb. 33 1/2" snook. After about 10 to 15 min. Andy (Magic Tilt Trailer Rep) got our second keeper weighing 9.25 lbs. The smaller of
the two snook started to go belly up. So back to Cabage we went to weigh in our snook. We had about an hour and a half before weigh in so we tried
for a red but with no luck we went back in for the nights events. Team Lake & Bay took 8th place, not bad for not having a red fish either day.
Congrats to the other Lake & Bay team w/ Capt Nelson Diaz for the 5th place finish.

10/15/06 Kayaking Key Largo
Chrystal Murray and my self went down to Florida Bay Outfitters this weekend. Crystal had some seminars to give at a couple of places so I was left
to fish the waters around Key Largo and Islamorada for a couple of days. The wind this weekend was pretty bad due to the cold front that came
through the area. The wind kept me close to the launch site as I didn't want to paddle to the islands that were a mile or two off the beach. Close to
shore I found lots of little barracuda around the mangroves, along with some of the most aggressive and largest mangrove snapper I have ever seen
this close to shore. Sunday Crystal and my self took the guys from Florida Bay Outfitters out for a little kayak fishing. The wind was howling that
day. We decided to paddle around Pennicamp State Park to stay out of the wind. Again we caught a number of little barracuda that day and had a
great time on the water. A big thanks to the people at Florida Bay Outfitters fot their great hospitality. If you are ever in the keys be sure to stop in
and see there shop in Key Largo.