Kayak Fishing Blog

Julia's First Fish

Mark — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 02:15:00 GMT

Inshore Fishing Report
Sunday, September 13, 2009

My youngest daughter, Julia, had been asking me for some time to take her kayak fishing. Now that she is all of seven years old, she decided she wants to join Dad on one of his fishing trips. Once our schedules finally allowed us time to indulge in some saltwater fishing, the weather wasn't all that cooperative. It rained all night and continued into the morning of our fishing trip. However, the weather gal on TV assured us it would be clearing up as the morning went on, so we loaded up the kayak and our fishing gear and off we went.

After a quick (and rainy) trip to the bait shop, we secured one dozen live shrimp and headed to Little Talbot Island State Park. The campground there has a nice hard sand primitive boat launch onto Myrtle Creek. This is one of the few places in North Florida where the creek bottom is mostly sand and not the gooey marsh mud that is found in practically every other inshore creek here. The weather was beginning to cooperate, too. About the time we stepped out of the truck to launch the kayak, it had stopped raining.

With our gear loaded, Julia safely seated, and the kayak in the water, I cranked up the "kayak motor" and off we went to a favorite fishing spot. As kayak motors go, Julia gets about 50 yards per granola bar:

Our first fishing hole didn't produce any bites, but Julia was all set and ready to catch some fish:

The clouds stayed with us most of the day, but we brought along our umbrella as rain insurance. Had we left it in the truck, I"m sure it would have poured buckets on us. Our next fishing spot was more productive. Julia got a big bend in the rod and a firm tug on her fishing line on the very first cast:

Here she is with her very first fish, ever! For her efforts and patience, she was rewarded with a nice little spotted seatrout:

He was too small to keep, so we released him to grow bigger. Maybe we'll come back another day and catch him again. After the little trout, the only bites we got were some small pinfish that kept stealing our shrimp. Julia was starting to get tired (and bored, I think), so we negotiated one more stop at another fishing hole on the way back to the launch.

This time, we were rewarded with a couple of rat sized redfish:

Julia likes how they can raise and lower their dorsal fins. She also thinks its pretty funny when the fish splashes Daddy as he puts them back in the water to swim off. After releasing the third of our undersized fish for the day, Julia asked me, "Daddy, are there any fish in this creek we can keep?" I like how she thinks, but it was not to be today. We only found (and released) underslot fish, with no keepers in the bunch.

The sun was now getting hot, and Julia's fun meter was at its limit. We headed back in to drive home so she could tell Mommy and her sisters all about her fishing adventures and catching her very first fish. She did great on her first fishing trip, and I'm sure we'll go out again soon. Only next time, we'll catch a few keepers for dinner.

Stinkpot Fishin' With BIL & FIL (Jan 25, 2009)

Mark — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:51:00 GMT

My brother-in-law (BIL), John, was in town, and we decided to ride along with my father-in-law (FIL), Tony, in his 16 foot stinkpot (powerboat) to go catch a few reds and trout. Those two had gone out yesterday while I was out on the kayak, and they had a pretty good day as well. Today we would try our luck as a trio and see if the fish would cooperate.

The day started out foggy and overcast, and it stayed that way most of the day. We arrived at a favorite spot, tied the boat off and set about our intended business of catching fish. We had four dozen live shrimp in the baitwell, and we arrived about an hour into the falling tide. The current was ripping pretty good here; anything less than a 1/2 ounce weight wasn't going to stay in one place very long.

Tony got the skunk off the boat almost right away with a very nice redfish, and John wasn't far behind with a chunky 20" sheepshead (his first ever, I think!):

While these two were reeling in fish, I was busy mostly catching gnats - with my mouth. I must've swallowed half a pound of those things. They were buzzing around in huge clouds, and they used insect repellent as a condiment. I probably could have skipped the sausage mcmuffin on the way out, having discovered another source of protein right here. I finally zeroed in on a couple of rat reds, along with a couple of keeper trout, as did John and Tony. All of us released several undersize reds throughout the day.

John went on to score another nice size sheepshead, rounding out our combined catch for the day at 10 keepers.
Not bad for a chilly, foggy day in Northeast Florida!

Wintertime Slam at Myrtle Creek (Jan 24, 2009)

Mark — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:38:10 GMT

After more than a week of below freezing temperatures here in northeast Florida, some warmer weather finally moved in. Not wanting to miss this opportunity, I loaded up the 'yak, pulled on my Seal Skinz waterproof socks, and headed down to the bait shop to get a couple dozen live shrimp. While I prefer to use artificial lures, cold weather slows down the fish, so I wanted to make my presentation as appetizing as possible and maximize my opportunity to bring home some tasty groceries.

After unloading the kayak, I was on the water and ready to fish by 0945. I arrived in time to catch the last half of the falling tide. Weather was partly cloudy with a forecast high of 68 degrees, 10% chance of rain. Moon was a waning gibbous, and water temperature was around 54 degrees. Winds were about 10 mph out of the southwest, which would push the tide out lower than normal and somewhat delay the incoming tide.

I was fishing two rigs simultaneously. The passive setup was a dropshot rig with a circle hook baited with a live (or dead) shrimp. For the active rod, I tied on a 1/4 ounce chartreuse jighead, also baited with a live shrimp and worked v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y across the bottom. The first fish of the day was a small black drum, too small to keep or bother photographing. Not long after that, a scrappy rat red came calling, biting on the dropshot rig, followed by a flounder who ate a live shrimp on a jig:

The bite slowed down at this spot, so I moved on to another spot I had discovered on a past fishing trip, after installing a depth/fishfinder on the kayak. This "new" spot had a big oyster bed on one side, near a dropoff with about 12 feet of water at low tide. From this spot, I pulled out a nice keeper red at 20". He was caught using a piece of dead shrimp fished on a dropshot rig. The dropshot rig also came through again with a 16" black drum.

At dead low tide, I cruised around this hole for a bit, and caught a couple more undersize black drum and rat reds. After the bite appeared to turn off, I decided to make my way back to the original spot, to see if I could intercept any fish on their way back up the creek with the incoming tide. I was also looking for a trout. Surprisingly, I had yet to see one the whole day. On my previous fishing trip to this area, the place was lousy with small underslot trout. I must've caught and released at least 20 of them that day. They were being very shy today, though.

The tide in this area gets very low - down to inches in many places - and I had to get out and pull the kayak back across a large sand flat to find some deeper water on the other side. Remember that 10% chance of rain? Looks like the spot I was sitting in was THAT 10%, because it started to rain. With no lightning or high winds, I slipped on my rain gear and continued fishing. Even with the steady drizzle, an incessant cloud of gnats descended upon me, and they didn't seem deterred by the insect repellent I was using. Fortunately, I brought along a headnet to keep them out of my nose and eyes.

By now the tide was coming back in at a pretty good clip. As I waited for the incoming tide to flood the creek sufficiently for me to paddle back to the ramp, no other fish seemed interested in hitting my bait. When the water was high enough, I unstaked and began the paddle home. I stil had a live shrimp on a jig head, so I decided to make that "last cast" of the day. This time, it paid off with a very nice 20" trout:

Just in time to complete my inshore slam (trout-redfish-flounder) and make a nice addition to the dinner table!

Fall is Here and the Fishin' is Easy

Mark — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:33:00 GMT

With nothing critical on my work schedule for the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to take the day off and enjoy a 5-day weekend. The weather report called for near freezing temps in the morning with highs in the mid 60's and very little wind. Time to layer up and go do some fishin'!

While I normally prefer to fish with artificial lures, today I was in the mood to sling some shrimp, so I stopped off on the way to visit Don Whitman at Leaders & Sinkers, one of the bait shops in Fernandina Beach. Don almost always has live shrimp on hand. With a couple dozen shrimp secured in my easy live bait cooler, I was ready to go.

I hadn't been to Kayak Amelia in a while, and the tides were right for launching there, so I paid them a visit. They only charge $1 to use their gravel launch, and it's easy-in-easy-out there. Just make sure you don't try to return near low tide at that spot. The whole place turns into one giant mud flat with the consistency of chocolate pudding. They also have a fresh water hose to rinse your gear and a restroom, which can come in handy before or after a long day on the water. I was on the water in time to catch the last half of the falling tide. Kayak Amelia closes at 5 pm, so I would have just enough water at the launch to make it back in time without having to slog through the mud.

Kayak Amelia sits more or less at the middle of Simpson Creek, wich empties into the Nassau Sound to the North and the Fort George River to the south. On an outgoing tide, you can go north or south and still be paddling with the tide. I hadn't fished the north section of the creek in a while, so that's the direction I headed. The north half of the creek has more deep holes than the southern half, and I was betting that with the cooler temps we've had lately, the fish might be schooling up in and around those deeper holes, seeking more constant temperatures.

I stopped first along the edge of a 12-foot hole and staked out near the bank, just downstream from a point of land that created a nice eddy as the current swept past it. I pitched out a live shrimp on a carolina rig, and another on a jig head. Both rigs produced several underslot puppy drum and a small trout, followed by one keeper black drum at 15" who volunteered to go home with me for Thanksgiving dinner. The undersized drum were becoming a nuisance and I got tired of feeding them shrimp and decided to move on.

My next stop was another deep hole with a fair amount of structure along one side, so I again staked out, facing the kayak into the current so I could cast upcurrent and work a bait slowly on the bottom. I also tossed out a carolina or "fish finder" rig with a circle hook and live shrimp, placing it downcurrent and securing the rod in a holder behind my seat. While that rod was on autopilot, I put another shrimp onto a simple leadhead jig and cast that one upcurrent and let it settle to the bottom. I didn't have to wait more than two minutes before I felt the freight train impact of a hungry redfish inhaling the shrimp and taking off with the line. At the same time, I heard the drag peeling off the rod behind me -- double hook-up! The result was a nice 22" red on the jig and another keeper black drum on the carolina rig. I stayed in this spot for another hour or so, landing a total of 10 redfish, along with missing 3 or 4 more fish that unhooked themselves before getting to the boat. Most of the reds were 20-something inches, with the largest measuring 24".

For the next hour or so, things stayed very interesting. With water temps around 57 degrees, the fish were in the mood to chow down. I'd throw out another shrimp and hook up shortly with another:

And another...

I ran out of live shrimp and switched to Gulp! shrimp, which the reds continued to inhale as aggressively as they did the real thing. This went on until the tally went up to 10 reds or so. I decided to move on and see if I could rustle up a legal sized trout and/or a flounder. I never did find the flounder, but I found LOTS of trout. Unfortunately, the biggest of the trout was just barely 15", so no keepers for those today. After a while, it was almost (but not quite!) becoming annoying to reel in one undersize trout after another. All but one of the trout were taken on artificials.

One of the reds (22") and two of the black drum went home to join us for Thanksgiving dinner (grilled with Montreal steak seasoning, olive oil, tomatoes and onions).

Final tally for the day:
5 black drum to 15"
10 redfish to 24"
21 trout to 15"

Baits & lures used:
Live shrimp
Gulp! 4" shrimp, grey
Gulp! watermelon jerk shad
Gulp! swimming mullet - white
D.O.A. shrimp

Florida Sportsman Fishing & Boat Show - A Kayak Angler's Perspective

Mark — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:08:00 GMT

On November 8, 2008, I took the opportunity to visit the Florida Sportsman Fishing & Boat Show during its swing through Jacksonville, Florida. Although there were plenty of product vendors there, my primary purpose was to sit in on a few of the inshore fishing seminars to hear what the pros from around the state had to say and to glean some additional knowledge that might be helpful to kayak anglers. I visited three different seminars, and surprisingly, all three of these professionals incorporated the Cajun Thunder or similar popping cork into their repertoire, among other techniques. Even though they agreed this apparatus can seem a little goofy and is prone to having fishermen make fun of each other for using one, they also agree that it is a consistent fish producer. Thinking back to some of my first kayak fishing trips, I used a rattle float and caught plenty of fish with it. For whatever reason, I haven't use one in well over a year. Maybe it's time to dust off my Cajun Thunder float and give it another go, even if the guys do start referring to me as "Sally." Below is a summary of the seminars I attended and my thoughts on the tips and information shared by these inshore fishing pros.

Fishing the Backwaters with Plastics - featuring Capt Mark Nichols, inventor and manufacturer of D.O.A. lures.
Perched on the deck of a flats boat "anchored" on one end of an artificial lagoon erected within the confines of the Prime Osborn Convention Center, Mark's presentation was both entertaining and informative. As one might expect, the bulk of his discussion centered on how to use various D.O.A. soft plastic baits in a variety of situations. One of his most significant tips was directed at how to properly fish the popular D.O.A. shrimp. As Mark puts it, "fish this lure slower than death." A pop or twitch now and then, and let the shrimp settle down to the bottom. Shrimp don't spend all their time popping their tails and flitting about in the water. That takes up lots of energy, and shrimp, like many of us, just want to get through their day with as little effort as possible (and without getting eaten). Let the current and the lure's natural action do the work for you with this one.

One of Mark's more unusual presentations was to bite the tail off a D.O.A. shrimp and remove the hook from the body of the shrimp. He replaced the original hook with a small rattle tube, and re-rigged the shrimp with an offset worm hook inserted through the tail, bringing the business end of the hook up through the top of the shrimp with the barb resting parallel to the shrimp's back, making it weedless. The end result is a plastic shrimp that can be bounced backwards along the bottom, imitating a fleeing shrimp. When your D.O.A. shrimp starts getting a little chewed up and begins to slide around on the hook in the usual configuration, try this modification to extend the life of the lure and catch more fish with it.

He also demonstrated the use of D.O.A.'s "tough guy" pinfish imitation. These notorious bait stealers are one of the reasons I all but gave up on using live bait. (Catfish and stingrays are the other reasons). Then again, a live pinfish on a hook makes fantastic bait for huge trout, but when they are stealing bait, they rarely hook themselves on the larger hooks intended for sizeable gamefish. Having a plastic pinfish imitation is a great idea that I will have to try in the near future.

D.O.A. manufactures their own version of the Cajun Thunder rattle float, called the D.O.A. "Deadly Combo." It consists of an orange float on a wire, with 1/4 ounce lead sinker below it and a plastic shrimp at the end of a leader. Jerking the rod tip causes beads on the foat's wire to rattle and bring curious fish over to investigate the racket. It also jerks the shrimp up sharply in the water column. Look for the fish to strike as the plastic shrimp drifts slowly back down. Mark wasn't much of a fan of this setup until an 8-year-old kid using a rattling float outfished him one day. Now he's a big fan of the "silly popping cork."

Prior to this seminar, I had already visited the D.O.A. booth and plunked down a little cash for a discounted custom inshore plastics kit, which included the new chug-heads and several new colors for paddle tails and jerkbaits. To sweeten the deal, the rep also threw in a copy of D.O.A.'s "Unfair DVD." The DVD contains many of the same tips Mark shared in the seminar, along with several more.

Catching Redfish -- Capt Terry Lacoss from Amelia Island.
Terry likes to locate fish by throwing a gold spoon to find out where they are hiding. A steady retrieve and the wobble of the spoon are usually enough to find out if any hungry fish are nearby. Once he finds the fish, it's time to hang out in that spot for a while and have some fun catching fish. Capt Terry is also a fan of the Cajun Thunder rattle float, using it with both live and artificial bait. He says that many fishermen spend too much time in one spot, waiting for the tide to "get right" instead of moving around to where the fish are. The tidal range here in Northeast Florida is 5 to 6 feet. Gamefish generally follow the tidal flow in search of an easy meal as shrimp, crabs and other tidbits get washed in and out with the tide. At low tide, the fish will hang out in deeper holes, moving up onto the flats as the tide comes in, and eventually up into the spartina grass at high tide. For deeper water, Captain Terry also is a fan of one of my favorite rigs, the dropshot rig. I also use this rig in shallower water of 3 or 4 feet, and I've caught every major inshore species on it using live bait, dead bait, or Berkley Gulp! products. The dropshot rig can be a great passive fishing technique. Use it to soak a bait on one rod secured in a rod holder while you actively throw a spoon or soft plastic with a second rod.

Another lure Terry recommends for targeting redfish is a spinnerbait. When water clarity is not so great, the spinner adds some flash and vibration that can help fish locate the lure and initiate a strike. The technique for using one is amazingly simple. Just cast and retrieve. That's it. You can vary the speed of the retrieve until you find how much action the fish like that day. As with any artificial lure, when the water is colder, slow down the retrieve to give chilly, lethargic fish a chance to bite it.

Live Bait Fishing -- Capt Pat McGriff from Keaton Beach.
Lively, colorful and entertaining. Capt Pat led things off discussing the scourge of live bait anglers - bait stealing pinfish. Rather than curse these pests, Capt Pat has turned the tables on them, making pinfish his bait of choice. To catch them, he uses a hair-thin #16 hook baited with a tiny penant size piece of chicken gizzard for bait. Squid or shrimp will work, too. He claims he can catch 4 pinfish per minute with theis method. To use the pinfish as bait, he recommends hooking it through the eye sockets to ensure the fish remains healthy and mobile when he returns it to the water to seek out a suitable gamefish. Depending on your setup and the fish you are targeting, you can also hook pinfish under the dorsal fin or above the anal fin.

How do you know when your live pinfish is getting worn out and not so lively? They change their coloration to indicate their stress level. As Captain Pat puts it, "If he's striped and white, he's alright. If he's barred and gold, he's too old." As a pinfish gets tired and stressed, he changes from white with horizontal stripes to a more gold color with several dark vertical bands along his sides. Pat prefers to fish these pinfish under a Cajun Thunder popping cork, using short, sharp "pops" to make some noise, but to also keep the float in the same general area. This gives the gamefish time to home in on the noise and locate the pinfish suspended beneath it.

Really Cool Artwork -- from Tony Ryals
I had my 8 year old daughter, Rachel, in tow as we wandered about the show, and we visited artist Tony Ryals for some face painting and to take a look at his art. Tony is a very special artist, creating all of his work by holding a paintbrush with his mouth. A rare birth defect left him without the use of his arms or legs, but he doesn't let that hold him back. Tony is a remarkable artist with an inspiring story of perseverance and the power of positive attitude. Rachel held perfectly still as Tony painted a sea turtle on her cheek, joking with her the whole time. We also purchased a few of his prints to take home with us and decorate our walls. Check out his artwork and his personal story at his website: www.artofhope.com.

Summary
Overall, the Florida Sportsman Fishing and Boat Show was fun, entertaining, and educational. In addition to the seminars, there were booths from every imaginable product vendor related to fishing and boating. The kayak fishing community was well served with representatives from Hobie, Gander Mountain and others. I even ran into our friend Frank Gregg, "the Mayor of Chicopit Bay," from the Jax Kayak Fishing web site (www.jaxkayakfishing.com). Frank was enlightening show attendees on the finer points of kayak fishing from one of Hobie's pedal-powered craft. There was also a seminar on inshore rigging techniques using the new Fishbites Xtreme Scent Release lures. These artificial baits are similar to Berkley's Gulp! baits, but without the smelly juice. Fishbites are also a local product made nearby in St. Augustine Florida by Carr Specialty Baits, Inc. Check them out at www.fishbites.com.

Foggy Morning Redfish

Mark — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:37:00 GMT

Between work, travel and a nagging knee injury, I haven't been on the water much lately. Fortunately, things (including the knee) settled down enough to wet a line this morning. With arthroscopic knee surgery scheduled for Wednesday, I wanted to catch a few fish before the post-op recovery keeps me on the sidelines for a while.

As usual, I had every intention of getting on the water before sunrise, but I couldn't quite pry my eyes open early enough. I had the hull wet by a little after 7:00 a.m. It was very foggy this morning, even after the sun had been up for a bit. Visibility was easily less than 100 yards.

There was plenty of bait in the water, so I decided to throw a topwater lure for an hour or so. Unfortunately, no one was interested in hitting my skitterwalk this morning. As a backup, I trolled a white Gulp! swimming mullet behind the yak on a dropshot rig. Nothing was interested in that one either, until this little rat red took a bite and helped me dump the skunk:

Close to dead low tide, I was drifting along with it back to the launch, thinking about calling it an early day since the fishing was so slow. I drifted over a relatively deep hole ( 8 - 10 ft), and the fish ID on my Piranhamaxfishfinder began registering multiple fish. I glided over near the bank and hooked up the stakeout pole, then tossed out a Gulp! shrimp (white) and a new penny peeler crab to let them soak. In the meantime, I made a few casts with a gray Gulp! shrimp on a jig head to see if I could find the hungry fish.

Right after I stopped, another kayaker paddled past and mentioned he was calling it quits after a slow morning for him as well. On his way by, he laughed and told me that he "left the big ones" in the creek for me. Not even two minutes after he paddled around the bend, one of my rods bent down and the drag began to sing. After several nice runs and bending the rod tip down to the water a few times, a very nice 21 3/4 inch red introduced himself. His menu choice was a 3" white Gulp! shrimp dead sticked on a dropshot rig.

After stowing Mr. Red in the cooler for dinner, another rat red picked up the Gulp! peeler crab on a Carolina rig and put a nice bend in that rod, too:

By now, it was after 10:30 a.m., and the sun was getting high and hot. Time to head for home to get cleaned up and enjoy a cold, refreshing beverage!

Hug the Bottom to Find the Fish

Mark — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:42:00 GMT

My friend and fishing buddy, John Stewart, asked me recently if I would be a guest speaker at an informal event to help educate and inform a group of neophyte kayak anglers. In particular, John wanted me to address the subject of bottom fishing. It's nice to know that when he thinks of bottom feeders, my name comes to mind. Thanks, John! As promised at the workshop, I said I would make my notes available for anyone who wanted to know more about some of my favorite bottom fishing rigs for the local inshore creeks and rivers.

All kidding aside, I'm certainly not anexpert on the subject of inshore angling. However, I wil admit that fishing some sort of bait or lure on or near the bottom pays off for me more often than not. I'll describe four basic rigs that I use to target flounder, redfish, black drum and seatrout. Going from simple to complex, those four rigs are: a simple lead head jig, weighted flutter hooks, carolina rigs, and the dropshot rig. All of them are easy to set up and even easier to fish.

Lead Head Jigs
These come in a variety of sizes, weights and colors. For most of the local saltmarsh creeks in Northeast Florida, an assortment of jigs weighing 1/16, 1/8 or 1/4 ounce will do the trick. Use the heavier jigs where the current flows faster. Anything over 1/4 ounce is likely to be overkill. As for color, some anglers swear by red or chartreuse, but I honestly don't think it makes a huge difference. As with lures, select dark colors for dark water, and lighter colors for clear water.

Once you've selected your favorite color and an appropriate weight, it is time to select your bait. Popular natural baits include shrimp (alive or dead), mud minnows, and fiddler crabs. Dead shrimp are excellent bait for black drum and sheepshead. Simply thread the shrimp onto the hook, starting at the end of the tail and pushing the shrimp over the barb, allowing the shrimp to take on the shape of the hook. For live shrimp, you will want them to wiggle and jump around, so hook them through the last segment of their body, just in front of the tail. Pass the hook up from the bottom of the shrimp and out through the top. Hook mud minnows through both lips, from bottom to top.

Live fiddler crabs are excellent bait for redfish, black drum, and sheepshead. Insert the hook near one of the crab's back legs, and carefully push it out through the shell. If you are careful, this won't kill the crab right away. John also introduced me to his "crab kabob" concept using fiddlers to target reds and sheepshead. He likes to use a jig with a long shank and threads at least three fiddler crabs at a time onto the hook. This creates a larger meal for the fish, causing them to linger longer at the "dinner table," which gives you more time to feel the bite and set the hook before the fish steals your bait.

You can fish an assortment of artificial baits using jig heads. D.O.A CAL paddle tails and jerk shads are popular soft plastics. Products from Berkley Gulp! and Fishbites(tm) are biodegradeable artificial baits that are enhanced with fish attracting scents. These baits come in a variey of shapes an sizes that mimc everything from shrimp to minnows and small crabs. If you can't or don't want to lug along live bait, these make handy alternatives and are easily fished on a jig head. You can crawl them slowly along the bottom or use a twitch-n-rest retrieve to entice the fish to strike.

Weighted or "Flutter" Hooks
These are basically a variation on the lead head jig. Instead of placing a blob of lead near the eye of the hook, a flutter hook contains an oblong lead weight along the length of its shank. The eye is bent in an offset to make it easy to pass th eye of the hook through the nose of a soft plastic lure. The barb is then pushed up through the bottom of the lure and out through the top. With this arrangment, you can create a nearly weedless rig that allows the barb of the hook to ride flush against the top of the lure. The weight stays below the lure, giving it the appearance of a natural fall or glide as you twitch it through the water and allow it to fall back to the bottom.

Captain Eric Mannino, host of the Inshore Fishing Techniques TV show, also likes to use flutter hooks to fish live bait. When the bite slows down, he uses a secret weapon called the "twisty treat." He puts two live finger mullet on the same hook, hooking one through the tail and the other through the lips. When he tosses this bait into a likely fishing spot, the two baitfish try to swim in opposite directions, creating a commotion that attracts gamefish over to see what is going on. The result is known as "dinner."

Carolina Rig (A.K.A. "Fish Finder" Rig)
The carolina or fish finder rig is popular for targeting flounder and redfish, and it will catch other species as well. You will need a little more hardware to set up the carolina rig: a 1/4 ounce egg or bullet sinker, plastic bead, barrel swivel, 12 to 18 inches of fluorocarbon leader, and a circle hook or other hook of your choice. Holding the line from your rod, first thread on the egg sinker, followed by the plastic bead. Tie on the barrel swivel. The plastic bead is to protect your knot from becoming frayed by the sliding sinker. Tie the leader to the other end of the barrel swivel and finish with a hook on the opposite end of the leader.

If you plan to use live or dead bait, tie on a circle hook to the leader. When you feel a strike, resist the urge to set the hook, or you may just yank the circle hook right out of the fish's mouth. To let the circle hook do its job, start reeling in slowly, gradually increasing speed. Even if the fish swallowed the bait, the circle hook will usuall come back out and lodge in the corner of the mouth. Better still, set this rod into a rod holder and fish it passively while you toss a bait or lure to a different spot with a second rod. When a fish picks up the carolina rig and swims away with it, he will hook himself. Be sure to set the rod into a sturdy rod holder so a big redfish won't pull your rod into the water!

As with other rigs, you can also fish the carolina rig using a variety of soft plastic artificial baits. In particular, I like using the Strike King Zulu baits with this rig, because they float just off the bottom. As I retrieve the rig, the weight bounces along the bottom, stirring up mud and making a bit of noise to attract fish to my lure presentation hovering behind and above.

Dropshot Rig
Sometimes used by bass anglers, this versatile rig often saves the day for me when other lures and rigs aren’t doing the job. I’ve caught flounder, spotted seatrout, black drum, redfish and even sheepshead on this rig. The rig has a weight on the bottom, with a hook tied directly to the line a foot or more above the weight. Tying this rig is fairly simple. Start by tying on a circle hook using a palomar knot, and leave the tag end long – the distance you want the hook to be above the bottom. After tying the hook bring the tag end back through the hook eye from the front (the side of the eye that faces the barb) and pull the line tight to make the hook stand out at a right angle when you hold the line vertically. Attach a couple of split shots at the tag end of the line, using enough weight to keep your line down in the current. If you need more weight, slip on an egg sinker, followed by a plastic bead, then tie a couple of knots in the tag end to hold the weight on the line. Finish up by tying a loop or barrel swivel on the other end of the rig and attach it to your main line. You can now fish this rig vertically in deep water, or troll it slowly behind your kayak while you are on the move. I find the trolling method helps me not only locate fish, but it also maximizes my fishing time by keeping a bait in the water the entire time I’m out. If your weight gets hung up on a snag, just give your line a good pull to free it. The weight may slip off, but you save your hook, bait and leader. Just slip on another weight and resume fishing.

If you are fishing in an area where snags on the bottom are not too much of a problem, consider using a variation called the double dropshot rig. Instead of using an egg sinker on the end of the line, replace it with a lead head jig. You can now fish two different baits on the same line and see which the fish prefer that day. Be careful not to hook yourself on the second hook when you are releasing fish!

For more info on how to tie a dropshot rig, click here.

Finally, don't throw back blue crabs (unless they are egg bearing females) if you catch one stealing your bait. Turn the tables on the bait stealing crabs and use them for bait. Big redfish love fresh blue crab! To use a blue crab for bait, carefully remove the pincers with a pair of pliers and pull off the top half of the shell. Remove the legs and cut the crab into quarters. Select your favorite fishing rig from among the those discussed above and put one quarter of the fresh crab onto the hook. Toss this bait into your favorite fishing spot and hold on for some excitement when a big red sniffs out your tasty offering and chows down on it!

If you have the opportunity to try any of these techniques for yourself, feel free to drop me a line and let me know how they worked out for you. You can reach me at: mark@neflkayakfishing.com. Have fun and be safe out there!

Trying Out The New Fishbites Xtreme Scent Release Lures

Mark — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 11:27:00 GMT

by Mark Dennis
April 5, 2008

Thanks to the nice folks at Fishbites (Carr Specialty Baits, Inc.) in St. Augustine, Florida, I recently had the opportunity to try out the latest in synthetic natural baits. Fishbites is perhaps best known for their line of natural, biodegradable strips of cut bait. Their newest product, "xtreme scent release lures," are shaped like natural baits. Saltwater formulas are available in the form of shrimp, paddle tail minnows, and jerk baits. They also have a freshwater formula in two worm shapes and sizes. Armed with all three saltwater versions, I loaded up my kayak and ventured out to a local saltmarsh creek to do a little fishing and see how these new baits performed.

I generally prefer to go kayak fishing with artificial lures. Getting live bait, keeping it alive, and carrying it around all day is one more hassle I prefer to avoid. For this reason, I've been a fan of Fishbite's competitor, Berkley Gulp! baits. Similar to the Gulp! baits, the Fishbites xtreme scent release lures are packaged in resealable plastic pouches. Other than the packaging and the general shape of the baits, the similarities end there. The Fishbites baits do not swim around in a concoction of smelly "stink juice." Employing a proprietary "Hydro-Gel" technology, Fishbites lures are slightly moist, but not wet when you take them out of the package. There is also no noticeable odor. According to the manufacturer, these lures retain their flavor and scent within the bait until it hits the water. Instructions on the package recommend keeping the package sealed and not to return used baits to the pouch. Anyone who has ever spilled Berkley's stink juice in their car while traveling to or from a fishing trip will appreciate the juiceless formula used by Fishbites.

Knowing that a Gulp! bait will shrink to half its size and dry to the consistency of concrete if left on a hook overnight, the first thing I did was see if the Fishbites lures would do the same. The night before my fishing trip, I baited up a couple of hooks and left them exposed to the air along with the fishing rods until I got on the water the following morning. They baits did dry out a little, but they were still fairly soft and seemed to retain most of their original size. Once I dunked them in the water for a few minutes, their original flexibility returned, and they still drew strikes from fish.

As for durability, the Fishbites lures appear to be at least as hardy as their Gulp! counterparts. Even after being mangled by a sharp toothed bluefish, a Fishbites jerk bait was tattered, but still serviceable. As with similar soft plastic lures, you will still lose a tail or two when fishing the paddle tail bait. Unlike the Fishbites cut bait products, the xtreme scent release lures do not appear to gradually "melt" off the hook. After soaking these lures repeatedly and over several hours, they still held their original shape and consistency.

While the fishing itself was slow on the first day of my Fishbites lure trial run, I managed to hook up with at least one fish using each of these new saltwater baits:

1st fish: blue fish on rootbeer jerk bait, fished on a Carolina rig

2nd fish: flounder on new penny shrimp, with chartreuse jig head. No photo; self-released at boatside.

3rd fish: spotted seatrout on rootbeer paddle tail minnow, on weighted flutter hook.

From what I've seen so far, it looks like Fishbites has a definite contender in the market for biodegradeable artificial saltwater lures. I will definitely use them again when I go fishing. Look for more reports soon. In the meantime, you can learn more about the new Fishbites Xtrme Scent Release Lures at the Fishbites web site: www.fishbites.com

Tight lines!

Miscellaneous Fish Recipes

Mark — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:33:00 GMT

Failsafe Sautéed Fish Fillets
I learned this technique from my mother-in-law. It is as simple and elegant in its execution as it is delicious. If you are hungry and in a hurry to cook your catch, this is the ticket. It’s even healthy and low in fat.

Ingredients:
fresh fish fillets
olive oil
onion salt
flour

Heat a liberal amount of olive oil in a pan, but not too much. We aren’t deep frying. Rinse and dry fish. Sprinkle with onion salt and dredge lightly in flour. Place fish into hot oil and turn once, browning on both sides. Fish should be opaque and firm when done. Remove fillets from pan and drain on paper towels. Serve with fresh lemon wedges and your favorite side dishes. For a zestier variation, add some “Old Bay” brand seasoning or paprika to the flour.

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Grilled Fish Fillets "On the Half Shell"
This technique works great for redfish, black drum and sheepshead, or any fish with a substantial set of scales. The best part is -- you don't scale the fish! That's right. When you cut the fillets off the bone, leave the skin and scales ON. If you have thinner fillets, such as those from seatrout or flounder, or if you have already removed the skin from your fillets, you can still use this technique. Just spray some non-stick on a piece of aluminum foil and place the fillets on the foil. The steps below assume you have left both skin and scales on the fillets.

Ingredients:
Fish fillets - skin & scales left on
McCormick Montreal steak seasoning
Olive oil
Fresh tomatoes, sliced
Fresh onion, sliced
Butter (or "Smart Balance" margarine)

Preparation: Cut fillets off the backbone, leaving skin and scales on. Rinse fillets and pat dry. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on a cookie sheet and lay fillets skin side down on cookie sheet. Sprinkle a liberal amount of Montreal steak seasoning on fillets. (Montreal steak seasoning is a combination of black and red peppers and garlic, packaged neatly together). Drizzle olive oil over seasoned fillets and set aside for a few minutes to let fish absorb seasoning. Slice tomatoes and onions; set aside. Slice butter into pats, setting aside with sliced tomatoes and onions.

Grilling: Fire up your outdoor grill, and set on med-low heat. Rub grill grate with olive oil or spray with non-stick. Place fish fillets skin/scales side down directly onto the grill. Place onion slices and pats of butter on top of each fish fillet. Place tomato slices on top of fish. Close grill cover and cook for 6 -8 minutes. Fish will flake easily with a fork when done. Thicker fillets may take longer to cook.

When fish are ready, carefully remove onions and tomatoes from fillets before taking fillets off the grill. You will lose much fewer of the vegetables this way. Use a spatula and a pair of tongs to carefully lift the fish fillets from the grill. Place fish onto serving plate and replace the cooked tomatoes and onions on top of the fish. When serving the fish, you can now scoop the cooked fish right off the skin. leaving the skin and scales on the serving plate. Enjoy with your favorite side dish and a cold beverage!



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Whole Baked Fish With Oriental Black Bean Sauce

Mark — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 21:41:00 GMT

Sheepshead, black drum, or redfish are excellent when baked whole and served with this black bean sauce.
Note: DO NOT use canned black beans from the grocery store! What you want are "salted black beans" from your local oriental food store. Look for the ones that are sold in a vacuum sealed bag -- NOT in a jar or can!

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 inch piece fresh ginger grated or finely minced
2-4 tablespoons salted black beans (from oriental store not regular black beans)
Water or chicken broth for as much sauce as you need to make
Cornstarch to thicken sauce

Bake, steam or fry a whole cleaned fish (scaled, gutted & gills removed).

To bake fish: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with heavy duty foil and brush with olive oil to prevent fish from sticking. Drizzle olive oil, salt, and pepper on both sides of the fish. Bake for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours depending on the size of the fish. Check for doneness after about an hour. Transfer to a serving plate.

While fish is cooking, make the sauce!

Saute ginger in 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium for a few minutes, add black beans and saute for another minute or two until black beans plump up a bit. Add water or chicken stock to make as much sauce as you need. Start with 1/2 cup and add more for bigger fish (1 to 2 cups), heating to a boil. Dissolve a spoonful of cornstarch in a small amout of water (maybe 1/4 cup) and add to pan. Stir to combine and bring back to boil to thicken.

Pour sauce over cooked fish and EAT!!!

Targeting Cold Weather Inshore Fish in NE Florida

Mark — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:43:00 GMT

by Mark Dennis
Jan 19, 2008

When cold weather moves in, many kayak anglers choose to stay indoors and wait for balmier weather. However, that cold northeast wind can actually make for some productive fishing. You just have to understand your quarry and change up your game a bit to boat some fish. Layer up with some warm clothes, break out your breathable waders & boots, and go catch some fish.

Like people, fish often become sluggish and move slower when the temperatures drop. Redfish in particular are prone to bunching up in schools and seeking deeper water after the temperature takes a dip. During these times, they may be reluctant to feed, no matter how enticing you make the offering. Once the sun comes back out and begins to warm up the shallow water over dark mud flats or along deep water dropoffs, this behavior changes.

Redfish will often flock to these warm spots faster than a New York snowbird flies to Miami Beach. Both species have the same goal in mind -- warming their cold bones. As the reds locate warmer water, their appetites come back and they may suck down just about anything you dangle under their noses. Look for the same types of structure you normally would when fishing for reds.   The perimeter of oyster bars during lower water, the edges of marsh grass along mud flats at high tide, and the mouths of small feeder creeks can all be productive haunts of the wintertime redfish. Toss a live shrimp or a mud minnow hooked on a lead jighead into one of these spots, and you likely will be rewarded with a nice sized redfish. If live bait is hard to come by, use a Berkley Gulp! shrimp as an effective alternative. If you prefer to fish with artificial lures altogether (e.g., soft plastics or spoons), slow your retrieve waaaaaaaaaaay down to give these cold numbed fish a chance to strike your lure.

If the reds aren't cooperating, consider targeting other species that are more tolerant of cold water, such as spotted seatrout, sheepshead, or black drum. Trout will often bite the same baits and lures that you use to target redfish. Just remember to return your trout to the water if you catch them during the month of February. Spotted seatrout season closes in northeast Florida for the entire month. Sheepshead and black drum, on the other hand, usually require a different approach, and there is not a closed season for these fish.

If live shrimp are available at the bait shops, these may be the most flexible choice for catching fish in cold weather. All of the aforementioned species, plus flounder, will eagerly devour a live shrimp. If no live shrimp are available, you can use pieces of frozen shrimp on a jig head or circle hook to go after drum and sheepies.   Perhaps the ultimate live bait for these two species, though, is live fiddler crabs.

Sheepshead are famous bait stealers, and they can easily crush a single fiddler crab and suck the remains off the hook without so much as a tap on your rod. To help make their bite more obvious, put 3 or even 4 fiddler crabs on your hook at the same time. The "bouquet" of wiggling crab legs is too much for most fish to resist, and the extra mouthful entices them to linger at your hook longer, which increases your chances of detecting a strike. Black drum are less delicate in their dining habits, and their presence on the hook will be more obvious to you as they attempt to swim away with the bait.

When fishing for these species, I like to use two rods.   One is equipped with a circle hook on a dropshot rig and baited with peeled, dead shrimp. The other is actively fished using a leadhead jig baited with fiddler crabs. The circle hook on the dropshot will automatically set itself as the fish attempts to swim away, leaving me free to cast the baited jig head with the other rod. On a really good day, I've been treated to a simultaneous hook-up, reeling in a nice redfish on the active line, while the dropshot rig hooks up a sheepshead on the passive one.

Speaking of sheepshead and black drum, anglers who are unfamiliar with these similar looking species sometimes mistake one for the other. This can be an expensive mistake, as the size and possession limits in Florida differ for the two fish. The sheepshead also has a mouthful of teeth that almost appear human like. They use these teeth to nibble on barnacles and other crusteaceans, along with a set of "crushers" in the mouth to grind up crab shells.  These toothy critters can cause a nasty wound for the angler unwary enough to stick his fingers in this fish's mouth. A black drum does not have a similar set of teeth.

Another way to tell a sheepshead from a black drum is to look at the dorsal fin. If the fin is one long, connected fin on the fish's back, then you most likely have a sheepshead (again, look for the teeth). If the dorsal fin is split into a front fin and a rear fin, then you probably have caught a black drum. My fishing buddy, John Stewart, recently caught one of each of these fantastic fish. Take a look at the photos below to see how you can tell the difference:

Sheepshead - single, continuous dorsal fin. Black Drum - two dorsal fins.

Both of these fish make excellent table fare, either filleted or baked whole. Be sure to double check the Florida fishing regulations before you toss these into the cooler. At the time of this post, the minimum size for a keeper sheepshead is 12 inches (no maximum size), with a bag limit of 15. To keep black drum, the fish must be between 14 - 24 inches, and the bag limit is only 5.

Know before you go!

Take A Kid Fishing - In A Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130T

Mark — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:38:00 GMT

by Mark Dennis
12/31/2007

I took my oldest daughter, Hayley, on her very first kayak fishing trip today. At age 9, she's not too enthusiastic about catching fish. She holds her nose and says they smell funny. However, the idea of some paddling time with dad won out, and she agreed to join me for a New Year's eve outdoor adventure. The weather forecast called for light winds and scattered clouds, with a high temperature of 67 degrees; not bad for the last day of the year in Northeast Florida! The weather was right out of the Goldilocks playbook: not too hot, not too cold, and the breeze would keep the mosquitoes and gnats at bay.

We recently purchased a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130T tandem kayak so I could take long one of my three girls now and then. This model is convertible to solo use, so I also have a "spare" kayak available now whenever we have adult visitors who also want to join me on a kayak fishing excursion. This would be our first fishing trip with the new kayak, and it would give me an opportunity to more fully evaluate the merits of this craft as both a fishing platform and as a tandem kayak.

I intended to pick up some live shrimp or minnows at a bait shop along the way, but the shop was closed. I guess they take New Year's Eve off. Oh well, we would have to make do with the artificial "Slurp" shrimp and fish bites I had on hand. When fishing solo, I prefer to use artificial baits and lures, but with a little one joining me, I wanted to bring along some live bait to increase her chances of hooking up with some kind of fish.

For our launch location, we elected to visit the campground at Little Talbot Island state park. The campground has a primitive canoe launch on Mytrle Creek with easy access. The launch is mostly sand, gravel and oyster shells, so we wouldn't get too muddy during launch or landing. There is also a very short fishing "pier" at the launch that includes a fish cleaning station with a fresh water rinse.

We took our time getting things ready and actually leaving the house, so we didn't arrive at the campground until after 10:00 a.m. The tide was on its way in, with a high tide predicted for around 2:00 p.m. or so. We would be paddling against the tide on the way out, and possibly on the way back in, depending upon how long this trip lasted. As we launched, Hayley tried her hand at paddling, and for the most part she did very well. It didn't take her very long to discover that I would do all the paddling if she got tired, so she soon took to bird watching and general daydreaming, which was just fine with me.

After a short paddle, we stopped at a likely fishing hole and dropped a couple of lines in the water. I set the countdown timer on my watch for 20 minutes. If we didn't catch anything by then, we would move on to another spot. Unfortunately, the incoming tide wasn't bringing us any bites, so we tried a couple more spots before deciding to head back to the launch.

We ended up back at our original fishing spot as the tide began to turn to the outgoing. I finally hooked a 16" spotted seatrout using a D.O.A. shrimp. As soon as I brought the fish boatside, I slipped a net under him and hoisted him out of the water. Previous experience taught me that seatrout have delicate membranes around their mouths and can easily throw a hook with their violent head shaking. Having lost a couple of nice trout earlier in the week while attempting to land them without a net , I came prepared today. Sure enough, this trout gave a couple of head shakes while in the net and out came the hook. Hayley's first reaction at seeing the trout in the net was to hold her nose. After a minute of coaxing, I talked her into posing for a picture with our prize:

Five hours of paddling and fishing quickly came and went, but the trout and one very small black drum were all we had to show for our efforts. Hayley didn't seem to mind though. She never complained about being bored (thanks to the snacks I brought along!), and she even suggested at one point that I add a bobber to her fish finder rig, thus converting it to a popping cork setup. I'll admit that I was impressed by her suggestion. I just wish the fish had cooperated more.

In the end, we spent some very enjoyable time together on the water, Hayley perfected her casting technique, and we brought home a fresh fish for dinner. Reflecting back on our trip, I had some additional thoughts about the Tarpon 130T as a kayak fishing platform:

Evaluation of the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130T

* Storage -- is quite limited. There are two small hatches and small fore and aft decks with bungee tie-downs. There is no room for a crate that many kayak anglers prefer to carry. You could carry along a soft-sided cooler or two - one for beverages and one for fish, for instance.

* Tracking & stability -- both are very good. You could probably stand up in this kayak, although I didn't (and won't) test this feature myself.

* Speed -- slow, but not awful. With a 34" beam, it sacrifices some speed for stability. When taking a kid kayak fishing, I'll take stability over speed any day.

* Dryness -- With 10 scupper holes in this thing, I had some concern about how much water it might ship while under way. I'm happy to report that we rode high and dry. Two of the scuppers are in the aft storage well, and this area did ship a little bit of water. This may be been due more to the imbalance of having a 200lb. adult in the rear and an 80 lb child seated up front. It would be interesting to see how dry the ride is with two adults in the kayak.

* Rod holders -- This is not a "fishing" kayak, so no rod holders are installed at the factory. I've added four Scotty holders so far, with two up front and two aft behind the second seat. The two aft holders are okay for transport while paddling tandem or solo, but two more placed forward of the second seat and just beyond the reach of my paddle stroke would be a nice addition. I'll install these before the next trip.

Below are some photos of our new "ride:"

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Fishing Report 12/29/2007 - Nassau River

Mark — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:03:00 GMT

Since I hadn't visited Goffinsville Park in a while, I hauled the 'yak down there this morning to try my luck in the Nassau River. The county still hasn't done any development work on the park, but they are doing a good job of keeping the road graded and picking up the trash. With a high bluff overlooking the river, it's a beautiful site; too bad the county leaders are dragging their feet in building the park amenities. Then again, all the better for me -- it's nice having a quiet, uncrowded spot to launch. (For more information about Goffinsville Park, see my August 2007 blog entry.)

The day started out foggy, gray and windy, with a 10-15 mph SSW wind putting some chop on the river. Even the "professionals" were taking it easy:

The tide was coming in, so I let it carry me along as I made some casts toward the oyster beds and spartina grass along the shore, as well as around some of the boat docks. Nobody was biting, however. I made my way into Christopher Creek and got the skunk off with a bluefish who chomped down on a 3" new penny Gulp! shrimp on a red jig. He was under the size limit, so this lucky blue earned himself a reprieve from the new smoker that I got for Christmas.

Paddling on, I anchored up near a good spot for flounder and reds, but couldn't seem to find them there today. In the meantime, the fog lifted, the sun came out, and the weather evolved into a chamber of commerce postcard kind of day. As the tide turned, I let the outgoing drift carry me back out toward the river. Casting a mirrodine lure toward the grass yielded this under slot spotted trout:

The trout and the blue were all the creek was willing to offer up, so I floated on back along the river. Two more undersized trout were all I could manage:

One bit a DOA silver mullet; the other took a white Gulp! pogy I was drifting on a dropshot rig with a circle hook. I guess I was fishing in the nursery today. None of the big fish were interested in having a bite of what I was serving up. As I approached the ramp, I saw a really cool sight. A bald eagle cruised by, clutching a fish in his talons. At least someone would be dining on fresh fish for dinner!

Fishing Report 12/28/2007 - Ft George River

Mark — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 23:12:00 GMT

With the Christmas hoopla winding down, I took advantage of a rare opportunity to go fishing on a weekday. The weather made for one of those days that reminds me why I choose to live in Florida. The forecast was for a high temp of 78, with winds 5 - 10 mph from the southeast. An incoming tide would carry me to a productive fishing spot, with the outgoing tide arriving before sunset to carry me back home. As the adult beverage slogan says, "It doesn't get any better than this!"

I launched at the mouth of the Ft. George River, riding the last part of the incoming tide to one of my favorite spots for redfish. Along the way, I was casting a chartreuse DOA swimshad, looking for a trout or two. I was rewarded with two nice fish, but they both threw the hook at boat side. A third fish hooked up, and I landed this one. At 14.5" he wasn't a keeper, so back into the river he went. As I continued to ride the tide, I had to change baits, switching to a "nuclear chicken" Gulp! swimshad. Something had shredded the tail on the DOA - probably a little bluefish. I threw the Gulp! into a swirling eddy off a point of marsh grass and was immediately hooked up with a keeper sized trout. At just over 15" he wasn't a monster, but at least he was bigger than the last one. A few more casts in the same area resulted in no more trout, so I suppose his buddies had all moved on.

By now, the tide was turning from incoming to outgoing, so I moved on in to the redfish hole. This spot has a sizable mud flat that would be nice and warm, having several hours of sunshine to warm up the dark mud. As the tide rises on this spot, the reds should be moving into it to enjoy some warmer water. Armed with a fresh Gulp! 3" new penny color shrimp on a red 1/8 oz. jig head, I made a cast that landed perfectly near some structure that rarely disappoints. As the jig settled to the bottom, I felt a couple of taps, followed by a steady weight on the line. I yanked back the rod for the hook set, and watched the water boil as my rod tip bowed down toward the water. From the weight on the other end of the line and the zig-zag runs the fish was making, I knew this had to be the redfish. Sure enough, as the fish got closer, I could see he was a nice sized red. Once in the boat, the law stick confirmed that he was a keeper at 21".

I stayed in this spot for a while longer and continue to throw the Gulp! shrimp with no more hits. I was also passively fishing a Gulp! new penny peeler crab on a dropshot rig, letting the bait swirl gently in the current while I was casting with the other rig. A few minutes after landing the first red, the drag on the dropshot rig began to sing. I reeled in this line to be rewarded with a nice 15" redfish on the other end. After a quick hook removal and a snapshot, I sent him on his way to grow up and get bigger for another day of fishing.

As the tide continued to fall, I pointed the bow of the kayak back toward the launch site. Fishing along the way yielded no more bites, but it didn't matter. I had spent a December afternoon kayak fishing in short pants & short sleeves, with near perfect weather and no bugs, to boot. For my efforts I was rewarded with a couple of fresh fish for dinner and a fresh outlook on how great life is in Northeast Florida.

Fake It 'Til You Make It

Mark — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:22:00 GMT

by Mark Dennis
October 21, 2007

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to the subject of live bait vs. artificial. The more I think about it, the more attractive the notion of sticking strictly to artificial bait becomes. Maybe it was the most recent time I awoke at the crack of dawn to go fishing, and the bait shop was closed -- again. I'm not naming names, but if one owns a bait shop, don't they teach you on day one of "Bait Shop Ownership 101" that fishermen are early risers and so are the fish? If you own a bait shop, open up early. You'll make more money and have happier customers.

Anyway, back to my personal analysis of the pros and cons of artificial bait/lures. One clear advantage to fishing artificials is that you don't have to wait for the lethargic bait shop owner to open up early enough to get you on the water at a proper time. Some great fishing spots don't even have a bait shop nearby. Oh sure, I could always go out and catch my own bait, but again we are talking about expending valuable time engaged in an activity other than fishing. No thanks. Also, catching or buying live bait and keeping it alive can be a special hassle when kayak fishing. There is only so much room for "stuff" on a kayay, and the bait is just one more thing to keep track of while you concentrate on more important tasks, like staying upright for instance.

Suppose you've decided to abandon your bait chunking ways and embrace the art of piscatory deception. Where does one begin? There are hard baits, plastic baits, spinner baits, topwater lures, diving lures, and a whole bunch of other stuff that could fill a page. Then of course, there is the whole other world of fly fishing, but let's not get that crazy just yet. With so many choices and techniques, trying to decide which artificial baits to use is enough to send one back to the bait shop, bait bucket in hand (no matter how late they open up).

Rather than try them all, on my most recent fishing trip, I decided to fish with nothing other than a modest variety of Berkley Gulp! saltwater baits. Specifically, I chose on this day to use 3" & 4" shrimp, 2" peeler crabs, watermelon swimming mullet, and the wacky but effective 5" nuclear chicken jerkshad. Whether you fish them with some movement or deadstick them on the bottom, the Gulp! baits also give off a good bit of scent in the water, helping the fish to locate the bait and encouraging them to hold on to it a bit longer.

Here are the results from today's trip. If you are interested in the conditions, most of these fish were caught during the last two hours of the outgoing tide. However, the bite at dead low was pretty good, too. Once the incoming tide turned on, the bite seemed to turn off.

The first fish in the boat was a feisty 16" redfish who nailed a Gulp! peeler crab that I was soaking on a dropshot rig:

Another 16 inch red came to the boat shortly after this one, but he bit on a Gulp! watermelon color swimming mullet. I didn't get a picture of this one, as he was bleeding pretty good from the hook injury. I spent some extra time reviving him next to the boat until he swam off on his own.

While the dropshot rig was passively soaking a bait, I also rigged up a 5" Gulp! jerkshad in nuclear chicken on to a pink 1/8 oz. jig head. Bouncing this along the bottom yielded 4 undersized trout, just like this one:

The nuclear chicken jerkshad also hooked a nice 18" redfish, in between the trout:

The Gulp! shrimp (fished on a dropshot rig) continued to produce two more reds for the day, with the biggest one at 22". His bait of choice was a 4" new penny shrimp.

Other fish included a small flounder who released himself near the kayak, along with two juvenile gag grouper who will have long since migrated to the ocean before they reach a size anywhere near 'legal.' Final tally for the day: 5 reds to 22", 4 underslot seatrout, 2 juvenile gag grouper, and one tater chip sized flounder.

While this story may sound like an infomercial for Berkley, I can assure you that I'm not on their payroll. Quite the opposite; I see I'm getting low on nuclear chicken jerkshad. Time to stock up!

Good Karma = Good Fishing

Mark — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:59:00 GMT

by Mark Dennis
09-15-2007

Today is International Coastal Cleanup Day, and I joined some of my friends from www.jaxkayakfishing.com to help pick up all the trash that people have dumped at various public boat ramps and kayak launch sites in the Jacksonville, FL area. My plan was to help out with the cleanup effort at Haulover Creek, then launch the 'yak and do some fishing. The fish gods must have been pleased with our cleaning efforts, because I enjoyed a pretty good day of fishing. Here's a photo of the intrepid crowd that joined me for the cleanup (I'm on the left):

By the time we finished, we had filled 23 trash bags and removed approximately 450+ pounds of trash, mostly beer bottles, old tires and discarded carpeting. You can read more about this stellar effort on www.jaxkayakfishing.com. Now, on to the fish story!

I was in the kayak and on the water with about 2 hours left to go until high tide. First, I tied on a dropshot rig, using a frozen shrimp on a circle hook. I like to drag this behind me as I drift, while I use another rod to throw an artificial lure or two. The weather was becoming overcast, so I tried my luck throwing a Yozuri topwater lure, hoping to find a spotted trout or a redfish.

No strikes with the topwater lure, but the first fish of the day was a ladyfish that inhaled the shrimp on the dropshot rig. This crazy fish was jumping out of the water and somersaulting all over the place. By the time I reeled in the topwater lure, I picked up the other rod just in time to see the ladyfish leap one more time and spit out the hook. No problem. Bait up the hook again and carry on.

After retiring the topwater lure, I switched to a gold spoon for awhile, but no bites on that either. The dropshot rig starts to twitch, and I reel in this undersized flounder to get the skunk off:

After unhooking and releasing the little flounder, there was still about half a shrimp on the hook. I tossed it back into the water, not really expecting anything significant to come of it. Right after the bait hit the water, the line tightened and the drag began to sing. After a nice tug-of-war, I boated this 16" puppy drum. Cool, this one is big enough to keep. Guess who's coming home with me for dinner tonight!

So far, my "lazy fisherman's" dropshot rig and a bag of old frozen shrimp was saving the day. It wasn't pretty, but it was working. I still wasn't having any luck enticing a trout or redfish with an artificial lure. Just to remind me of the unexpected critters one can catch when using bait instead of artificials, this little sea robin came calling. Oh well, at least it wasn't a stingray!

I switched out the gold spoon for a DOA shrimp, and later for a sinking Mirrodine lure. There were no hits on the DOA, but I did hook a small undersized seatrout on the Mirrodine. However, he threw the hook before I could get him to the boat for a picture.

Finally decided to try using a 4" new penny Gulp! shrimp on a chartreuse jig head. On the first cast, I manage to snag something on the bottom. As I'm battling with this, I notice the dropshot rig begins to twitch. This time, a 14" flounder is on the other end. He isn't huge, but he is legal. The dropshot rig delivers again.

After clearing the snag, I drifted with the tide a bit more, then decided to return to the area where I picked up the flounder. Maybe he has some friends hanging out in the same neighborhood. I make my way over to a little point of spartina grass, near a bend in the creek where the current is moving pretty good and a few cuts into the bank make nice ambush points for any trout or reds who may be lurking. After tethering to the stakeout pole, I noticed the tide had peaked and was now on the way back out.

I take a closer look at the Gulp! shrimp. The head is torn almost off from the snag, so I take it off the jig head and hook it through the tail instead. On my first cast with the tail-hooked Gulp shrimp, I slowly work it across the bottom, letting it rest and giving it a twitch now and then. Just as it is almost back to the boat:

The drag is really singing, and line is being stripped off the reel at a pretty good rate. I tighten down the drag a little more and play this fish for a good 10 minutes. Is is a big doormat flounder? Maybe it's a redfish? Whatever it is, this fish is surging up and down the creek, under the kayak, off toward the grass; just all over the place. At one point, my rod is literally bent double, and this fish is not willing to show himself. We wrestle around a bit more, and I finally get to meet the creature on the other end of the line:

Cool; it IS a redfish, and a nice one at that. I grab the lip gripper and bring this guy aboard to see how long he is. With a pinched tail, he measures in right at 26 3/4 inches. Wow, what a nice fish!

As the afternoon thunderclouds were starting to build, I decided to ride the outgoing tide back to the launch and call it a day. I trolled a redfish magic spinner bait and a Gulp! silver mullet on the way back, but there were no takers. The thunder began to boom and the skies opened up just as I was tying the kayak down to the roof of my truck. I went home with a good feeling at having helped clean up the community AND with some tasty fish in the cooler that would make a nice dinner. This was definitely one of my better fishing days!

Spotted Seatrout Recipes

Mark — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:26:00 GMT

Beer Battered Seatrout

Ingredients:
Spotted Seatrout (whole or fillets)
Onion salt
1 egg
4 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp Old Bay seasoning
16 oz. Light beer

Fillet larger fish. For smaller fish, remove scales, head and entrails. Cut off fins and trim tail. Cut fish in half from top to bottom. Cut one or two slices through the skin on both sides of fish sections to facilitate even cooking. Season fish with onion salt. Combine egg, flour, beer and old bay seasoning in large bowl and mix with electric mixer for 2 minutes. In a large pot, bring oil to 375 degrees F. Completely cover the fish in beer batter. Carefully submerge in oil for 3 to 4 minutes or until the fish begins to float. Remove from oil and drain well. Serve immediately.

Sheepshead Recipes

Mark — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:24:00 GMT

Crunchy Fried Sheepshead Fillets

Ingredients:
Fresh sheepshead fillets
Salt
Milk
Flour
Eggs
Breadcrumbs
Olive oil or vegetable oil

Place milk in a bowl and add a dash of salt. Beat 2-3 eggs and place in a separate bowl. Place flour and breadcrumbs in separate containers. Cut fillets into large chunks and dip them in salted milk. Coat them lightly in flour and then dip in egg mixture. Roll fish in fresh breadcrumbs, and fry them in hot oil until golden brown. Arrange them on a napkin on a hot dish, and serve them with fresh lemon wedges and tartar sauce.

Redfish Recipes

Mark — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:22:00 GMT

Grilled Redfish With Ginger & Soy Sauce

Ingredients:
Clean and fillet a 2-3 pound redfish
4 T. sesame oil
2 T. sesame seeds
1 cup sliced onions
2 T of minced ginger
3 gloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 cup light soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
8 Sprigs of Chives

Brush redfish filets with 2 T. of the sesame oil. Spread sesame seeds on a flat surface, and press each side of the redfish filets into them. Grill approx. 3 minutes per side on hot open grill, just until flaky white. Do not overcook. Set aside. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat remaining 2 T. of sesame oil. Place onions and ginger in oil, and cook 2 minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Finish with soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Place redfish fillets on serving plates, and pour 1/4 of the sauce over each fillet. Garnish with chives. Serve with white rice and vegetable of your choice.

Flounder Recipes

Mark — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:20:00 GMT

Flounder very well may be one of the tastiest fish you'll ever catch & cook. Even people who say they don't like fish enjoy eating flounder!

Sautéed Flounder Panko

Ingredients:
2 6-8 ounce fresh flounder fillets
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup flour

You may have to visit an oriental food store to find the Panko (Japanese bread crumbs), but it is well worth the trip. Combine Panko and Parmesan cheese in a shallow bowl and mix well. Dredge the flounder filets in flour, then dip the filets into the egg mixture, and finish by pressing the filets into the Panko breadcrumbs. Sauté the filets in butter or olive oil over medium-high heat for approximately 6 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Serve the filets with fresh lemon wedges and tartar sauce.