Archive for June, 2008
June 27-28 Fishing Report
Jun 29th
Friday I went out with 3 of my friends. We were planning on catching bait and then catching some Snook and Redfish. The bait we caught was really small or really big, we were looking for something in between. So we wound up fishing under the Skyway for a while. I decided to try and hook up with a Grouper and decided to go with a lighter rod. On the first cast I hooked up with a small one and that was it for the day.
Saturday, just my friend and I went out to mess around. I just got my new 10wt. fly rod and reel in so I wanted to try that out. We wound up catching really large bait again, not what we wanted. Then while we were near a pylon, we saw a HUGE Cobia sitting there on the top. So I topped in one of the big baits and BAM! He took it and ran around the pylon. As my friend tried to move the boat up to get a better position the line popped. The other rod wasn’t rigged up (lesson learned) so I tossed a fly at him for a while but nothing. So we decided we were going to hit some other pylons and try to hook up with some more Cobia. Well the next one we went to we saw two on the top. I was having a little trouble casting but I got one right inside and one took it. What a fight. It took around 10 minutes to get him in. He got to the boat about 3 times and took off again. It wasn’t a keeper, 31 inches, and we let it go but that was a lot of fun. We tried for some more but didn’t have much luck.
Then we were fishing by another dock closer in by the boat slip and I hooked up with something VERY big. I’m thinking it was a huge Snook. Something hit my line and shot off down under the dock. It got past 5 pylons in about 3 seconds. Then my line popped. We’ll be trying to get whatever that was out of there again real soon.
Fishing Egmont Pass and the Skyway
Jun 18th
Yesterday we went out to the Egmont Pass. Right when we got out there we noticed it was pretty packed with boats. We drove around catching crabs and then started fishing. We only hooked up with 3 bonnethead sharks. We headed back to the skyway after a while and finally hooked up with what we think was a tarpon. He never came up to the surface but he fought for about 10 minutes until he ran for a pylon and snapped the line on it. We fished a little longer and decided to head in. I didn’t catch anything but it was a fun day to be on the water. We’re heading out there again this afternoon to give it another shot. Hopefully I’ll have some tarpon pictures tonight.
Kayaking On Hillsborough River
Jun 15th
This morning my friend and I met my sister and her boyfriend to go kayaking in the Hillsborough River. It was the first time I’ve ever been out there and it was pretty cool. It reminded me a little of New Orleans actually. I of course had to bring my fishing pole which I’m glad I did. I caught a bass, 2 gar, and a catfish. I’m definitely going back and will be bringing my fly rod for sure. I am pretty much dead tired now though. It’s been a long but good weekend.
Kayaking All Day
Jun 14th
Today was a LONG day! I woke up around 5:30 and decided to go fishing on the kayak. So I got everything together, picked up some live shrimp (they were out of bait fish), and headed across the Gandy Bridge. I launched right on the West side of it and headed south on the other side of the power plant. I fish the mangroves for a while. I caught about 6 catfish and that was about it. Pretty disappointing fishing wise but it was fun bring out there. I headed in around 11 or so, after I was out of shrimp.
Then later in the afternoon I met a friend at the dock to try and catch some bait for our bait motel we just got. After catching some bait we decided we wanted to fish so we bought some shrimp and took his kayak out. We went down about 2 sets of docks from his, anchored out and started catching mangrove snappers. I think we caught about 20 between the both of us. After that it died off and didn’t catch much other than a ladyfish.
Big Snook and Kayaking
Jun 10th
Today I helped a friend take his boat out of the water. While I was waiting I was standing on the dock watching the bait fish. Then I leaned over and noticed some jacks and sheepheads holding up tight against the end of the dock. Then all of a sudden I saw a giant snook roll up. I nearly fell off the dock. I snapped a few pictures. I’m guessing he was at least 40 inches.
Then later that day, I went out to Weedon Islands with him and his finance. We kayaked out about a mile and did some fishing but didn’t catch anything. But we learned not to go out there when the tide is low. I had to get out in 2 spots and pull my boat. They were dragging on the bottom a lot which wasn’t that fun for them.
Under The Bridge
Jun 9th
Friday we went out fishing and tried to catch some tarpon but we didn’t quite make it that far. We went out and caught bait fish and then headed to Egmont Pass. When we got there a bunch of bonito attacking bait fish on the surface. You can see some of the action in the gallery. We didn’t get any on and started to catch pass crabs. Right as the tarpon should have been turning on, we noticed a big storm coming in. We decided to try to head to St. Pete and outrun it but managed to head right into it. We wound up sitting under a bridge for about 2 hours until it passed. Then we fished at the Skyway for a little while until heading home in the dark. We didn’t catch any fish but all in all it was another fun day of being on the water.
Kayak Fishing
Jun 6th
Yesterday I went fishing out of my kayak for the first time. I had a rod with me the previous time but wasn’t really fishing seriously. All I caught was a catfish but it’s a start. I’ll definitely catch some live bait to use next time. I went to Weedon Islands and fished a few places I noticed on my first trip there. Should be going fishing later today but in the big boat.
Here are pictures for yesterday:
The Professional Tarpon Tournament Series
Jun 4th
This past Sunday, I fished in the Professional Tarpon Tournament Series in Boca Grande. I have to say that was pretty crazy. I’ve never fished in anything like that. There were tons of boats all fishing in the pass literally feet away from each other, just like in this picture.
During the tournament I managed to get a tarpon on for about 5-10 seconds but it popped the line. Another guy on our boat had one but it threw the hook when it jumped in front of the boat. Seeing those giant 150+ pound fish just 4-5 feet out of the water is just amazing. We were also told to watch out for sharks that will come up and eat your tarpon. Well we actually saw that first hand. Another boat had a tarpon close to the boat when a shark attacked it and left with their tarpon.
We’re heading back this Sunday for the next tournament and I’ll definitely have some pictures from this one now that I got a new camera.
Getting Into Kayaking
Jun 4th
When I moved to Tampa, my sister has been mentioning that I should try out kayaking. I also have a friend that just got a kayak and we’ve been talking about fishing out of them so I finally went kayaking the other weekend and was hooked. My sister and her boyfriend David went out to Weedon Islands and paddled their 3 mile trail. We went through some open water and also tunnels of mangrooves which were really cool.
So I picked up a kayak from my sister’s friend. Its an Old Town Loon 160t w/ rudder. I got it rigged up for fishing with two rod holders behind the back seat, two mounts on the sides for a rod holder or cup holder, anchor system with rope that runs the length of the boat, and other stuff I needed. I can’t wait to go out again!
