Archive for July, 2008
Massive fish kill; beach closed
Jul 29th
TAMPA – Thousands of dead fish are floating along the shoreline on the south side of the Courtney Campbell Causeway, stretching from Hillsborough to Pinellas County.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission is working to determine what caused the fish kill.
Crews will be out Wednesday sampling the water.
In the meantime, the City of Tampa has temporarily closed Ben T. Davis Beach.
Source: MyFox Tampa Bay
Monday Fishing Report
Jul 29th
My friend and I were thinking of trying out some dock fishing from the kayak at night but wound up just going out on his boat in the afternoon. And I’m glad we did. We headed out with some pinfish that I put in his bait hotel the day before and were just scouting around. On our way in we decided to hit a spot that I got a monster hit on a few weeks back. It was right at low tide and we could see way back into the hole. As we got up close I heard my friend who was on the tower saying, “Do you see that???” I thought it was a cobia cause it was big and looked redish. I cast into the hole..nothing. Reeled it in and made a better cast and BAM! He took it…fast! That’s when I knew it was a big snook, just like I had mentioned on the way there. I was able to pull him out of the hole before he look off behind the pylons like last time. My friend was rushing down off the tower as I as yelling to get net ready. He made about 3 really nice jumps. Then we got him to the boat. Man, that’s my biggest snook yet coming in at 28 inches! What a fight. I definitely have a new favorite fish.
Weekend Fishing Report
Jul 27th
This weekend was the first time I got a change to go out in my new kayak and do some serious fishing. I had taken it out for a quick paddle the other day and caught some large pinfish but that’s all. Saturday I woke up pretty early, picked up some pinfish, and headed to Weedon Islands. I managed to hook up with 3 snook which I was pretty happy about. I really enjoy the new kayak. It is just a lot more stable and easier to fish out of. I actually had so much fun that I decided to go back out Sunday morning. This time I hooked up with 1 snook and 1 redfish. My rod broke as I got the redfish to the boat so I just fly fished the rest of the way in and called it a day. I was honestly so happy about the redfish I didn’t really care about the rod. But I have to saw the best part of the weekend was catching most of the snook and the red on first casts to where I thought there would be fish. Each snook I caught were sitting right in the middle of openings between mangroves that had a nice current coming in of the main channel. I figure they are sitting there waiting for some baitfish or other food to get brought there way. This is how I caught 3 out of the 4 snook. I just paddled until I found what I thought was a good inlet and tossed a pinfish right in the middle of it. Similarly, I caught the redfish by making an awkward cast behind me over my shoulder into a pod of baitfish that I heard being spooked by something. After sitting for a couple seconds my line shot back toward the mangroves. I realized I had a nice redfish on right away as it started pulling my kayak towards the mangroves. I was actually testing out a smaller anchor today which I won’t be using anymore. That redfish was pulling my kayak and anchor across the water a couple feet. But man, that was a fun ride.
Click here for Saturday pics and here for Sunday pics.
New Kayak – Ocean Kayak Prowler 13
Jul 27th
After going fishing in my kayak a few times I realized I wanted a sit-on-top instead of the sit-in that I had. They just seem to be more stabled and are geared for fishing. I found one I was interested in on Craigslist so I put mine up for sale to see if I could basically trade it out. Well within a week I had sold mine and bought a used one for about the same amount I sold mine for. It was in great condition, all rigged up for fishing, and a lot of accessories. The model is a Ocean Kayak Prowler 13.
Busy Few Weeks
Jul 27th
Wow, the past few weeks have been pretty busy. On July 4th I had my daughter, mother, brother and niece come into town. We went to Disney first and had a lot of fun. It was great having the girls together as they don’t get to see each other much. Everyone is already gone and I miss them already.
