MY friend, his brother and I went out yesterday to try and put his brother on some fish. We went out in the afternoon to fish the outgoing tide. I picked up some pinfish on the way just to make sure we had some bait. We went to a spot we normally pull something out of and didn’t get much of a bite at first. I pulled in a nice trout but the bite was really slow. We headed out to check some other areas and wound up getting some nice greenbacks of the old faithful pylon we normally check for bait at. We wound up heading back to the original spot with the new bait and the action was a lot better. I pulled in 3 redfish and 2 trout. My friend got an Tampa Bay inshore slam with a trout, snook, and a red. He caught a few more and almost had a double. His brother wound up catching 3 snook and a catfish. Before this trip he had only caught one snook so that was pretty cool. I wish I would have gotten a snook to get my own Tampa Bay inshore slam but the fishing gods didn’t allow it that day. Maybe next time.

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Nice Refish

Yesterday I was determined to go fishing and try some night time dock fishing from the kayak for the first time. I went by Tampa Bay Outfitters and picked up a few things. I got some glow in the dark gulp bait and I picked up a new Mirrodine XL lure. I kept an eye on the weather and the radar as it didn’t look too promising as the day progressed. After I got him it seemed to be just overcast so I got the truck loaded up just in case. After looking at the radar again for a few minutes I decided it looked like I’d be ok so I headed out. As I was launching it was barely drizzling but the wind was really strong. A guy walked by and asked if I was just coming in and I said no, I’m going out. He shook his head and said be careful. I told him it was all about to pass but I don’t think he believed me.

So I paddled down a few docks and started fishing a hole I’ve caught mangrove snapper in before but only pulled in a few catfish. That’s when the sun came out and I realized I didn’t have to worry about getting rained on anymore. I fished a few docks as well as some bait schools out in the open but wasn’t getting anything but catfish but they were big. I got to a shallow area and got out of my kayak and saw something tailing. Again, big catfish. I saw something a few feet past the school of catfish so I cast over there and right when the lure hit the water it was getting hit. It look a few casts to realize it was a school of ladyfish playing with it. I’d through all the way back to them and as soon as the lure hit the water I’d start reeling in quick and they would just attack the bait on top the water. I didn’t actually land any of them, they all threw the hook but I thought it was fun.

I moved on to a hole we’ve been to before with the monster fish. It was just getting really dark as I got there. I anchored up and on my first cast something hit the bait and then got off. I couldn’t really see but I felt like it was a snook. After that I hear things attacking bait behind me so I cast into them and once again, a big catfish. At this point I’m thinking they are just following me around! After landing him I didn’t get any more bites out of that hole. I must have spooked everything in there. So I just headed back the way I came, fishing a few spots on the way back pulling in nothing but catfish.

I must have caught at least 15-20 catfish yesterday but all in all it was a good trip. I only got hits on that new Mirrodine XL. Even though it was just catfish and ladyfish, I think that tells me it was matching the baitfish in the area pretty well. I swung by TFO again today and picked up a few more. I’m hoping to hit it again this evening if the weather lets me which it looks like it will. I forgot my camera yesterday so no pictures but I’ll be sure to bring it tonight.

Yesterday I went fishing early on the kayak but all I caught was big catfish. I had live pinfish but they didn’t seem to be swimming around much. They would just swim to the bottom and sit there like they were about to die. But I kept live bait on one rod and artificial on another. I got anchored up in one spot where I had fish all around me. It looked like tailing redfish all over. There were some other people fishing close by that looked like they wanted to be where I was cause they could here all the activity. But I couldn’t get a bite. I threw live pinfish and almost every artificial I had on me and nothing. But I finished out the morning and headed in around lunch.

Then I went out in the afternoon with my friend on his boat. We managed to get some bait and then scouted around trying a few new spots. We found decent place where his fiancee caught her first snook which was pretty cool. He pulled out a few mangrove snapper but once again I couldn’t get a bite. I got one nibble on a gulp bait as we were running low on decent live bait. So we decided to hit one more spot we had in mind to look for some monster snook. As we pulled up it seemed the hole was filled with fish. This time we weren’t sure it was snook but I started casting. After a few passes we finally hooked up…and we hooked up BIG! Right as I saw the cork go under I started cranking and pulled back to keep him from running back into the hole and popping me off as they have done in here before. Then he jumped and I think we all sighed as the same time. This thing was a monster. We are thinking at least a 50 inch snook. That’s when I started yelling at my friend to get off the tower and get the net. Well, IT DIDN’T FIT IN THE NET! I got him to the boat, he ran again and as my friend tried to net him he turned and slapped the line with his tail and popped off. Again, we all sighed in unison. I think I was shaking for the next hour. We tried a couple more times but didn’t have any luck and decided to leave them alone.

We’re going back today but we’re going to be prepared. We’re hitting the tackle shop to get new rods, a bigger net, and heavier leader. We’ll see if we can pull another big monster and actually land him this time! No pictures, my friend has the camera but I’ll post some later.