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I asked noted Photographer Doug Stamm to join me on a day trip over to Miami for some Peacock Bass fishing. We left the West coast at 0600 and began the drive. It was tempting to stop at all the canals along the way, but we were on a mission. We arrived after a few short stops at around 0830 and met up with Mike Teixidor. Mike is a good friend and fellow Blue Line Fishing Team member, and he knows Miami Peacock bass. We launched at Antonio Maceo Park and we were greeted by rolling tarpon. They wanted nothing to do with us, so we moved on. We fished the Blue Lagoon area and it wasn't too long before the fish bite was on. I landed the 1st Peacock Bass and he posed for a picture.

Mike, who had the best day of us three, followed with a few mayan cichlids on fly.

He followed those up with a peacock bass.

We hunted around the area and saw lots of fish. It seemed like the were bedding and were aggressive in some areas, and slow in others. We tried for some tarpon action again, they were there and rolling, just not biting. Doug started using his fly rod and began to get results too.

We didn't catch the world on fire, but we did our share and caught a few. We wrapped it up around 3pm and I was back in Bonita Springs before 6! Not a bad day to spend with friends.
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I had the chance to fish with some swfkaa members on Monday and Friday. I met Steve, Chris and Dave on Monday in Matlacha. I brought Will Mallett along with me. Our plan was to fish Pineland, but there were 25mph winds and it didn't sound too enticing. We hit the backwaters instead and despite good moving water and beautiful mangroves and oyster beds, caught nothing. It was still a good time and we enjoyed fishing together. Pictured at the launch is Will, Steve, Chris and Dave.

Friday I met swfkaa members Tess and Joe at Weeks Fish Camp. Frank (who I will refer to as Fank) said he was going to peddle over from Lover's Key in his new inflatable Hobie. We hit the flats right outside of the channel and started catching trout right away! Tess, who says she is a novice, caught one of her many over 20" fish first.

Soon after, Joe started gettin' em too.

It wasn't too long after that I spotted Fank on his way over. I wasn't sure at all about this Hobie that he described to me, but it ended up being a really nice solid kayak.

We spent the morning drifting around, catching nice trout and chatting about fishing.



We arrived back at the launch and talked more about fishing, and this guy came over about 10 feet away to listen.

It was a beautiful day to spend with new friends!
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Went out the the Sound today with Allen Reddick. When I arrived at the launch I found the conditions could not be better. Clear sky, no wind and low tide. I brought an extra Hobie for Allen to try out and took off looking for the fish.

There was a little ripple to the water, but we were still able to see the fish moving.

It wasn't long before Allen hooked up with the first red of the day.


I followed up with a big, fat trout.

And soon after, another red.

We continued on catching reds and trout as we made our way across the flats. I was using New Penny and White Gulp shrimp on a jighead and Allen was using some kind of soft plastic on a weighted hook. We sight fished and waded and kept catching fish.


And in the end, I limited out on trout and took home a redfish as well. Another fantastic day in SWFL!

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I wanted to try out one of the area canals for snook, so I called my favorite bait place and they were out of shiners! I tried another little pond for catching small bait and while I was bringing one in, it was slammed by a nice bass. I had 4lb test and a tiny bait hook, but I gave him a minute to take the bait, then I set the hook. I really had to go easy with the ultralite combo and he had me to the end of the spool several times.

I fought him in for about seven minutes before I could get my hands on him to land him.


I put him on a kitchen scale and he was 5lbs. Not my biggest, but a lot of fun on lite tackle! After that, I took my sister Angie and my son Eric to one of my favorite canals and the fish were waiting on us....


We caught several before calling it an evening. Tight lines!
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Got in to Choko Friday evening and started meeting all the folks there. We spent some time talking to the Wolf Pack club and listening to their fishing reports from their week long stay.

We started the morning at around 0700 and a very low tide. I worked the oyster beds just outside of the launch and was surprised to find no fish there. I followed a group out into Chokoloskee bay and started working some oyster beds there. There were plenty of fish around but they were being very choosy. I managed a very small red and decided to move on. As water rushed in from the tide, I began working the mangroves. I finally started getting the redfish and a few small trout.

I worked the same area for about an hour and boated three redfish and let several more off the hook at the boat. I caught them all on Gulp shrimp in moving water at the mangrove edge. They pulled like much bigger fish and I was amazed as they turned my kayak around and they never seemed to tire. I was off the water by noon thirty and had a pretty good day. The day wrapped up with a pot luck dinner and some unreal giveaways. Redfish Chuck really came through with some great raffle prizes. The next day was a weak front that brought up to 20 knot winds, so I stayed in and fished the docks. I got a snook early on and there was lots action seen by everyone.


As several folks paddled out that morning to brave the wind, there was a little surprise waiting for them. The Park Ranger was sitting just off the launch checking boats and kayaks as they went out. I didn't see anybody turned back, so all must have went well.

That evening ended with a low country boil and hanging out with some friends sharing fishing stories. It was a great weekend with some great people.
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Jim VanPelt and I went to Pine Island to prefish the Coastal Redfish Tour tourney scheduled for tomorrow. Our plan was to launch from Pineland, but when we arrived, the negative tide had the mud flat exposed at least 500 yards. We ended up launching from the co-op ramp and headed out. It was very chilly but the wind wasn't very bad. I was using white Gulp shrimp and Jim was trying out a new Rip Tide soft plastic. We were derifting some pretty deep potholes and getting some smaller trout. Finally I broke the ice with a decent trout.

After taking a picture, we continued on. We kept working the potholes, but kept an eye on the flats looking for any movement that meant reds. Jim hooked into another good trout on his Rip Tide bait.

As we moved along, we were getting into some pretty skinny water. Up ahead of us, I could see nervous bait fish coming out of the water, so we moved up very slowly. I had a nice red slam my bait and he started taking me for a ride. I wasn't in a hurry to get him in so I let him fight while a tried to get the camera ready for an action shot. That was all the chance he needed to throw the hook. I knew we were on them at that point, so we scouted around and caught a few more. First, I caught this 23"er

Then Jim hooked into his first red of the day.

I slowed down to take pictures, and took some really amazing action shots of Jim landing another redfish. It wasn't until I got home that I noticed all of them were ruined by a drop of water on the lens. You can make out the fish in this one.

We headed in and fished our way back. The return trip was uneventful except another decent trout.

The wind got a little worse, but it warmed up into a beautiful day! Tight lines.
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I had intended this morning to try out some launches I haven't been to for a while and ended up at Hickory Pass. The tide was almost finished coming in so I figured I would work mangroves for a little while, then head to the flats. I was using a Hobie Revolution and saw this as an opportunity to really try it out.

It was a little windy and pretty chilly as I headed out. I hit some of the usual spots inside the bridge and I was using shrimp. For the first two hours, I peddled around and had no real action. I was kind of surprised as some of the areas I was in were pretty fishy. At around 10am, they started biting. First up, I found some redfish. They were anywhere from 18ish to this 23"er I brought home.

After landing four reds, I started back. I tossed a shrimp in a little hole that I never really had any luck in, and I come up with this decent trout.

I looked at my watch and I had caught those fish in about 40 minutes. I thought it would be really neat to slam in less than an hour, so I headed over to the channel where there are usually snook cruising the edges. I hooked up on my second cast with this little fella.

So, the slam was in less than an hour, but I used live shrimp. The Hobie was absolutely fantastic and I don't know if I will ever go back to paddling again! Tight lines!
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It looked to be a perfect day. Slightly overcast with low winds, and toward the end of an incoming tide. I hadn't launched at Hickory Pass for a while and thought I would check out what's been happening around there.

I brought live bait, but Jim VanPelt and I started out with Gulp, DOA, and in his case, Riptides. It started out slow, and we weren't finding anything in our regular spots. Another friend who joined us, Tom Reddick, started hitting some smaller flounder and jacks with a DOA terror eyes. Jim finally found what we were looking for with a small red on an oyster bar just inside the pass.

We fished there a while, then moved on to some other regular areas. We split up and found the occasional snook and small reds, ladyfish, etc. Jim found a respectable snook on light tackle that broke the monotony of a slow day.

Around noon, I was fishing around an island that at times hold good reds, and was watching a school of mullet in between the islands. They were acting strange and it wasn't long before I realized there were some big redfish mixed in with them. Some of them looked to be really big, so I tossed out a live shrimp and it wasn't soaking for 5 seconds before it was taken. I realized pretty quick that it wasn't one of the biggies, but a smaller slot.

By the time I landed him, the school spooked and we missed our chance for some larger redfish. Dejected, we went home. It was still nice to get out to Hickory Pass and ended up being a nice day to paddle around.
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Before I start, an apology about the pictures. I was only able to get a couple of pics before my camera crapped out on me! Anyway, I traveled to Tampa for the KFC Southern Redfish Classic this past weekend. I was a little worried about frontal weather conditions, but I had to fish this as it was the series final. I arrived in Ruskin on Friday to rainy windy conditions. Saturday morning, I awoke to faily calm weather and my hopes were high. I chose Cockroach Bay as my fishing area, and I hoped the front hadn't stopped the bite. When I arrived at the launch, there were several kayakers there, so I figured it was a decent spot. Larry Groove of Tampa turned me on to some good areas and I was eager to check the area out. I launched the Tarpon 160 on possibly it's last mission before it's replacement is ordered.

As I paddled out to the bay, I noticed how calm it was. It was too dark to see out that far, but once I cleared the last mangrove island, the wind showed itself. It was stiff, but bearable. I headed around the corner and headed North over the flats. The tide was running out, and I figured the redfish would be active on the flats going after whatever washed out of the mangroves. I found them almost instantly when this fat red slammed my DOA glowshrimp.

I landed, pictured and released him pretty quickly, then got back to the action. I was following what turned out to be a school of reds that were actively feeding hard. I had another one on in short order and landed him pretty fast as well. That's when things went a little south. My camera stopped taking pictures. It just quit on me. It turned on, and I could see the other photos I took, but it refused to take anymore. I looked around for any other kayakers for help, but I was alone. There was nothing I could do, so I released the red and kept fishing. And the reds kept coming! I ended up catching seven all together and must have lost at least seven more. All of this action happened before 9am! There were so many redfish that I think it was my best red day ever! When I got back to the weigh in, I learned that everyone had a similar experience and most of the anglers caught their three fish max. With my one fish I wasn't even in the top ten. It ended up not being a bust because I was the points leader for the series and the one fish was enough to hold onto the lead and win the series!

My friend Marty Meakin was on my tail and had me nervous, but I ended up leader at the end. Also, another good friend, Michael Texidor, won 3rd place with a nice slam of three reds! He told me it was his best day red fishing as well! We all had fun and I have met some great anglers and good friends in this series!
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I wanted to try out a new kayak design on the water while actually fishing, so we went to Weeks Fish Camp and gave it a try. I was a little pressed for time, so I had about an hour and a half to try the Yak. Jim VanPelt and I hit the ramp around 1030 hrs as the tide was coming in. We paddled out to the bay and there were fish everywhere! Many mullet were doing thier thing on the flats and in between, I was thinking I could make out some reds. I was using a Berkley Gulp and was twitching it over the grass. As the breeze slowly pushed us out into about three feet of water, I noticed a wake following my bait. I stopped retrieving and let the bait rest on the bottom, and BAM!

At 27" this fish was fighting like it was much bigger. Then I realized I was using an ultralight rod. I didn't even remember bringing it! It took a little while to get him in, but in the end, he was released unharmed. Jim and I tooled around a little while on the flats and boated a couple of rat reds, and on the way back in, we hit the mangroves. By now, I had switched to DOA glowshrimp and was casting under mangroves. While I was doing this, Jim sees another school. I snapped off this photo as he was getting closer.

He had a good run on a fish from that school before he got off. We were about to go in and I was tossing out a few more casts when my bait was hammered by what I thought was a big redfish. This thing was pulling drag like it was nothing. After a few minutes of exitement, It came by the kayak, and I saw the flat head of a bonnethead shark. It was right about then my leader gave way.

We were back at the launch in about an hour and a half and went back about our business. All total were four redfish, two catfish, and an angry bonnethead shark with a new piercing!
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Jimmy VanPelt and I went out today for a little filming to Estero Bay. It was very low tide so we hit some areas where we thought there may be some reds. I broke the ice with this little scrapper snook.

Then another

Jimmy found this one under a mangrove in zero water.

And I finished up with this redfish. Another great day on the water.

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Hi, check out the newest "Fish On" video. This one features Kayak largemouth bass fishing in Naples Florida. Please subscribe to the channel and feel free to email me with suggestions on how to improve the show or with any ideas on future videos. Thanks and tight lines!

www.youtube.com/user/321FishOn#p/u/1/G4XPxoR6TyE
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