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Kayak Fishing

One of Those Days

March 5, 2022
Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Multimedia, Saltwater, Scouting, Sightfishing, Tournaments, Video
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I had another opportunity to take the new kayak out to the marsh one day last month and man did I hit it right!

The last two trips in the kayak I’ve failed to wake up early enough to make it down there before sunrise, which is not a big deal to someone who sightfishes as much as I do, but it prevented me from making a longer paddle at the beginning of the day last time and I was determined not to do it again this time. It at least gave me an opportunity to see this stranded Ford Ranger, across the canal from the nearest place a vehicle should be, in the daylight. Thanks Ida.

It was near-perfect conditions though and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Apparently the fish were just as thrilled as very shortly after I got to the first flat I wanted to fish I started seeing activity.

After seeing a couple of bigger than average redfish and blowing shots at them the thought began to creep into my mind about my previous trip and how awful I was at making the most of my chances then, somehow I shook that mindset though and was able to connect on the next opportunity. I spotted a big black drum feeding on bottom and what I thought was another black drum with it. I made a cast toward the big drum and he began to track the fly, but the other fish beat him to it and I set the hook. It was a big fish and very soon I could tell it wasn’t a black drum.

This red gave me some good runs and put up a solid fight on the 8wt. I was after a redfish over 30″ for the Massey’s CPR tourney and it had been a while since I eclipsed that mark on the fly from the kayak, but this one was at least 5″ past my 30.5″ board, so goal accomplished for the day.

I didn’t have my 45″ ruler on board because for some reason the 321 ruler wasn’t stated in the rules as an approved measuring device this year for the yearlong Massey’s CPR tourney, so I quit carrying it around. This fish had to be submitted as 30.5″, which tied a previous submission by another participant, so it’ll only be good enough for 2nd place redfish on the fly in that tourney, despite it clearly being longer. I play by the rules and sometimes those rules are pretty dumb. Still I like the Massey’s CPR tourney because I can participate on almost every trip I take in the kayak, there’s a fly rod category, and I don’t have to keep the fish. It’s the only kayak tourney I continually participate in. I’m over the conventional meathaul kayak tourneys. I won one once, I’m happy with that. Sorry for the aside, back to the fishing.

I made the decision to head back to the main canal and fish the flats there on out to the bay, thinking I’d keep seeing big fish out there. The fish weren’t there though, they were on the shallow flats in the marsh. It wasn’t until I made it back into a marsh cut that I started seeing fish again. After that it was on.

One of my favorite catches on the day wasn’t the biggest fish, but the situation was pretty awesome. I got to a pond that was super shallow. Shallow to the point where I commented to myself that no self-respecting redfish would be caught dead in that pond and wouldn’t you know there was one way in the back happily cruising with his back out of the water. There is no shallow that’s too shallow apparently. There was only one way into this pond and I was at the opening so I just waited for him to swim into casting range. I even captured video of him with my phone before I put it down and made a cast to him. I put a fly out in front of him, twitched it a couple times, and he pounced on it, much to my delight! It’s nice when you don’t screw it up!

After catching those two redfish, which were both around 28″, I spotted a little shark crusing around the shallow flats of the marsh. I made a few casts his way, but could never get him to eat. I popped back out into the bay and then made my way to another marsh cut back into the marsh. After traversing that cut I made it to a big flat at an intersection of waterbodies where I could see black drum were actively feeding. They were so focused on whatever it was they were rooting around for on the bottom that I could get real close before casting and it didn’t take long to hook up with one.

I then hooked another.

These weren’t the biggest drum I’ve ever seen, but black drum over 30″ are pretty heavy fish and fun to fight on the fly rod. My 8wt was definitely doubled over as I fought to bring these guys within arm’s reach of the boat. My net was far too small to handle them so the fish grips had to work.

Just up the bank from the black drum I spotted a good redfish working the shallow bank. It gave me a good opportunity at one more redfish over 30″ and I was lucky enough to make my shot count.

It was a pretty fish with bullseye spot on his tail and a great way to end the day. I couldn’t believe the luck I had on the day and the fact that almost every fish I came across was a big fish. There’s something to be said about mild late winter days in the South Louisiana marsh – the big fish just seem to come out this time of year!

This was one of those days that make you remember why you put in all the hard work trying to fly fish from a kayak for bull redfish. It’s not easy. Nothing about the process is easy. It’s a lot of work. It’s downright difficult. It would be much easier to use a boat. It would be much easier to throw conventional tackle. It would be much easier if I could spend an endless amount of time on the water and know exactly where these fish are at all times. When it all comes together like it did on this day it makes it all worth it. This doesn’t happen nearly often enough, but when it does happen I’ve learned to cherish it.

New Year, New Boat

March 4, 2022
Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Gear Review, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Outdoors, Saltwater, Sightfishing
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I got a chance to get down to the marsh on New Year’s Eve and try out a new-to-me boat that I picked up off of Facebook marketplace. I had been looking for a tandem boat with a framed seat that also had a solo configuration and had a couple brands and models in mind. I finally came across a good deal on a Crescent Crew around Thanksgiving and jumped on it.

This trip to the marsh was my first opportunity to really dig into the new boat, but it also gave me an opportunity to see how post-Ida Lafourche Parish was coming along, which I’ll get back to at the end, let’s talk fishing first.

I paddled out from the launch to the first flat directly in front of the mangroves you see in my launch pic above and immediately saw fish tailing. The tide was out so it was real shallow in there and after a few errant casts I plopped my fly in front of a cruising fish and hooked up. First fish in the new boat was a red on the fly!

After that first fish I really thought that the fishing was about to be on fire, but truth be told, the next four hours were downright frustrating. I wasn’t seeing tons of fish to begin with, missed the shots I did have, and was pretty much just blowing opportunities left and right. Odd things were happening too. I’d have fish eat my fly, I’d set the hook, and then a few seconds later they’d spit the hook. Stubborn me never changed the fly, insisting that it was getting the eat, but in retrospect that was foolish. I finally got my shit together and caught another red (with the fly in question).

I caught another red just as I was ready to call it quits for the day and head back home. The long gap between fish catching was tough, but at least I ended the day on somewhat of a high note.

Overall, I was happy with the new boat and happy with my purchase. It’s the first non-Jackson I’ve paddled in quite some time and it definitely has a different feel to it. The deck is pretty much the same as the Bite, wide open, which I like. It’s not as wide a boat as the Bite, so the primary stability doesn’t compare(a little more wobble when standing), the secondary stability is definitely there though. The boat paddles and tracks a straight line very well and it’s pretty fast, closer in comparison to my old Kilroy, which is my favorite boat I’ve ever owned. It has a deeper keel(which probably explains the tracking) and it sits higher out of the water than a lot of my previous Jacksons. A big plus is that the weight of the boat balances nicely on the side handles when carrying it overhead and makes it more manageable to throw it on top of my truck solo. The weight comes in at 80 lbs, which I think is pretty light for a tandem, slightly heavier than the Bite, but due to the weight balance it is actually easier to cartop than the Bite. I don’t that it’s fair to make a bunch of comparisons between the Crew and the Bite as one is a tandem and one is a solo, but these are the two boats I currently own, so that’s what I can speak to.

It was good to get back down to the marsh and see with my own eyes that, at least at this spot, which is a favorite of mine, that the marsh was healthy post-Ida. There was plenty of fish and bait around and I didn’t come across any big areas of vegetation die off. The natural ecosystems bounce back from these big events pretty well so I really didn’t expect to encounter any issues. Still you never know until you can see it for yourself.

Infrastructure though and the human side of life in South Lafourche has been severely impacted by Hurricane Ida. Things are going to come back very slowly down there. The areas where there is a lot invested, like Port Fourchon, are back up and running, but for folks living from Lockport south times are tough. I didn’t make it as far as Grand Isle on this trip, but Leeville was pretty much wiped out. So many structures damaged, so much debris still on the side of the road months later; this storm was devastating to these rural fishing communities.

Keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers. They won’t be down long. The fishing is too good and the people are too strong to scare them away.

Florida Panhandle River Trip – Day 2

December 23, 2021
Adventure, Beer, Bucket List, Camping, Conservation, Exploring, Fish, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Fly Tying, Food and Drink, Freshwater, Kayak Fishing, Kayaking, Outdoors, Scouting, Travel, Warmwater
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The next day I decided to drive a little further east and check out the only watershed in Florida that held shoal bass – the Chipola River. I scouted a few launch sites and debated my plan before settling on one. I was under the assumption that I had to have shoals to target shoal bass and from what I could tell at each launch site that I stopped at(and from what I saw in imagery online) that was going to be difficult. The water level must have been a tad higher than normal and there were no visible shoals at places where I thought there would be so I was flying blind on this one.

I put the boat in and started paddling up anyway. I drove all the way out here, I may as well fish. The clarity was pretty good and the weather was gorgeous – I took that as a sign that there was a good chance I’d catch something.

I paddled up until I reached a spring run tributary and was amazed at how clear the water was dumping out of this creek. I paddled/walked up the creek a little ways and spooked a ton of small fish – pickerel, bass, sunfish, shiner – there was lots of life here. There was no way for me to effectively fish the creek so I hoped back in the boat and started my downstream float and fish.

Shoal bass, like most bass, are ambush predators so my idea was to just strip streamers around any place I thought looked like a good ambush point – pretty standard bass fishing stuff, I know, it’s not rocket science though. If that area had discernible current around it I assumed that was prime territory.

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I flogged a good stretch of water, beating the banks and working areas around submerged timber, before I had a strike, which came from the timber pictured above. The eat happened on the bank side of the big limb as the current swiftly carried my boat around on the other side of the laydown. Things were precarious for a bit as I paddled myself back up to remedy the situation. At some point I figured I lost the fish when my fly line was caught on the limb, but as I worked to free the line with my hand I could see him still hooked and fighting. Luckily for me I had a solid hookset and I was able to bring the 12″ shoal bass to the boat.

I was pretty stoked for this fish! I did not have a lot of confidence in catching a shoal bass here. Like I said, not a shoal in sight, so I felt a bit out of place. It fell for a beat-up crawfish pattern that Blake had tied up a while ago. This fly has landed bass all over the place, from spotted bass in Louisiana to smallmouth in West Virginia and Arkansas to redeyes in Alabama and Georgia, and now a shoal bass in Florida. I’ll see if I can get him to do a step-by-step for it. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those here. My favorite flies, and those that tend to be the most durable, are the flies that Blake ties. No matter the pattern, he just does a really great job.

With renewed confidence I kept on swimming that crawfish pattern around anything and everything I floated by and eventually caught the spotted sunfish above. It was a good sized stumpknocker that looked like he’d seen better days. I was happy to have caught something else because despite my confidence the fishing was terribly slow. The river was beautiful though with the cypress trees giving it a little Fall color. Part of me feeling out of place was the river was a little bigger than I like to fish. I’m a small water guy. I dig the creeks. So medium or large rivers always intimidate me.

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There were low limestone bluffs every so often that were super pitted, like the one above. Some of the most unique geologic formations I’ve seen along a river. I ended up catching my second shoal bass along one of these walls. It makes total sense too as bass love a bluff wall. They are scoured out far underneath what is visible and make excellent ambush spots. That made it two shoal bass on the day! I was pumped and paddled the rest of my way back to the launch looking to get back to the campsite before dark.

On the drive back I made the realization that I just caught two shoal bass below I-10. That seemed so crazy to me; the fish known as the “fish of the waterfall”, Micropterus cataractae, were still hanging on down here in Florida, well below the fall line.

I stopped at a local grocery and bought a steak and whatever beer they had that was local to celebrate accomplishing a goal that was probably meaningless to 99% of the general population. Combine that with a campfire and it made for a much better night than the rainy one I had the night before.