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Kayak Fishing

Spooky fish

May 9, 2012
Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Saltwater
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My parents came in town for my cousin’s wedding this past weekend and my dad and I were able to find some time to sneak away and do some kayak fishing. I really wanted to put him on some redfish so we headed down to a favorite spot of mine in Lafourche parish and met Blake and his dad, plus a co-worked of his who is also a yak fisher. The weather was very nice with light winds and intermittent sunshine. There was a storm cell off to the south, but it didn’t look to be moving our way. The tide was a bit higher than my liking and was going to be rising throughout the day.

Dad started the day off hot and caught a trout on the first cast before I even launched, but we couldn’t follow that up with any subsequent trout so we set out for the same flats that I had success at on April 1st. They were in good shape, but not the same as last month. The clarity was much improved due to an abundance of submerged grass, Ruppia maritima or widgeongrass is what it’s called. The redfish weren’t as thick either. Alligator gar had moved in and were spawning. I’ve never seen so many 4-7 ft beasts in one place in my life. At times they were in piles, causing all sorts of commotion. Other times there would be six males chasing one female around ponds without a care in the world, except to procreate. The gar orgy was on and however entertaining it was, it made for some very poor redfishing. The redfish weren’t absent, there were some around, but every cast I made to a red with the fly rod would spook him. They were very wary. I hooked a couple buzzing a soft plastic above the grass and landed one, at 25″, landed a black drum too. I probably should have made the switch to conventional tackle earlier, but the weather was so nice, I felt I had to catch one on the fly. The odds were against me though and those were the only two fish I caught. Dad had similar results but did end up catching a 20″ red and a black drum as well. We had our variety, just not in quantity. To add insult to injury, not far away, Blake and his dad were having a great day catching reds and ended up with 5 apiece. I guess a career at being a guide is not in the cards for me. Still, it was a good day, like I said the weather was nice, it was a great day to be out in a kayak, hopefully next time Dad comes down we’ll have better luck.

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Mesh cargo panel install

May 2, 2012
Kayak Fishing, Rigging
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I had documented this process on the Cuda prior to the last IFA event, but I deleted all the pictures off my camera before the tournament since it wass catch-photo-release and I wanted to give the judges a clean card to look through. So today I had it all planned out, I would film and document what it takes to install the mesh cargo panels on the Coosa. You can pick these up at your local Jackson dealer or through their online store. Well I filmed it, but it was too dark (I was in a poorly lit garage while it rained), so the film came out lousy. Then the install was so easy that I failed to take pictures of all the steps because I just breezed right through. Definitely a one beer job.

Here goes what I do have.

First, gather the materials you’ll need to install them. That includes the boat. You’ll need a drill, 3/16 drill bit, hand riveter (essential tool for kayak anglers), and the mesh cargo panels (which come with the rivets and clips needed to hold the net in place). Some folks will use marine goop as well to seal each rivet hole, but I don’t think it is necessary with the location of these holes.

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Drill holes in the appropriate locations for your boat. For the Cuda it is 5 spots, pretty straight forward. After you drill the holes you can rivet the clips into place. Make sure to press firmly against the kayak while you do. Keep squeezing that handle until you hear it pop.

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4 holes for the Coosa, and you actually need to place the holes for the top clips on top the boat, so it doesn’t interfere with the low position spot of the seat. Also watch when you are drilling the lower holes to not hit the flush mount rod holders.

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Then all you have to do is stretch the mesh net over the clips

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See, I told you it was easy. If I can do it, you can do it.

The Chandeleur Islands

April 10, 2012
Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Saltwater, Wade Fishing
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I attended a Redstick Fly Fishers meeting last night and had the pleasure of listening to a speaker with CPRA talk about the Master Plan they just came out with for the Lousiana coast. One thing that stood out to me was that there were no plans for protecting the Chandeleur Islands. I fully understand the reasoning behind this, money, but it was a little concerning. The Chandeleurs are a string of barrier islands that form the toe of the boot that is Louisiana. They boast an amazing fishery. They are slowly disappearing too. I would definitely recommend a trip out to them to any inshore kayak fishermen looking for a change of pace. Who knows? They may not always be there, so take a trip to them while you can. I’d go so far to say that the islands offer some of the best redfish and speckled trout fishing that you’ll find anywhere. Be it wade fishing, kayak fishing, or fishing from a skiff – the Chandeleurs offer it all.

I took a trip with some guys from BCKFC back in August of 2009 and still remember it very fondly. We did a charter with Capt. Troy Fountain on the Double Trouble, out of Biloxi, MS. We didn’t go at prime time and we had to wait out a few storms, but it was still a fantastic trip, well worth the money. Troy charges $575 a person if you have a party of 10+. You get 2 solid days of fishing, meals, and lodging for that. Here is the trip report from August 3, 2009:

“The trip went pretty well, I wish we would have had more time there, but the weather had other plans. We missed out on two early morning trips due to thunderstorms, but that really didn’t slow anyone down. Lots of fish were brought in and the 270 qt Icey Tek cooler was full by Saturday night. Specks were the most abundant species caught, but redfish, flounder, sharks, bluefish, white trout, croaker, spanish mack, and ladyfish were also caught.

4 of us brought kayaks; Jeff, Brendan, Todd, and myself, and we fished out of them almost exclusively. I caught a couple of personal best trout out there and plenty of other big keepers. Jeff caught a limit of reds on Saturday along with some nice trout. Brendan had one of the nicest stringers of fish I’ve ever seen, all caught on topwater. Todd didn’t disappoint either catching a big trout that went 3lb 11oz. All 3 of the other guys managed to get master angler ladyfish, while I caught 2 that taped out an inch short. I can safely say that those of us in kayaks had a pretty good time. I was pretty exhausted Saturday night.

The fishery out there is tremendous. The water on the backside of the islands is very clear and the turtle grass makes a great hiding place for both prey and predator. When the tide was out on Sat. Jeff and I actually sight casted a couple of big trout while walking the flats, it was a very cool experience.

Here’s some pictures:

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Checking out the surf on Friday afternoon

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Friday’s best for me

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Storm’s a brewin’

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Friday evening’s booze cruise

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Low tide on the island

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Looking for sharks

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Turn him, turn him!

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Double Trouble

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Brendan and the pelicans

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Louisiana brown pelicans take flight

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Another storm on the horizon

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Saturday’s best for me

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Todd getting a tow

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Dolph’s nice flounder

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Underwater shot of the turtle grass

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Topwater time

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Saturday’s sunset

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Me fishing near the pelicanpalooza (photo Brendan Bayard)

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Me wading near birds (photo Brendan Bayard)

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I’m reminiscing a little with this post, but I’d love to go back, especially now that I have a few years kayak fishing under my belt. I was still relatively new when I went back in ’09, I might do a little better next time out.