We're entering my favorite time of year to fish. The air and water are cooling, and the fish are feeding heavily before winter. That makes for a great combination.
Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing has experienced some great action over the past couple of weeks – both on spinning gear and fly tackle.
On Sunday, Sept. 24, Scott Connor of Sarasota and John Jones of Orlando joined me for a half day of fishing. We can't fish distant waters on a half day, so we opted for the east side of Sarasota Bay.
It was a good call. The each landed small reds on Gulp Shrimp on jig heads. We then paddled south and stopped to fish a channel. I told them that at low tide, redfish loved to lie in the deep water.
Scott hooked a 27-inch snook on his first cast. He handed the rod like an expert and landed the fish after four jumps and five minutes.
Then it was time of giant reds. Using the same lure, the each landed several reds to 32 inches.
It turned out to be a great morning.
In addition to the quality fish they caught, Scott and John saw several schools of dolphin and the got close enough to a pair of manatees to touch them (they didn't).
On Tuesday, Hank Guetzlaff of Apollo Beach fished with me. We drove down to Pineland and launched in Pine Island Sound. Fishing was slow in the morning. Hank landed a quartet of small snook and I landed one. Potholes that had been so fishy a few days earlier were not productive.
After lunch on the water, we did some exploring. I saw an opening and paddled into a small bay. I saw snook crashing glass minnows against the mangroves. I was using a fly rod, floating line and a Gartside Gurgler. I caught several snook before Hank paddled in.
Over the next two hours, we caught and released 25 snook . There were a lot of small fish, but I did get one 27-incher. Anytime you can catch 30 snook is a great day.
Just proves what I've said for years: Keep your eyes and ears open, and you might discover good action.
We're planning several more trips to Pine Island Sound. This is a great time of year for that trip. And it's a great trip for fly fishers. Spotted seatrout, mangrove snapper, snook, redfish and tarpon are possible. Spinning enthusiasts will catch fish on topwater plugs, jigs, spoons, jerk plugs and jerk worms.
The Pine Island trips are all-day only because of the distance. Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing is offering a Fall Special: an all-day outing (fly or spin) for $200 (includes lunch, transportation and drinks).
TIP OF THE MONTH: If you haven't tried any of the Berkley Gulp products, you're missing the boat. The 3-inch shrimp works great when coupled with a light jig head. I've also done well rigging it Texas-style and added a split shot about 6 inches up the line. Color doesn't seem to be all that important. I also like to use the Berkley 5-inch Gulp Shad, rigged Texas-style with a slightly weight Mustad hook.
