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  • Tampa Bay summer fishing

    After reading Redfish's report of a road trip to Massachusetts, I am offering a report of my trip to Tampa. I made my fifth trip to Tampa this year to fish with guide Neil Taylor of Strike Three Kayak Fishing. We fished from Sun through Wed. Fishing was tough because of the heat (most catching on the shallow flats is done from sunrise to mid-morning), wind on all but the final afternoon, and the full moon. Despite these barriers, we managed to catch a wide variety of fish and had a few hook ups on large fish.

    To summarize I caught 10 species of fish over the four days (all on medium spinning rods and artificials). The species included speckled trout, silver trout, ladyfish, lizardfish, grunt, flounder, jack, redfish, hardhead catfish, and pompano. I hooked several large black drum and a cobia yesterday afternoon, but all broke off before I could land them. I hooked a snook on Tuesday but lost him after a jump.

    All of the shallow fishing (days 1-4) was done at different spots near the mouth of Tampa Bay. We fished grass flats and the edges of mangrove islands. We anchored up and cast hundreds of times until my shoulders and wrists were sore.

    Here are the day-by-day details.

    Day 1 - We launched at 6:45 and paddled out a few hundred yards over a shallow grass flat. We cast Mirrolure topwater poppers for 30 mins until my right arm grew tired of the popping motion. I caught my largest spec of the trip at 20.5". I did not get a photo when the fish was fresh -- the photo shows the fish after a 5-hour ice bath in the cooler.

    001.jpg 003.jpg

    We spent most of the rest of the morning casting jigheads with 12 Fathom SlamR soft plastics and did not get many more spec bites. I did have one strong ladyfish on for half a minute before it jumped and spit the hook.


    Before heading in, we anchored up at the edge of the boat channel and jigged for silver trout in 10' depth. These are related to specs but are much smaller. I caught about a dozen small silver trout and one grunt. I had also hooked a small lizardfish earlier in the day to give me five species for the day.
    Probably the most memorable event that day was seeing a baby dolphin swimming with one parent – the baby was so close to the parent it almost looked like an appendage. A second dolphin (maybe the other parent) was swimming nearby. They stayed in the vicinity of our two kayaks for over 20 mins.

    Day 2 - Neil had a charter from a father and two 14 year old boys. I tagged along and often fished separately from the group. We launched at 6:45 to a low water level. Neil took the other three to anchor up and cast for specs. He told me to follow the line of mangrove trees and cast 12 Fathom Fat Sam mullets against the shoreline hoping for a redfish or snook. The water level was too low for that – I had no bites. I joined the others an hour later. Finally by mid-morning I was in a school of specs and caught about ten small ones over the next hour. That was it for me. None of our fish today were big enough to add to the cooler.

    Day 3 - We left extra early today so we could be on the water before sunrise (3:30 wake up was tough). We launched by 6:00 to a full moon casting a moonlight path across the water. At dawn we passed a mangrove island that served as a nesting area for pelicans and frigate birds. They were active as the sun crept above the horizon. I enjoyed seeing a ibis with a long curved bill fly by in the early dawn backlighting. Neil took me to fish some mangrove shorelines where he hoped to find some reds. Sure enough, they were there. I caught one nice redfish and had a larger snook on the line for 30 seconds -- after a leap and tailwalk, the jighead popped loose. I found one corner that produced two flounder, including this one that came home with us. Neil hooked several reds too.


    As the sun climbed higher, we spent several hours casting to grass beds on the flats. In some of the spots the grass growth was thick and lush, and the water was the clearest I have seen there. But the bite slowed down. We finished at noon having caught reds, flounder, speckled trout, ladyfish, a jack, and a lizardfish.
    004.jpg 20160621_075317.jpg 20160621_070646.jpg 20160621_074219.jpg 006.jpg 007.jpg




    Day 4 - I got up even earlier this morning (3:15) in order to check out of my hotel and meet Neil. We returned to the spot that had produced on Day 3 to try again. It was windier, and quite a bit of floating grass had moved into the area making it tough to keep a lure clean. In two hours of fishing, I caught just two small flounder. We called it quits and left to run some errands.

    Neil hoped that the winds would drop so we could jig some bridge pilings for larger fish. Fortunately this happened. We launched at another location near a bridge with pilings in 10-15' depth. For this type of fishing, Neil uses a small Silly Willy jig and a teaser fly both attached by the same loop knot. We nosed the kayak up next to the downcurrent corner of a piling and jigged the light lure near to the piling. The bite improved as the current began moving. Of course it was much tougher to hold position. Neil is good at this type of fishing -- I did not do as well.

    002.jpg 001.jpg

    In two hours of jigging, I hooked two large black drum (~50 lbs or larger). The drum try to swim to the pilings and wrap the line against sharp barnacles to get free. Once a drum is hooked, you try to move the kayak away from the bridge into open water and let the current drift the kayak farther away. This is tough when a strong fish is pulling line off the spool at will. On the first drum, I had moved 50 yds from the bridge but saw the last few wraps of line on the spool. I tightened the drag again, gained back some line, then the fish made it to the pilings and broke the line (imagine frustration and expletives).

    A few minutes later I hooked a second drum using a different rod and reel while Neil retied a lure on the original one. I moved into open water again and was fighting the fish successfully when I head a loud "Pop". The line parted at the reel (more colorful language). The line must have had a weak spot. Those were my two drum shots with lots of hard pullage, but no actual catches. I had a similar experience in 2014 when I hooked four drum that day and landed none. Neil has the technique down and knows how to fight the fish and work the drag. I have not yet learned the finer points of the technique. We were using pretty light tackle for this style of fishing. We used 7' medium weight St Croix inshore Mojo rods and a Daiwa Ballistic 2000 series reel with 15-lb braid. I probably should have tightened the drag down more to hold off the fish. Maybe I will be more successful next time.

    I also hooked another large fish that swam away from the pilings and spit the lure after a minute of fierce pulling. Neil often catches cobia there (he hooked several yesterday) and thinks that I had hooked a cobia. So I had several near misses on some spectacular light tackle catches. I did manage to land a hardhead catfish (quickly released) and a pretty pompano (good eating). I hope to return to fish with Neil in September and get another shot at the large bridge fish.
    John Veil
    Annapolis
    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

  • #2
    Here is a photo of the pompano caught yesterday afternoon.

    20160622_132151.jpg
    John Veil
    Annapolis
    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

    Comment


    • #3
      John,

      Wonderful trip.

      You may have convinced me to brave the summer heat there.

      Those moonlight runs look fun.

      I believe I recognize that area with the bridge in your background.

      Nice species count.
      Mark
      Pasadena, MD


      Slate Hobie Revolution 13
      Hidden Oak Native Ultimate 12
      Lizard Lick Native Ultimate FX Pro

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Mark View Post
        John,

        I believe I recognize that area with the bridge in your background.
        You never fished there, but you have driven over it with me.
        John Veil
        Annapolis
        Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

        Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

        Comment


        • #5
          Great report John, sounds like you were able to land a large variety of fish in the Tampa area. It is nice to be an accomplished fisherman of one species, but I am like you, I enjoy variety. I hope to,add a few more species to my list as the summer passes. Glad you enjoyed yourself.
          John Rentch
          Annapolis

          Native Ultimate 12 FX Pro
          Hobie Revolution 11

          Comment


          • #6
            congrats on the fish and thanks for sharing. love reading fishing adventures
            sigpic

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by J.A. Veil View Post
              After reading Redfish's report of a road trip to Massachusetts, I am offering a report of my trip to Tampa. I made my fifth trip to Tampa this year to fish with guide Neil Taylor of Strike Three Kayak Fishing. We fished from Sun through Wed. Fishing was tough because of the heat (most catching on the shallow flats is done from sunrise to mid-morning), wind on all but the final afternoon, and the full moon. Despite these barriers, we managed to catch a wide variety of fish and had a few hook ups on large fish.

              To summarize I caught 10 species of fish over the four days (all on medium spinning rods and artificials). The species included speckled trout, silver trout, ladyfish, lizardfish, grunt, flounder, jack, redfish, hardhead catfish, and pompano. I hooked several large black drum and a cobia yesterday afternoon, but all broke off before I could land them. I hooked a snook on Tuesday but lost him after a jump.

              All of the shallow fishing (days 1-4) was done at different spots near the mouth of Tampa Bay. We fished grass flats and the edges of mangrove islands. We anchored up and cast hundreds of times until my shoulders and wrists were sore.

              Here are the day-by-day details.

              Day 1 - We launched at 6:45 and paddled out a few hundred yards over a shallow grass flat. We cast Mirrolure topwater poppers for 30 mins until my right arm grew tired of the popping motion. I caught my largest spec of the trip at 20.5". I did not get a photo when the fish was fresh -- the photo shows the fish after a 5-hour ice bath in the cooler.

              [ATTACH=CONFIG]19248[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19249[/ATTACH]

              We spent most of the rest of the morning casting jigheads with 12 Fathom SlamR soft plastics and did not get many more spec bites. I did have one strong ladyfish on for half a minute before it jumped and spit the hook.


              Before heading in, we anchored up at the edge of the boat channel and jigged for silver trout in 10' depth. These are related to specs but are much smaller. I caught about a dozen small silver trout and one grunt. I had also hooked a small lizardfish earlier in the day to give me five species for the day.
              Probably the most memorable event that day was seeing a baby dolphin swimming with one parent – the baby was so close to the parent it almost looked like an appendage. A second dolphin (maybe the other parent) was swimming nearby. They stayed in the vicinity of our two kayaks for over 20 mins.

              Day 2 - Neil had a charter from a father and two 14 year old boys. I tagged along and often fished separately from the group. We launched at 6:45 to a low water level. Neil took the other three to anchor up and cast for specs. He told me to follow the line of mangrove trees and cast 12 Fathom Fat Sam mullets against the shoreline hoping for a redfish or snook. The water level was too low for that – I had no bites. I joined the others an hour later. Finally by mid-morning I was in a school of specs and caught about ten small ones over the next hour. That was it for me. None of our fish today were big enough to add to the cooler.

              Day 3 - We left extra early today so we could be on the water before sunrise (3:30 wake up was tough). We launched by 6:00 to a full moon casting a moonlight path across the water. At dawn we passed a mangrove island that served as a nesting area for pelicans and frigate birds. They were active as the sun crept above the horizon. I enjoyed seeing a ibis with a long curved bill fly by in the early dawn backlighting. Neil took me to fish some mangrove shorelines where he hoped to find some reds. Sure enough, they were there. I caught one nice redfish and had a larger snook on the line for 30 seconds -- after a leap and tailwalk, the jighead popped loose. I found one corner that produced two flounder, including this one that came home with us. Neil hooked several reds too.


              As the sun climbed higher, we spent several hours casting to grass beds on the flats. In some of the spots the grass growth was thick and lush, and the water was the clearest I have seen there. But the bite slowed down. We finished at noon having caught reds, flounder, speckled trout, ladyfish, a jack, and a lizardfish.
              [ATTACH=CONFIG]19250[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19255[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19253[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19254[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19251[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19252[/ATTACH]




              Day 4 - I got up even earlier this morning (3:15) in order to check out of my hotel and meet Neil. We returned to the spot that had produced on Day 3 to try again. It was windier, and quite a bit of floating grass had moved into the area making it tough to keep a lure clean. In two hours of fishing, I caught just two small flounder. We called it quits and left to run some errands.

              Neil hoped that the winds would drop so we could jig some bridge pilings for larger fish. Fortunately this happened. We launched at another location near a bridge with pilings in 10-15' depth. For this type of fishing, Neil uses a small Silly Willy jig and a teaser fly both attached by the same loop knot. We nosed the kayak up next to the downcurrent corner of a piling and jigged the light lure near to the piling. The bite improved as the current began moving. Of course it was much tougher to hold position. Neil is good at this type of fishing -- I did not do as well.

              [ATTACH=CONFIG]19256[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]19257[/ATTACH]

              In two hours of jigging, I hooked two large black drum (~50 lbs or larger). The drum try to swim to the pilings and wrap the line against sharp barnacles to get free. Once a drum is hooked, you try to move the kayak away from the bridge into open water and let the current drift the kayak farther away. This is tough when a strong fish is pulling line off the spool at will. On the first drum, I had moved 50 yds from the bridge but saw the last few wraps of line on the spool. I tightened the drag again, gained back some line, then the fish made it to the pilings and broke the line (imagine frustration and expletives).

              A few minutes later I hooked a second drum using a different rod and reel while Neil retied a lure on the original one. I moved into open water again and was fighting the fish successfully when I head a loud "Pop". The line parted at the reel (more colorful language). The line must have had a weak spot. Those were my two drum shots with lots of hard pullage, but no actual catches. I had a similar experience in 2014 when I hooked four drum that day and landed none. Neil has the technique down and knows how to fight the fish and work the drag. I have not yet learned the finer points of the technique. We were using pretty light tackle for this style of fishing. We used 7' medium weight St Croix inshore Mojo rods and a Daiwa Ballistic 2000 series reel with 15-lb braid. I probably should have tightened the drag down more to hold off the fish. Maybe I will be more successful next time.

              I also hooked another large fish that swam away from the pilings and spit the lure after a minute of fierce pulling. Neil often catches cobia there (he hooked several yesterday) and thinks that I had hooked a cobia. So I had several near misses on some spectacular light tackle catches. I did manage to land a hardhead catfish (quickly released) and a pretty pompano (good eating). I hope to return to fish with Neil in September and get another shot at the large bridge fish.
              John thanks for sharing. Really enjoyed reading your report!


              Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

              Comment


              • #8
                It looks like you had another fun time down there. Exploring the grass flats and mangroves sounds like it would be a blast! Too bad about losing the big fish. Sometimes you can open the reel to let the fish free line, then either paddle around the piling to resume the fight or gingerly handline it back around. Keyword was sometimes; pilings win most every time, haha.
                Brian

                Comment


                • #9
                  Great report John, looks like a great place to fish! That is a very crazy lure combination you all use. How does it swim?
                  Hobie Local Fishing Team - Backyard Boats
                  Locations in Annapolis, MD and Woodbridge, VA
                  https://www.backyardboats.com/

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Redfish12 View Post
                    Great report John, looks like a great place to fish! That is a very crazy lure combination you all use. How does it swim?
                    As far as I know, Neil uses the Silly Willy/teaser fly rig only for jigging. I can't imagine it would swim very well. But it is effective on large game fish in the locations where he uses it. I have tried casting and retrieving a Silly Willy jig next to structure here in the Chesapeake and have not had great success. It is too light to jig along the deeper bridge pilings here.
                    John Veil
                    Annapolis
                    Native Watercraft Manta Ray 11, Falcon 11

                    Author - "Fishing in the Comfort Zone" , "Fishing Road Trip - 2019", "My Fishing Life: Two Years to Remember", and "The Way I Like to Fish -- A Kayak Angler's Guide to Shallow Water, Light Tackle Fishing"

                    Comment

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