Shot In The Dark

Friday night, I'll be heading to an undisclosed location to see what sort of fish I can find on an incoming tide after dark.

Of course, after dark means making a few special, handy-dandy modifications to allow for night time kayak fishing - not only to keep from being sunk by some idiot blazing through at top speed, but to keep from being cited for having or not having an illegal vessel.

I had a hard time finding the information needed, so I posed the question to kayak fishing guru and "Google Masta" Mark Watanabe from yakangler.com

Of course he found the information for me (let me Google that for you)and here is what he found:

"Where do Kayaks and Canoes fit into the Navigation Rules? Neither the International nor Inland Navigation Rules address "kayaks" or "canoes" per se, except in regards to "vessels under oars" in Rule 25 regarding lights. One could infer that a "vessel under oars" should be treated as a "sailing vessel" since it is permitted to display the same lights as one, but, ultimately the issue of whom "gives way" would fall to what would be "required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case"

RULE 25: SAILING VESSELS UNDERWAY AND VESSELS UNDER OARS

(a) A sailing vessel underway shall exhibit:

1. sidelights;
2. a sternlight.

(b) In a sailing vessel of less than 20 meters in length the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule may be combined in one lantern carried at or near the top of the mast where it can best be seen.

(c) A sailing vessel underway may, in addition to the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) of this Rule, exhibit at or near the top of the mast, where they can best be seen, two all-round lights in a vertical line, the upper being red and the lower Green, but these lights shall not be exhibited in conjunction with the combined lantern permitted by paragraph (b) of this Rule.

(d)

1. A sailing vessel of less than 7 meters in length shall, if practicable, exhibit the lights prescribed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this Rule, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.
2. A vessel under oars may exhibit the lights prescribed in this rule for sailing vessels, but if she does not, she shall have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.

(e) A vessel proceeding under sail when also being propelled by machinery shall exhibit forward where it can best be seen a conical shape, apex downwards. A vessel of less than 12 meters in length is not required to exhibit this shape, but may do so. "

I've got a few battery powered camping lanterns with clear waterproof cases that will come in handy for this....

Kayaking Hangover And The Silver Kings

After fishing all day Friday and Saturday, by the time I was crawling up the beach with kayak in hand Saturday afternoon and sleeping the rest of the weekend away, on Monday, I was suffering the kayaking hangover.

Not like a drinking hangover where you're swearing you'll never drink again. The refreshing, relaxed, my hand feels like it weighs 300 lbs, I'm too tired to write sort of tiredness.

Friday Morning, I met Keith at Sand Key at first light. The tide was dead low and just starting to turn. We headed out of the Pass and worked along the rock jetty. When we go to the end of the jetty, there was a HUGE school of threadfin shad. The next thing I saw was a pod of tarpon about 60 yards away, headed in our direction. My plan was to hold within casting range of the threadfins (which were holding roughly in the same place) and wait for the tarpon to start feeding on them.

The tarpon approached the school....and kept going. I pulled my anchor and started paddling after them as fast as I could. They must have had other things on their minds....and managed to keep just out of range.

A while later, we got on a school of black sea bass. They were undersized but fun to catch.

Saturday morning, met up with Keith and Pettay. Same spot, but we paddled over to W island. Caught a few trout with Keith getting a really nice 20 inch specimen.

The was a school of bait right where we were fishing and a boat full of less than scrupulous folks decided to kick us off our spot in order to catch said bait....why do people have to be such douche bags?

It was a beautiful few days of fishing.....

Kayak Ditch Bag

Fishing the inshore saltwater grass flats and passes of the Tampa Bay area may seem easy and harmless, which it can be. Of course I've never been one to just settle for the easy things so I sometimes find myself at the mouth of the Bay grouper fishing in deep water, around Johns Pass or Clearwater Pass, or the always popular Fort Desoto...all of which offers the opportunity to find yourself swept out to sea by an outgoing tide, storm or wind.

As evidenced by my close call at Sand Key I thought I'd share a simple yet important piece of gear that I take with me on every trip out with the kayak.

I made mine out of a water tight stuff sack and attached it to my PFD.

Inside, I keep a lightweight First Aid kit, a 20 oz sealed bottle of water, a small survival kit, (small rope, signal mirror, plastic shelter, small headlamp, small muti-tool)and super loud high pitched whistle.

Keep this with you while out on the water. It'll help ease your mind and might even save your life one day.

Advancements In Dolphin Eco-Tourism - St Joseph Sound

I've been thinking recently that maybe instead of fishing, I should turn the blog into a dolphin sight seeing tourism cash grab. 8 out of the last 10 fishing trips, I've seen dolphin up close - so close in fact that I could see the famous toothy grin. I've seen dolphin more than caught fish recently.

Yesterday morning was no different.

I left the house at 5:30 AM to meet Keith at St Joseph Sound and to launch at first light in the hopes of finding early morning redfish on the feed on the lush grass flats. The water was glassy calm as I drove along Edgewater Drive, but as soon as I arrived at the launch site, the wind picked up and I could see flashes of lightning in the distance and hear thunder booms a few miles away to the north and south. The gray dawn revealed rain clouds everywhere.

This large expanse of grass flats between Anclote Key and the Tarpon Springs shoreline are some of the best I've ever seen and have a unique feature; 10 feet deep holes amid 3-4 feet depths with decent moving water. The plan was to cast to the edges of the holes on the up current side and let the fly drift and bounce down the slope...this didn't produce any fish so we drifted across the flat.

The wind pushed us fairly hard. Cold down drafts from the thunderstorm cell to the southeast. The thing I kept thinking about was "We're going to have to paddle back into this wind to get back to the car" but, by some small miracle, the wind slowed...and we were able to paddle back the way we came with ease.

That's when the dolphin showed up. You could see and hear the furious splashing along the shallow mangrove shoreline as the dolphin herded the fish against the bank. Again, only a single dolphin. As we drew closer, I could see that it was around 6 feet in length, and was "fluking"...where it swims on its side and the fluke sticks out of the water. It wasn't shy or afraid of us and I paddled right up to it to snap a few photos.

On the paddle back to the car, the rain started....a free rinse job for the drive home.

Ass Not In The Grass

Saturday, my buddy Keith and I launched our kayaks in a section of old Tampa Bay near the Christian College. We were on the hunt for the elusive redfish. The weather was beautiful, but a bit on the humid side. There was no wind and the water temperature was in the mid 80's.

My gut feeling about this particular area and the time of year was the absence of grass. I was reassured by another buddy that there is indeed grass there. He said the map I was looking at must have been shot in the wintertime and that he had waded there many times and it's very grassy.

We arrived at the launch site and put in. Water clarity was murky at best. There is a spot where two channels form a cross between 2 mangrove islands that I thought would be a perfect spot to find redfish with the incoming tide.

I plied the water with a dark crab pattern for a while, then a black and purple weighted bendback, then a chartreuse and white clouser. No dice.

We paddled over to some large oyster bars dotting the shore and spooked either a school of 30 inch mullet, or redfish, couldn't tell which...they kept coming back....until the dolphin showed up.

This time, I decided to stand my ground with the dolphin...it was very brazen and came within about 10 feet of me in the kayak, but decided to move on to other feeding grounds.

The oysters were really taking a toll on my leaders. Had to change them twice as they would get frayed pulling them through the oysters. I was concentrating on the outsides of the beds where the water was a bit deeper and the current would wash prey items near these ambush points, but no luck there either.

I spent the rest of the day sneaking around the mangroves, looking for tails or maybe snook...at one point, I paddled full speed about 200 feet to where I kept seeing tails sticking out of the water. These "tails" turned out to be a stingray.

Still, it was nice to get out on the water on a nice, calm day even though we got skunked.