Catch 'N Cook: Sweet & Spicy Thai Redfish

December 22, 2020 By Florida Sportsman

Recent fishing reports from "No Motor Zone" anglers from all regions around the state.

Kayak Catch 'N Cook: Sweet & Spicy Thai Redfish

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I took a day trip to the 10,000 Islands portion of the Everglades in South Florida. I had to weed through a bunch of sharks to finally get the redfish for dinner and was super tired when I got home. My favorite way to make redfish is grilled on the half shell or blackened in a skillet, but sometimes I get back from a long day and just want to do something easy without making a big mess, and in that case, baking fish is definitely the way to go. I decided to prepare the redfish in a spicy asian fusion style.

For those who are more sensitive to recipes with a kick, JW_YakAngler made a mild version (bottom) with onions and red chili paste being the only source of heat, while the spicy version also features a generous addition of sriracha and a variety of peppers, pictured above.

There is nothing traditional about the way I prepared it, but it came together really well and was super easy. Best of all, anyone can do it with no experience cooking.

For the gear used in this video, check out the YouTube video link here.

Latest from the Yak

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid & JW_YakAngler

John McKroid got out offshore recently and caught some nice fish in Pompano, here's what he had to say about his latest trip:

Both Saturday and Sunday had nice weather for offshore kayak fishing, so I went both days. Live bait was abundant for the catching on both trips. The water was clean and the current ran north up to two knots. In general, fishing was slow on both days. Saturday morning's trip produced a nice mahi on a live goggle-eye.

Sunday afternoon's trip produced another Cuban wahoo (barracuda) and a smoker king mackerel.

There were lots of blackfin tuna keyed in on small micro baits.

A couple other kayakers managed to catch some, but no luck for this companero.

Meanwhile, JW_YakAngler was out on the water in Estero Bay with his wife getting her on her first red and snook.

https://youtu.be/216wM9uoZF4

Click here to reply to John McKroid's forum report.

Click here to read and respond to JW_YakAngler's report.

Offshore Kayak Fishing Fort Lauderdale

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

The weather has been windy, rainy and rough with few opportunities to fish offshore. On the lucky day of Friday, the 13th, the first calm weather day presented itself. During the early morning hours, I slow trolled for bait from Fort Lauderdale Inlet to Dania Pier without luck.

Even though I stopped on several bait marks on the way out, I had no luck.

Several other kayakers were working the Dania Pier area, and nobody seemed to be catching bait. Sometimes the bite does not occur until sunrise. Since I prefer to be fishing for bigger prey at that time, I headed out deep prior to sunrise.

When I got out to 250 feet, there was a reasonable amount of activity on the fish finder, but the fish had lockjaw. Although the seas were calm, the water quality was still dirty green with sediment from the weeks of wind and rain. No cobalt blue water for this trip. There was a weak 0.5 knot south current, and it was a slow morning of fishing.

For the first 3 hours, I had one missed strike and one bit off lure. Finally, around 10 am I had a solid drag ripping strike that produced a nice amberjack which I released.

About 30 minutes later, I bagged this little tunny which I cut up for chum and strip bait.

The local half day boat, Catch My Drift, was fishing nearby. Somebody caught a nice mahi over there. Little tunny strips have worked well for mahi in the past, but this time they only produced a shark.

Tired of working my lure on lockjaw fish, I moved closer to the inlet. Near the inlet, my jig was nailed by this mutton that ended up being an inch short of slot size and was released.

The second catch of the day had to be returned back to the water.

I continued to work the structures just north of Fort Lauderdale Inlet and continued to be teased by fish. Like the one on the fish finder that intercepted my jig at around the 50 feet depth for a closer look.

Eventually, I did fool this one blackfin into striking in 275 feet of water. We made poke, tuna casserole, and sushi rolls from the blackfin fillets.

In the afternoon, I did manage to catch one nice speedo, which I promptly baited up and slow trolled deep on a downrigger. Eventually, it was hit by this king mackerel, which was surprisingly small considering the size of the bait.

The last catch of the day is coming home.

After the king, I headed back out to 300 feet hoping to jig up another blackfin with no luck. It was a slow day of fishing, but at least there was some variety and food for the table.

Click here to respond to his 11/20 report.

New Reel and a Red

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

https://youtu.be/rHuFvsYC5Fw

In this video I unbox a new spinning reel, the Cadence CS10 3000, and test it for the first time against some fat redfish on Estero Bay, FL while kayak fishing from my Old Town Predator PDL.

I got a late 11am start on a busy Estero Bay Sunday, so I went out to a flat that doesn't get much traffic and holds a lot of ladyfish to get some cut bait. There ended up being a bunch of solid 18-20 inch trout there as well. I landed a double limit before finally landing a ladyfish for cut bait. Three nice slot redfish picked up the cut ladyfish in short order, and I was able to get a good feel for the new reel.

Gear used in this video:

Rod/Reel combos:

Kayak:

Interested in seeing more of his videos? Checkout his YouTube channel here. Hop over to our page while you're on there to see the latest episodes of Project Dreamboat and Best Boat.

Click here to respond to his 11/16 report.

Fourth Consecutive Slam in Estero

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

https://youtu.be/trYLMKk5QJU

I got my fourth consecutive slam on Estero Bay in Southwest Florida from my Old Town Predator PDL kayak. Here in South Florida, we consider a snook, redfish, and trout an inshore slam. All the snook and redfish ate small live mojarras and the trout were caught using gulp shrimp on a 1/4 oz jighead.

https://youtu.be/VevLp6MbOr8

Do you want to see what crazy looks like? I have been chasing an all slot slam from the kayak for over a year, so when it finally happened I went a little crazy. My day started off quick with a slot snook and redfish, literally one after the other. It didn't take long to find a solid trout to add to the mix and I had a 74" slam by mid-morning.

https://youtu.be/nEgBoL-YWm8

In this video, I catch a slam on Estero Bay and review a product from Steve of Key West Kayak Fishing, aka, allaboutthebait.com. Did it help me catch more fish, or was it all about the bait?

Gear used in these videos:

Rod/Reel combos:

Kayak:

Offshore Kayak Fishing Pompano Beach

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Perhaps the most interesting moment was watching this king mackerel jumping.

The weather has been rainy, windy, and rough with few opportunities to fish offshore. Two other kayakers and I made it offshore out of NE 16th Street on Friday the 16^th. With a predawn launch, the other two anglers went out targeting live goggle eyes for bait, while I headed deeper to look for larger sized baits. Bait fishing was slower than I had anticipated, visiting several normally productive sites with nothing to show for it. Eventually, I did get a few blue runners and little tunny to troll live.

I did get a few blue runners and little tunny to troll live.

The live baits produced three barracuda, one of them was not much bigger than the bait I was trolling.

I did a few drifts for grouper and lost a good one on a wreck during the first drift.

I did a few drifts for grouper and lost a good one on a wreck during the first drift.

Instead of finding mahi, my drift live baits kept finding small sharks.

Although it was slow, I did manage to round out a slam by jigging up an amberjack and a small king mackerel.

Perhaps the most interesting moment was watching a king mackerel jump three times, shortly after one of the three jig bite-offs.

Although it was slow, I did manage to round out a slam by jigging up an amberjack and a small king mackerel.

I had been dealing with rain all day, and in the afternoon static electricity started causing my fishing rods to hum when stored vertically. There had been lightning in the distance and it was time to store the rods horizontally and head for the beach. Having released my catches, I came in with an empty fish bag. The other two kayakers did better, one taking a nice wahoo on a live goggle eye, the other a schooly mahi on dead squid.

Click here to respond to John McKroid's report.

Improvement in Estero

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

JW_YakAngler got this one on a DOA jerkshad in new penny on a 1/8oz weighted hook.

After a few tough and windy fishing days reported by forum member JW_YakAngler, his most recent trip out proved to be much more productive.

What an incredible day kayak fishing. Besides the multiple redfish, trout, and snook, I caught mangrove snapper, barracuda, and jack crevalle. The bite was steady all day long on both live bait, cut bait, and artificials. A big improvement from the last few trips.

https://youtu.be/yARtg0NJsL8

Interested in seeing more of his videos? Checkout his YouTube channel here. Hop over to our page while you're on there to see the latest episodes of Project Dreamboat and Best Boat.

Click here to read the 10/19 report.

Exploring Estero Bay

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

When fishing a nearby oyster bar, JW_YakAngler reeled in this snook who took a big 8-inch live mullet.

Forum member JW_YakAngler recounts his most recent trips paddling out in Estero Bay and the surrounding area. Wind proved to be a nuisance and dedication was needed to wait it out for the bite, a few finding their way to his hook.

On his most recent trip he reports, "The wind was howling all day, but I made a fun day of it anyway. Windy days are annoying for casting and filming, but can be good for the snook bite since they often wait along wind blown oyster reefs to pick off the bait that gets blown in. I did another trip to this same area a couple days ago that was WAY more productive, but that video will be posted in a couple weeks."

"The day started out slow with just a small rat red and a 23 inch red to show for a morning of fishing, but persistence paid off when I found snook and redfish up on an oyster reef in the afternoon," he says of his previous report of the week prior.

Interested in seeing more of his videos? Checkout his YouTube channel here. Hop over to our page while you're on there to see the latest episodes of Project Dreamboat and Best Boat.

Click here to read the 10/12 report.

Click here to read the 10/7 report.

Bridge Snook Catch & Cook

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

After only getting an overslot and a grouper on opening night of snook season, I went back out in search of a slot snook under the bridge and it payed off. We made snook tacos and fried snook with three different sauces so easy to make that even dad can do it.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Night Jigging at the Bridge

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

Opening day of snook season was a blast. I got a nice thick snook and a goliath grouper that hit the jig so hard it tilted my kayak. I keep my drag really tight when jigging at this bridge because if you let the bigger snook or the occasional black drum or grouper get a running start, there is no stopping them. Your only option is palm the spool and hope the line doesn't break. With heavy drag the overslots tire quick and get to go back to the deep with no hardware attached.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Estero Bay Redfish

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I had a short three hour session on Estero Bay using live pilchards, mojarras, and finger mullet. Bio sonar showed me the fish again. It was hot enough to fry an egg on the front hatch, but I managed to find willing fish anyway.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Pompano Beach Report

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

The water was dirty green, probably with sediment from Hurricane Isaias. I headed in just after 1 pm to escape the squalls. The total count was three kingfish, two barracudas, one for two hookups on sailfish, one and half almacos, and a little tunny. The almacos, little tunny, and one king were on jigs, everything else was on bait. I never went deeper than 275 feet.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Isle of Capri Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

On my last trip out, I found a nice spot out of Isle of Capri paddle park that is holding some nice redfish and snook. The first one I hooked was a monster that took me right into the mangroves in spite of very tight drag. I ended up landing a 26 inch snook and 22 inch redfish that helped ease some of that sick lost big fish feeling in my gut. The highlight of the trip was the smallest baby manatee I have ever seen following its mothers every move. I also inadvertently recorded their vocalizations. I did not even know they did this before catching it on camera.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Boynton Beach Trip

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I tried to troll a Rapala type lure on the way out, but the weeds were so thick, it was unsuccessful. I reached 180 feet about 30 minutes before sunrise. The first three drops of my vertical jig produced a sea robin, a little tunny, and a blackfin tuna. I was pretty stoked to get the blackfin, as my refrigerator was in need of some fresh tuna!

Click here to read the full forum report.

Dolphin Helps Find Fish

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

On what started as a slow day, I got bored and started playing with a dolphin in a shallow bay. Eventually, he turned towards me then swam away slowly as if he wanted me to follow him. At first I was going to get back to fishing, but then decided to chase the dolphin again to try to get more footage of him. Just as I turned the kayak in his direction and started pedaling towards him, I spotted huge fish blowing up along a shallow shoreline. I never would have found those fish if it wasn't for my new sonar equipped friend.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Back at the Paddle

Florida Sportsman member: flkayakangler

Some of us were quickly rewarded for our efforts, landing multiple fish within the first 30 minutes. Others had to put a little more time in on the water. In the end, everyone scored a fish and the group traded the smell of skunk for fish slime. Our weapons of choice were strictly artificials ranging from paddle tails, flukes, and DOA shrimp.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Paddling Around West Central

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler, kellercl, & Spineyman

Forum member JW_YakAngler may just be our most active member in the paddlecraft sub-section. He's been quite busy over the last couple weeks with his HD fishing content he produces on his YouTube channel, JakeW KayakFishing. FS memeber Spineyman also experiences great fishing in the Destin area, particularly with redfish. Here are their most recent reports.

Click here to read the 7/13 report.

Click here to read the 7/6 report.

Click here to read the 7/1 report.

Click here to read the 6/29 report.

Click here to read the 6/23 report.

Click here to read Spineyman's 6/21 redfish report.

Click here to read the 6/17 report.

Paddling Inshore & Off

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler & John McKroid

The famous FS yaking guys are back at it again. JW_YakAngler targets some snook but ends up tight to some big bridge black drum in West Central Florida. Meanwhile on the other coast, John McKroid paddles out of Fort Lauderdale inlet and reports a stellar day of fishing, releasing most of his fish.

Click here to read the inshore black drum report.

Click here to read McKroid's Fort Lauderdale offshore report.

Personal Best King Mackerel

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Since the first bait was consumed quickly by a king and I was not targeting kings, I held off until I reached 180 feet to deploy my next bait. In 190 feet, I found a nice rip current that looked very fishy. The vertical jig action was steady. A little tunny can in first, then a triggerfish, followed by a blackfin tuna, then my personal best vertical jig king mackerel.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Lessons Learned

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I decided to target black drum with halved blue crabs at my snook spot since I got one as bycatch on a flairhawk a couple weeks ago. It did not take long to hook up. First bait down got picked up by a big one that got me around structure on the bottom and broke me off. Second bait down got picked up by a solid fish that I landed. I found out the hard way that those giant heads have a powerful shake. When I leadered it and put the fish grips on, he shook hard and broke the leader and took the grips right out of my hand. Lesson learned, use the attached lanyard around your wrist.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Paddling In and Off

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid & JW_YakAngler

Both inshore and offshore are producing all over Florida. These kayakers are certainly on top of things and are reeling in some bonafide pigs, using a variety of jigs and methods. They found some true monsters to tussle with, see 'em in the reports below.

Click here to read John McKroid's offshore report.

Click here to read JW_YakAngler's inshore report.

First Permit of the Year

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

There was not a ton of activity, but enough tails popping up around to keep me focused. I got lucky when a school of juveniles came right at me and they were hunting. Just a flick of the bucktail and they were all over it. It was super nice to get back to the flats action. It's weird though, I have yet to see a single bonefish this year. There's been way more permit than bones. It's still early though, but with such a warm winter I figured they would be more active.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Key West Permit Update

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

As soon as I got to my permit zone, a deep channel with sandy and broken bottom strips along the sides, I was instantly greeted by multiple schools of permit on each sand patch. Most were schools of three to five mainly running along the edge, only a few tailing fish. I ended up seeing about 20 fish.

I really wasn't prepared the first day, but with so much action, it was a no-brainer to go back out there. For whatever reason, things changed up a lot. There were no schooling fish, but pretty much all tailing singles with a couple of small packs. There was no rhyme or reason on where they would pop up.

Click here to read the full forum report.

The One That Got Away

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I spent an afternoon chasing redfish and snook in the backcountry south of Naples. After losing a nice fish, sometimes you can get spooked fish to bite again by giving them a short break and switching up the lure and presentation.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Redfish in the New Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I was finally able to get back on the water first time after my big surgery and with a new kayak to boot. It didn't take long to get some redfish slime on it. I can't wait to take this offshore. Check out the video for all the little details and a review on the new yak.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Maiden Voyage

Florida Sportsman member: mplspug

The neighbor and I went out for a quick trip so I could break in the yak and test it out. We fished about an hour before sundown. I caught a couple little trout and a decent red. I wade fished around this area for one and a half years and some how never caught a red, not even accidentally. It helps when you can get out around the oysters bars instead of just wading the mangrove shoreline.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Bull Red Bite Is On Fire

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

I had no idea of how hot the bite was really going to be, that is until my first top-water lure got crushed, by one of the most powerful inshore species, I had ever fought. These Bull Reds will absolutely annihilate these lures, practically only a few feet away from you. They will come up near the shadow line, right by the surface, in search of anything that resembles a possible wounded bait-fish. Once I managed to get dialed in on the bite, we were doubling on what seemed like an endless supply of these magnificent creatures. Well worth the long drive. I drove nearly 650 miles to do this. Yep...and I would do it again!

Click here to read the full forum report.

Double Slam in Titusville

Florida Sportsman member: Fl_Native61

I fished Eddy Creek in Titusville and got a double slam. The total for the day was five trout, four of which were legal, three redfish (one legal), two flounder (both legal), and two very short snook. Another good day on the water.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Hungry Trout in Mosquito Lagoon

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

I went out to find some seriously hungry trout at the Mosquito Lagoon. It was practically hit after hit, non-stop for hours. On the way back in, I caught a glimpse through the corner of my eye of a small group of fish. A quick cast toward the school and it was fish on!

Click here to read the full forum report.

Cooler Weather Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

I've been waiting for some cooler weather to move down into the central Florida area. Well, it finally happened. With record hot temperatures for the month of October, this little bit of cool weather was likely to stimulate the bite, and it did! Plus, not a single mosquito.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Windy Day Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

The wind was relentless, to say the least, so the original Plan "A" to go offshore was a total bust. So I gathered a few mullet, right at Dania Beach and began fishing the intracoastal waterways, away from the harsh winds. I couldn't dial in on a snook as planned, but did manage to jump a nice sized tarpon. After gathering my composure and toning down from my big time adrenaline rush, I started chumming an area I saw some activity in. I got hooked up rather quickly to this mighty jack. I made a small clip of the fight for you guys. Never underestimate the power of the mighty jack.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Jigging Fort Lauderdale Beach

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

There were some toothy critters out deep. I had three vertical jigs bit off. I believe it was all the work of small king mackerels, which I did manage to catch and release four on vertical jigs. The high point of the jacks was a doubleheader of almacos, the smaller of the two was temporarily grabbed by a grouper on the way up. Wish I had taken the time to snap a photo of the grouper tooth impression mark on the smaller almaco.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Jigging and Trolling Key West

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

Trolling worked much better as after 6 o'clock, they move up in the water column and become easier to find. I generally troll between the Kendrick and the Saufley in 300-400 feet as they are the only structure around and it is a nice mile or so between which makes a good trolling distance. Generally, in the afternoons, I just blind troll, and once I hook up, I stay in the general vicinity with a slight deviation going toward the direction of current. Then I spend a lot of time looking for schools on the fish finder. Ended up picking up a half dozen once I found the school. There were at least a few hundred fish in this school.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Poling and Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

To my surprise, the weather was fantastic after the storm and there was hardly anyone around. It turned out to be a great day on the water and the fish were actively feeding. The trout bite was definitely on! For a little while, first thing in the morning, it was a strike every other cast. The reds came out a little bit later in the day.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Kayak Drifting

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

With six baits in the livewell, I proceeded to troll one bait deep and a second on the surface while casting and vertical jigging ahead of my locations. The first strike felt like a king, screeching, pulling out line fast until it went high and jumped. It was a barracuda. It was a fun fight that I enjoy, but not what I was hoping for. Next strike was, again, on the surface bait, and this fish did not make a smoker run. Expecting to see another 'cuda, but I was surprised to bring up a king mackerel. Vertical jigging proved to be the most successful means of landing fish on this outing, producing another little tunny, a barracuda, a king mackerel, an almaco jack and hooked and lost a battle with what felt like a big amberjack.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Hot Water Flats Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

I'm targeting tailing permit, as those are actually feeding and much easier to fool. Poling around and trying to see them before they see me is tough. Plus, a lot of times those fish are on the move and are not actually feeding. Getting those to eat are virtually impossible. With the tailers, they are feeding, plus they are moving a lot slower making it easier to determine the best place to lay the crab without spooking them, while still getting it into their field of vision. Finding a pack with at least two really helps as well. I notice they are a lot more aggressive about getting the food before one of their friends do.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Extreme Kayak Fishing Summer Slam Results

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Congrats to the 2019 EKFT Summer Slam Series part two winners! Big shout out to the Turbo USA EKFT Championship Ring Champion, Shaun Roles. First place was taken by Mark Peterson at 27.38 pounds winning him $5,000.00 from TURBO USA and RAILBLAZA Trophy Global Fishmounts. To see the full list of winners, check out the full forum post.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Multiple Species in Mosquito

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

A lot of snook and flounder in the Mosquito Lagoon this year. More than I have seen in the last ten years. I went out yesterday and found the water levels sky high. There were fish everywhere. The bite was excellent. For a little while, it was strike after strike and something different every time.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Jigging Pompano Beach

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Fishing for little tunny was consistent and even had a doubleheader release. I put out a little tunny strip in hopes of finding a mahi, but instead hooked a nice yellowtail snapper. I also found a few king mackerel of which two bit off jigs, two bit off hooks, and two landed fish. I released the smaller one. By 1PM the afternoon showers were building, so I headed for the beach.

Click here to read the full forum report.

More Chunky Snook

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I went down to my go-to spot and was able to grind out two upper slot snook and a solid jack in about three hours. I have never done well inshore in the summer months. My schedule does not allow me to get out early enough very often, but night fishing has been a game changer for me these last couple months.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Kayaking in Summer Storms

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

During the summer time, with all of the heat and humidity and the influx of winds and temperature changes from the mainland, it creates these very volatile micro-storms that follow along US-1. I usually get caught out in them a few times each summer. They can be really sketchy and downright dangerous for those that are not prepared for them. Since I just got hit again on a quick trip to the backcountry, I figured I would put together a video to help people understand the dangers and some precautionary steps they can take to be a little more prepared should they be caught off guard during one of these storms.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Weekend Warrior

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

It seemed like everyone was off this past weekend and they all went out the same day. I am glad I went out though. I had been out a couple of times in the past two weeks, but the bite was not to be found. Luckily and surprisingly, even with all the boat traffic, the fish were there and they were hungry. I had a number of "summer flounder," as I call them. I didn't keep any of them this time, but it was tempting.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Bridge Snook on Jigs

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I went down to my spot planning to fish for a few hours at night, but got two solid fish in the first hour and decided to call it an early night. The first was an overslot, the second was an upper slot fish that behaved like a baby, jumping and putting on an aerial show.

Click here to read the full forum report.

First Time Out on the Old Town

Florida Sportsman member: KvartekMedia

Took out the brand new Old Town Topwater 120 PDL the other day and it performed outstanding. The stability was top notch, & the overall movement & drive of the kayak was amazing. I was even able to cast my 8 foot cast net off of it with no problems whatsoever.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Click here to see his unveiling of the new paddlecraft.

Flair Hawk Yakin'

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I gotta say, once you get the hang of a flair hawk jig technique for a given location, they are just plain deadly. What I really like about them is there is not much bycatch. I have had only one gafftop sailcat hit one, whereas with paddletails there are nights that I can't keep those slimy cats off. We were planning a trip up to some bridges in the Ft. Myers area, but bad weather to the north kept us down at our usual stomping grounds. The bridge did not disappoint. I landed two 35's and a 33 by 10:30 with zero break offs on the new rod and reel combo. I had two close calls since the kayak can still get pulled around regardless of the size of gear you use, but the added drag on the new reel definitely helps tire the fish out before they can get to structure.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Click here to read his forum report from 6/12.

Click here to read his forum report from 6/10.

Hot Trout Bite

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

I went out to the Mosquito Lagoon on a dark cloudy day. It was windy and looked like it was going to start raining any second. Typically, trout are very active when the weather is ugly outside. This was one of those days.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Click here to read his previous trout report.

Stingray Sleigh Ride

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I snagged a big stingray with a flair hawk jig and got taken on quite a ride the other night. My arm burned enough after the fight that I didn't even want to work the jig for about an hour. I didn't get the 40 inch snook that I am looking for, but my tackle got put to the test for sure. I got some good practice steering around pilings while being pulled around too.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Yakin' Off Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I put out my first two live goggle eye baits in about 120 feet at 6:00 AM. One bait was set out on the surface, and the second was presented 60 feet down on a downrigger clip. About 15 minutes later, the surface bait went tight and the line started peeling off the reel. Ten minutes into the fight, the downrigger line went taught, but the clip failed to release the line, and the fish broke off. Fifteen minutes later, I was sinking the gaff into a nice jumbo blackfin tuna! This is what I got up early for.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Night Bridge Fishing Snook

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

This was the best snook fishing session I have ever had, and I was only on the water two hours. This was the third consecutive outing with an upper to over slot fish landed. All on flair hawk jigs. The one that broke me off made the others feel light. The quest for 40 is on.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Click here to read JW_YakAngler's previous report.

A Tarpon and a Surprise

Florida Sportsman member: NopratKoons

I spot a tight wad of rolling fish. I made a cast two or three feet past them and slowly swam the TerrorEyz toward their vicinity. I was quickly greeted by a jarring thump and this guy got airborne almost immediately. After releasing the tarpon, I spotted a school of finger mullet being harassed along a shallow shoreline known for snook and redfish. I had a 1/8oz DOA CAL shadtail jig tied on and fired it parallel to the shoreline. To my surprise, a healthy flounder greeted my jig.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Paddling Naples

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

When you can't get out in the early morning, the evening bite can be good as well. I had brought a light, intending to stay after dark, but I got my fix while the sun was still up and made it home for dinner.

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Geek Out Over Gator Trout

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I got another slam in the 10K, the fifth slam in six trips. The bite has been very consistent. On this trip, I threw nothing but the Zman jerk shadz in pearl white. Usually, when I catch an average trout it is a very "Meh" moment, since big snook or redfish is what I am really after in this area. However, when I catch a really big specimen, I tend to really geek out, since trout like this 23 incher are not exactly common here. On this trip, I got my third best trout ever and second best in the area.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Another Slam in the 10K

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

This is my third trip in a row that I got the snook, trout, redfish slam in the 10,000 islands. Two-thirds of this one were in the slot, but the biggest snook came up short of the slot. The snook were where the redfish normally hang out. I got four from 21-25".

Click here to read the full forum report.

Big Trout Season Approaches

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

March has always been my best month for big, overslot trout in southwest Florida. I find them year-round here and there, but they are much easier to find consistently in March. I went to scout a spot in the 10K yesterday that I have never fished in March, but I think will likely hold the big girls soon. I got two nice 19 inch fish and lost another nice one in just a few casts. My biggest in the 10k was a skinny 24 inch winter trout. I really want to beat my personal best this March.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Marco Island Overslot Redfish

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

From the end of October through December, we had been getting upper to overslot reds pretty consistently in the primary bays. The cooler temperatures in January only produced short reds, and not in the numbers we were getting in early winter. I theorized they were all either pushed up into the deep creeks and remote bays or offshore. I was heading down to launch into a remote creek off Highway 41, but decided at the last second to just launch at Isle of Capri Paddle Park. I had caught a good one there earlier this winter and it had been warming up for a few days, so I figured maybe they had moved back in. After fishing for two hours with only a jack and a few ladyfish, I was about to admit defeat, but then a little snook gave me some hope, so I pressed on. A few minutes later, a redfish just shy of 30" saved the day for me.

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Pompano Beach 'Hoo

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

It happened around 1pm. The vertical jig was struck with what first felt like a big blue runner, shaking a lot, but winding up easily with little weight. Then it took off, making several hard driving runs deep. I was thinking it was a big blackfin, but the stamina waned and up came the stripes! The wahoo was being chased by a barracuda, so that made things interesting. I started pedaling to hopefully get the 'hoo away from the 'cuda. The belly gaff went well, and there are few sights I enjoy more than a freshly gaffed wahoo off a kayak.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Sailfish Smackdown Results

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

On Sunday, the weather was a little sporty at first light, but turned out to be nice later on. Approximately 45 anglers participated in the competition. Although there was a lot of life in the water, fishing was tough for the kayak anglers who were not allowed to use wire and therefore incurred many bite offs from toothy critters. About a dozen sailfish were hooked, but only two were landed. Congratulations to Robwil Valderrey for winning $5000 by catching the first sailfish!

Click here to read the full forum report.

Overnight in the 10K

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

We had a blast on a two night, three day trip to the 10,000 islands. Most of the fishing around our destination island, Jewel Key, was just average trout and small redfish. My buddy managed a monster on the way back in on the flat that I have been fishing regularly on day trips. It was his first time ever kayak fishing and it will be a hard one to beat for a while.

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Perfect Slot Red

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

Another great day on the water in the 10,000 islands. The reds are still all over gulp baits on the inside oyster bars. The shorts were caught on white gulp swimmin' mullet with a gold mission fishin' jighead. The upper slot was on the new penny 5" jerk shad on a number 4 owner weighted twistlock. We will be heading out to camp for three days next. I can't wait to see what the bite is like on the outside islands.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Beautiful Day in the 10k

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

The best bite recently has been the very beginning of the incoming after low tide. That wasn't happening until well after dark, so I fished the last two hours of the outgoing instead. More trout seem to be showing up. Gulp jerk shad is still getting the job done.

Click here to read the December 20th forum report.

Click here to read the December 17th forum report.

Reds Still Thick in the 10K

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I went back to the flat where I caught a 29 inch red last week for a quick afternoon trip. I ended up catching seven reds and a black drum all on the gulp jerk shad, some on back to back casts. Many of those 13 inch reds we were all catching a few months ago are approaching the slot now.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Great Everglades City Trip

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

I launched out of Everglades City Friday with two good friends. We fished oyster bars and flats on low tide, and moved to the mangrove edges on high tide. I started the morning with a 29 inch redfish in ankle deep water, then caught a few small snook and five more undersize reds. I got an 18" black drum to eat a gulp jerk shad, and rounded out the slam with a nice 20" trout. I got most of the fish with the jerk shad, but the snook and one of the small reds were caught with a gold spoon.

Click here to check out JW_YakAngler's Everglades City report.

Pompano Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Morning fishing was slow. There was no current, and the kayak drift was driven by a wind less than ten knots. It was a beautiful day on the water with no whitecaps. Finally, things changed in the afternoon. The wind came around to the NE, and started blowing some schools of micro bait fish in towards the shore. The fish began to bite. Most of the feeding fish were bait feeding on smaller bait, but there was also larger tuna mixed in with them. The tuna were dialed in on the small bait fish and would not hit the larger lures I was casting through them. A barracuda decided to hit my deep bait as I trolled by a wreck. The meter marks I had been jigging through all morning finally decided to start biting. I had three drops in a row producing a nice mutton snapper and two almaco jacks that I released. Before the afternoon was over I also connected with more almacos, little tunnys, a small amberjack and a nice blackfin tuna all on the vertical jigs. On the way in a king mackerel took my last live goggle eye, rounding out my fish bag with three species. Everything else was either released or used as bait.

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Boca Raton Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Early September is the best month for kayak wahoo, in my honest opinion, and a fellow yaker had recently taken a trophy 'hoo out of Boca, so I had some hopes. The baits were deployed at about 100ft, and I started trolling out deeper to an area where I expected the ecosystem to be in full swing. As I made it out to the area, the wind died, and the fish finder lit up with huge bait marks and larger sickles that looked like either 'cudas, kings or my target specie. I dropped a vertical jig down and got bit off on the third retrieve. Then my surface rod bent over. It was not taking any drag, so I suspected a small barracuda. As the fish got closer to the boat, I noticed my barracuda had stripes! Wahoo!

Click here to check the full forum report.

Exploring the 10K

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

We launched at the Everglades City ranger station and headed across Chocoloskee Bay to an unmarked channel between the Sandfly Channel and Chocoloskee. The entrance is guarded by a maze of oyster bars, so few boats would venture into this area from the bay side. This made for a peaceful morning. We didn't see a boat until we got out to the mouth of the Gulf. The channel ended up joining Chocoloskee Pass near the Gulf. After exploring some outside islands, we made the open water paddle to Jewel Key and returned to the ranger station via the Sandfly Channel, which is now very familiar to me. It was a slow day fishing, but the exploration was very enjoyable. I did get a keeper sized trout early, and a beautiful little goliath grouper ate a paddletail on a shallow mangrove island.

Click here to check the full forum report.

Variety in the 10K

Florida Sportsman member: JW_YakAngler

Here's a nice video of JW_YakAngler exploring and reporting the 10,000 islands, where he managed to catch eight different species and possibly a few slams. His catches included snook, seatrout, houndfish, mangrove snapper, ladyfish, jack crevale, gafftop sailcat, and the obligatory hardhead. He and his pal also spent an hour throwing everything in their arsenal at a school of overslot reds that mockingly waved their tales at them. They even turned down live finger mullet and cut mullet. Picky, picky.

Click here to check the full forum report.

Fort Lauderdale Beach

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Bait fishing was the worst I have experienced there. With zero live bait in my well, I headed out to some wrecks to try to jig up some fish. I started jigging in around 170' and was happy to see a fair amount of fish on nearly every structure I passed over. The fourth drop down produced a nice little tunny that I used as strip bait for the rest of the day. Instead of catching barracuda, I finally found the mahi-mahi. While I continued to vertical jig, I kept a flatline out with a strip of little tunny. Over the course of the day, I took five mahi. Three smaller ones were released. Although every meter mark did not produce fish, I had steady action throughout the day on vertical jigs. My catches included one amberjack, many almaco jacks, little tunny, blackfin tuna and a few big ones that got away.

Click here to check the full forum report.

Mackerel and Mahi Action

Florida Sportsman member: YakinwithJack

Forum member YakinwithJack reported some hot mackerel and mahi fishing off of the Florida panhandle in his Hobie Compass. Not only was the fishing great, but he managed a personal best spanish mackerel to boot!

Click here to check the full forum report.

Paddling for Tuna

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I launched off Deerfield Beach in the early morning to get bait. It was not as easy as I had hoped. I found lots of pilchards at the Deerfield pier that were constantly falling off my Sabiki that has hooks for Goggle eyes. I headed out with one pilchard and half a dozen gogs/runners as bait. The activity was not as good as I had hoped. I did not see any sky rocketing kings and I later learned that I should have spent more time in shallow, as there was still a good bite going on there for kings. I headed out to the wrecks to find vertical jigging action was slow. Since the current was not too bad, proceeded out to 350' where I meter a large amount of fish. Most of the metered fish would not hit my vertical jig, but I did manage to get five blackfin tuna to bite.

Click here to check the full forum report.

Bridge Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: YakinwithJack

Forum member YakinwithJack was doing some kayak fishing along bridges for giant black drum and sheepshead and the bite was ON!

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Night Fishing Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

Not having much luck getting on too many tarpon during the day. These are the Gulf raised tarpon, so there's not as many right now versus the main migration, but they are definitely big ones. For a guaranteed fight, I have been catching them at night. During the day, the bait fish get hammered while out on the flats, so they are bunched up under the mangroves in the cuts. Once it goes pitch black at night, everything moves out of those cuts and into the channels. The tarpon are waiting. It's one of my favorite style of fishing. Super peaceful, except for the bathtub explosions of tarpon smashing mullet schools. Slow troll a live mullet around when they are actively feeding. Black Hogy is second best. I've been seeing a lot of blue crabs drifting out during outgoing tide at night, but during the feeding frenzy, they are honed in on the mullet.

Click here to check the 4/8 forum report.

Big Kayak King

Florida Sportsman member: Whelan

I launched with Paul and Rob this morning in the dark. We caught just short of two dozen gogs between the three of us and headed out. I landed this one just as sun was coming up. He made a nice run of about 350 yards, which was 2/3 of my spool. I pointed my kayak toward him and peddled to get line back. I expected another run or two, but nothing. A quick gaff shot and it was over. The group ended up with 62 pounds of kingfish, three total, and a couple of bonito.

Click here to check the 3/26 forum report.

Kayaking Destin

Florida Sportsman member: Spineyman

I had a blast fishing the Destin/Ft. Walton Beach area yesterday with a friend. We ended up catching over 40 trout and eight redfish. The bite was off the charts! Here are a few pictures, enjoy. I did, however, lose my absolute favorite lure. I should have retied after I caught that big red, the next one kept the lure!

Click here to check the 3/17 forum report.

St. Pete Paddle Snook

Florida Sportsman member: Dom

I launched under the Tom Stewart Causeway in Madeira Beach just after sunrise. I pitched live shrimp under the bridge for sheepshead with moderate success. I moved to work the flats north of Bay Pines and got slammed by a 32" snook that took me right into the mangroves. After that, I trolled around looking for solid places to throw my crab traps. All in all, pretty good day.

Click here to check the 3/11 forum report.

First Key West Redfish

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

I headed out to prospect one of the last backcountry keys to the west. It was rough at first until I found some pilchards. I jumped a nice juvenile tarpon and some jacks. I worked a mangrove cut and got whacked by what I thought was a tarpon. It was a bull dog, staying down and running to the mangrove roots. I lucked out and pulled it out. It caught me by surprise when I saw the shape and the spot. I have only seen one other redfish down this far. I will definitely going to be looking for more.

Click here to check the full forum report.

Paddling for Fellsmere Bass

Florida Sportsman member: Rollin

I got to fish there for a total of four days and it was awesome. It's big, lots of good water, and fish every where you go. I wanted to go as far south as I could and fish my way back. It took about an hour and twenty minutes. I could do it faster, but I was distracted by all the fish. Palm Beach Pete was there and gave me some good tips, including the fact the enhanced area is off limits for now. Tuesday the wind was from the north at daylight, got stronger by nine, and real strong the rest of the day. I stayed at the north end and fished in the the shallow areas at first. I found I had better luck in bigger open water and just endured the wind casting downwind as much as I could. I caught 22 fish and only two were dinks. The rest were solid, including my personal best from there.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Pompano Beach Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I launched off the beach at 5am in search of goggle eye bait. Bait fishing had been slow, and continued to be. I only took one gog along the beach and then headed out deeper to look for runners. There were plenty of runners, but getting them to bite was difficult. By 730am, I had only five baits in the live well and it was time to switch from bait fishing to fish catching before the prime time bite was over. By 9am, I had burned through four of the five baits, producing one missed bite, a nice black grouper, amberjack and barracuda.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Ozello Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Halon

Fishing from my kayak yesterday was awesome! I caught a stingray and a speckeled trout that measured 16-1/2". They were both released. I also saw massive amounts of white pelicans! For more info, check out the full report below.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Pompano Beach Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Eventually, I caught two almaco jacks on vertical jigs. Both were snagged looking at the lure. I did see an angler on a boat catch a barely legal mahi, and heard of other kayak anglers catching peanuts in Miami and Boynton. I am guessing that if I had little baits, I may have had luck, but the big runners are a tough meal for a small mahi. On my way in from a long day of nada on bait, I connected with a sailfish on a surface trolled jack.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Key West Kayak Sailfishing

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

I netted a couple of buckets of pilchards and headed to the outside edge of the reef. I had no real action bouncing them along the bottom or the top liner. Finally, when I was about to head in, I used my peddles and slow trolled in towards the reef. The top line just felt like it snagged. Heavy, but no real movement. Then it ran and jumped and jumped and jumped. I really pissed off this sail. I pretty much played it like a tarpon and brought it in. Got some good video and an easy release. Truly saved the day and then some.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Paddling for Pompano

Florida Sportsman member: cpr

I got out last week and got some pompano. I caught about 18 or 19 and they fought more then a red! I had a blast. Big thanks to kayak guide Neil Taylor. He told me about the pompano bite being hot and gave me general directions to the hole.

Click here to see the full forum report.

First Sebastian River Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

It only took three years to land a Sebastian River Tarpon. I would hook them time and time again, only to have them throw the hook. But I never gave up.

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Exploring Round Island

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Round Island Park in South Vero Beach is one of the best known spots to put in your kayak or paddle board. It offers the best spot to see manatees in Indian River County. There is also a good chance you will find dolphins also. The fishing can be great with catches of redfish, trout and snook. So if you are looking for a cool place to paddle or fish, you should check it out.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Exploring West Central

Florida Sportsman member: Fl_Native61

Forum member Fl_Native61 got out to a few spots last week, including Coquina Beach and Palma Sola Bay. At Coquina, he and his brother encountered a lot of wildlife which consisted of jellyfish, manatees and the occasional fish on the end of a line. While in Palma Sola, he had a bit more luck with poling around and ended his day with a snook, trout, and three redfish. "It definitely qualifies as a place I'd go back to."

Click here to see the Coquina Beach forum report.

Click here to see the Palma Sola forum report.

Fishing the Mullet Run Pt.2

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

It happens every fall, the mullet run. One day it is going off with fish flying threw the air everywhere. The next day you can't find one fish. It can drive you nuts. Here are a few tips to help you find the schools of bait and get in on the fun of the mullet run.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Fishing the Mullet Run

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

If you hit the beach at the right time you will be in for a show. Mullet, snook, tarpon and shark flying out of the water in a feeding frenzy. It seem like it would be easy to get into the action, hook up a mullet, throw it into the mess of fish and hold on. But is it not always that easy. It seems like you bait is mixed in with 1,000,000,000 of other baits and the fish that you are looking to catch never finds it. You can increase your chances of a fish by keeping it in the strike zone. The strike zone is not in the large school of bait or around it but under it. Get you bait down and hold on.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Pre-Hurricane Prep

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

Instead of throwing my frozen bait in the trash, I headed out to the channel to see if I could also get in a last minute hurricane prep fishing trip. There were lots of sharks to play with and, suprisingly, quite a few tarpon came up to the chum line that I created with all my scraps. It turned out to be a good day.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Jungle Trail Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

If you like to paddle, you need to check out Jungle Trail Kayak launch. As you drive up to the launch area, you start to feel like you are going back in time. The Jungle Trail Kayak Launch is on the outer edge of the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge near Sebastian and worth checking out if you fish or only like to paddle.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Extreme Kayak Fishing Tournament Win

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

After reeling up my jigging rod, I peddled, chasing the fish from 240 to 340 feet of water. At 60 feet down, I could see the stripes and started feeling emotional. I kept a light steady strain on the line while preparing to gaff. What an awesome feeling to sink the gaff into the biggest wahoo I had ever personally seen! It was the heaviest fish I had ever put on the kayak and how sweet it was to catch it during an Extreme Kayak Fishing Tournament!

Click here to see the full forum report.

Sebastian Slam

Florida Sportsman member: davederb

I was throwing a Monster-3x Shad on a 1/8 jighead, but the grass was so thick that I had to switch over to 1/8 oz weighted weedless hook with a DOA CAL Shad paddletail. A few tosses later and I land a nice snook. We followed the busting schools of bait, and a short time later I hook up with a nice trout. Now all I need is a red and I have my slam.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Topwater Fun

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

I have been trying to get something on topwater all summer, but so far I have not had much luck, until now. I guess all the stars must have been aligned. I went out in the morning and found some fish feeding close to an island. They were in a feeding frenzy. A lure that I just got from Gander, turned out to be the most valuable player and star of the show. On back to back performances, that lure had some incredible blowups. Either the lure was that good, or the fish were that hungry.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Honduras' Lago Yojoa

Florida Sportsman member: mjrudd1

Once a largemouth mecca where bass clubs from the states would hold tournaments, non-regulation and overfishing have taken their toll. Old timers talk of fantastic fishing, but there is virtually no sport fishing anymore. I decided to give it another shot a few days ago in my kayak. I loaded up an assortment of bass lures, rented a waterfront room and fished late afternoon, night, predawn and early morning. Seven hours of tossing artificial worms rigged in a variety of ways, topwaters, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, spinners, jigs and all I had to show for it was just one short strike on a Tiny Torpedo. It was fun, relaxing and discouraging. It drives home my appreciation for regulations that make fishing in Florida fantastic.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing

Florida Sportsman member: Fl_Native61

I fished Mosquito Lagoon and the water was much clearer than the last time I was there a couple months ago. On the flats in the side bays, it was crystal clear. This was quite a change from the dark water I fished here last time. I managed one top slot redfish and one snook about 18".

Click here to read the full forum report.

Catch and Cook Snapper

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

I needed a side dish, so I threw the WS Tarpon 140 on the car and headed down to a secluded spot by the air field. I tossed a live pinfish and pulled a nice 14.5" mangrove snapper. I headed home to make some ribs and fish. Good times.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Hot Bites in Mosquito Lagoon

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

The weatherman said it was going to be hot and it was, but fishing was even hotter. I found the fish and the bite was on. It was a little windy early in the day, but the wind died down by late morning and the fish were hungry. I had a great time out there. I never saw a boat the whole time I was there.

Click here to see the full forum report.

Tarpon Sleigh Rides

Florida Sportsman member: mjrudd1

How nice it is to ease up on a school of tarpon, switch to reverse and hold position silently. It paid off big time for off the beaches of Anna Maria. I could stick with a school waiting for one to get hungry enough to bite without spooking them, sometimes for an hour or more. I used live threadfins I sabikied up at the Skyway, and sight casted to schools. This first fish of the day came from a small school that I found cruising the 10' edge between the channel and flat. I used 50 pound fluorocarbon to 65 braid with an FG knot and a 7/0 circle hook.

Click here to read the video report.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Skyway Snookzilla

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

I launched early Saturday morning from the Skyway bridge and began working the mangrove shorelines. Landed a couple small snook, as I watched bait breaking the surface. A few more casts and a small trout hits my Z-Man paddletail. I begin running out of mangrove shoreline. As I approach a point with deeper water, I see a lot of scared mullet breaking the surface. I cast into the ruckus and BAM, big fish on! It felt like a redfish, but she made a rush to the 'groves. I dropped the rod tip low, into the water and avoided a cut-off. Drove the 'yak into the mangroves and hoped for a quick grab, before she made another run. What a rush and relief. The big one did not get away.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Flats Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

We have been getting a lot of rain and the bugs are in big numbers. Luckily, the fish have been there too. Schools of redfish and big trout are willing to come out and play. The day started with a very dramatic looking sunrise. The fish were quiet for the most part, with a lot of bait all around the lagoon. The sun came out for a little while only. The rest of the morning remained cloudy and dark, but the fishing was great overall. It seemed like the fish were getting bigger with every strike.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Massive Kayak Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: RWood Outdoors

Many kingfish were caught in the first three hours. I also heard that some big tuna were lost during this time too. By 10:15am, the clouds were rolling in and it was evident that we were in for some inclement weather. The next four hours were filled with rain, wind and strong current. A few anglers were rescued, some beached themselves to avoid the storm, and I was the idiot who tried to go deep to jig for tuna in the rain.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Huge First Paddling Fish

Florida Sportsman member: Poseidon10/31

I decided I'd put him on some giant tarpon. To my surprise, he was game for it. We went to my favorite spot off Miami Beach and within minutes of deploying baits, he was hooked up to a 100 pound fish.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Yellowtails Biting Paddle Tails

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

There were bait balls busting opposite my chum line, so I decided to throw some soft plastic paddle tails. It was the right choice as I was getting pounded by flag yellowtails up to 27".

Click here to read the full forum report.

Pompano Beach Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I put out another goggle eye and 15 minutes later, boom! Drag ripping run on what felt like either a wahoo or a nice king. Love catching big fish off a kayak!

Click here to read the full forum report.

Paddling Vero

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Even with all this wind you can find a place to paddle and fish. All you have to do is do a little homework and have a little luck.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Ozello Kayaking Slam

Florida Sportsman member: Reel Teal

The day started off poking around islands and cuts and a well placed cast hooked me up with a large snook within ten minutes of launching.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Boynton and Pompano Beach Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Fishing was good for big amberjacks close to the wrecks. If one was lucky enough to get the AJ off the wreck, there was a gauntlet of sharks to maneuver to get the fish to the kayak.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Cero Mackerel Catch And Cook

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

I free-lined a ballyhoo on a wire trace and circle hook and it didn't take long for a nice 32" cero mackerel to take the bait. Shortly after, a 8-9' hammerhead showed up begging for food. It hung around for 15 minutes before I decided to catch it.

Click here to read the full forum report.

Power Plant Paddling Pt.2

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Here is a video of the later part of the Boils trip that I made with Danny. We ran into a few sharks on the way in.

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Power Plant Paddling

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

My friend Danny and I fished a warm water discharge area from a nuclear power plant that holds big fish and even bigger sharks. You never know what you will catch when you put your line in.

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Pompano Beach Kayak Sailfishing

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Normally, I livebait fish with wire and trap hooks while offshore kayak fishing, but this tournament required circle hooks only and no wire.

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Eddy Creek Trout and Reds

Florida Sportsman member: Fl_Native61

While it wasn't ideal conditions for boating, it was a good day of fishing. I landed two trout and four redfish with the best two being 26" and 27.5".

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Pompano Beach Billfish and More

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

About 45 minutes after, the live Goggle-Eye was struck by a fish that took a long ripping run high on the water. It felt like a large tailhooked fish. The fight wore on for three hours with the fish's last push being a strong run straight down to the bottom in 400ft of water. After that, it was a steady wind up to the kayak.

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Titusville Trout and Reds

Florida Sportsman member: Fl_Native61

Last Saturday, I launched at the Eddie Creek ramp in Canaveral National Seashore in Titusville. I had not been here in a couple years and it turned out to be a good day, with three redfish and three trout caught.

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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing

Florida Sportsman members: Hobie Angler and hunter27

Despite unfavorable, murky waters, Mosquito Lagoon has been a hot spot for kayakers in search of redfish lately. Check out these video reports for more details.

Click here to read Hobie Angler's forum report.

Click here to read hunter27's forum report.

Bass Fishing in the Savannas

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

I went fishing in the Savannas with my friend David East. He had told me about a great bass spot that was east of US-1. I had to check it out. What a great place to fish or take a paddle.

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Pompano Beach Kayak Offshore Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I hooked into a solid fish that was pulling out heavy drag. It felt like a big Amberjack that had a side jig hook snagged. I was not far off a wreck and the fish had already pulled out about 60ft of line. Miraculously the fish stopped, the line did not break, nor did the hooks straighten out. I started gaining line and was pleasantly surprised to see a nice Black Grouper.

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Offshore Key West Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

The 300 foot wrecks were full of almaco and I got four out of four. Picked up a small Skipjack on the way to the 400 foot wreck. Once I was there, I got a big reef donkey on the first drop and after that didn't want to fish anymore.

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Key West Kayak Fishing Variety

Florida Sportsman member: kayakerinkeywest

Ton's of bait on the Atlantic side flats so lots of fish just hanging around on the edge of the channels. Lots of fun.

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Boynton Beach Kayak Kingfish

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

I launched at the beach Saturday morning with a few other kayakers in Boynton. Caught a few blue runners just off the beach and headed offshore. Put my biggest blue runner out for bait and about 10 minutes later got hit by this 38 pound kingfish. I weighed it on an official scale after I landed, my biggest caught on the kayak so far.

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Newport Richey Kayak Trout

Florida Sportsman member: setting the steel

We got on the water at high tide and fished the falling tide for about 4 hours. We caught six nice trout from 15.5" to 20". All were on shrimp. My girlfriend was fishing a popping cork and I was using a split shot rig along the bottom.

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Boynton Beach Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Finally, around 2pm, I located a large school of bait with birds working on it. First pass by trolling produced a double strike. The surface bait produced a larger Little Tunny and my deeper bait produced my personal best for Barracuda: 25lb 12oz.

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Sebastian Paddleboard Fishing: Tarpon Advice

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

For three years now, tarpon have given me a fit fishing around Sebastian. I have done better this year with a few hook ups. Here is what I have learned.

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Honest John's Fish Camp

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Dwayne hooked two reds, a dozen trout and a lot of jacks and ladyfish. I hooked around a dozen trout along with lots of jacks and ladyfish. Honest John's Fish Camp is a great spot to get out of the wind and catch a few fish.

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Paddleboard Fishing at Riomar Beach

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

You don't have to paddle out for miles off the beach to catch fish, forum member palmbeachpete shows us in his informative and interesting video on his experiences while fishing at Riomar in Vero Beach.

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Hillsboro Offshore Variety

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Total count was one Mahi, three Almacos, five Rainbow Runners, one yellowjack, one for two on Amberjack and King Mackerel, 0/1 on sailfish, and half a dozen big blue runners and small Little Tunnys.

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Fort Pierce Canoe Snook

Florida Sportsman member: Captain_Snook

On a late night canoe fishing excursion, forum member Captain_Snook had a great fight with 2 beautiful slot snook. Looks like he won the battle!

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Pompano Beach Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: John Mckroid

By 6:45 am, I put out my first 2 baits. About 30 minutes later my first strike occurred on the downrigger bait. At color I could see it was a medium sized kingfish, and at that time a sailfish struck my surface bait. After landing the king, I took the other rod out of the rod holder and landed the sailfish.

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Wahoo from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: John Mckroid

I caught this fish on the first live goggle eye bait in the water, drifting in 200 feet of water off Boynton Beach.

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South Florida Jig Bite

Florida Sportsman member: John Mckroid

Just north of Commercial pier, the current died out, and I found another area to vertical jig. The action was good for mixed almacos and blackfin with an occasional little tunny.

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Sebastian Flats Surprise

Florida Sportsman member: RWood Outdoors

I hit the flats near Sebastian Inlet over the weekend, and was pleased to hook up with an acrobatic juvenile tarpon in a spot I usually get snook and reds. I also caught a nice bonnethead shark.

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Hillsboro Variety

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

After getting over the shock and disappointment of losing the outfit with a nice fish on the other end, I tied a stinger rig on my sabiki rod and put another bait out. Twenty minutes later, boom! another kingfish and this time the outcome was favorable.

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Mosquito Lagoon Reds

Florida Sportsman member: FL_Native61

Last Saturday was a nice calm day when I fished Mosquito Lagoon. The brown algae isn't getting any better with visibility around 6", and water levels the lowest I've ever seen. It turned out to be a great day though with 5 redfish landed and I was back at the ramp by 11:00 AM.

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Predators of the Flats

Florida Sportsman member: RWood Outdoors

I had some fun action on the inshore flats near Sebastian Inlet. Storms were threatening, but was able to get a few fish before the heavens opened up.

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Wahoo from the Yak

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

Went out of Boynton and drifted all the way to Palm Beach with nothing to show except a big yellow jack on the jig early in the day. Was about to call it a day and land at the Breakers when I did a little bit of jigging in 60 feet for snapper and seeing if I can get a king on the reef before calling it quits. My live bait gets hit and you can see the rest.

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Boynton Beach Sail

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Hooked a sailfish in 200 feet along a weedline, The sailfish sleigh ride ended in 470 feet of water where the current was ripping 3 knots. There were some birds diving nearby, a few small Blackfin jumping and fish on the meter 120 feet down.

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Beachside Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: RWood Outdoors

Lightning strikes twice for me this 2016 ocean kayaking season. Got my second giant tarpon of the year over the weekend fishing just north of Sebastian Inlet. Trolling Live atlantic bumpers (horn bellies) for bait.

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New Personal Best

Florida Sportsman member: Charlotte

Forum member Charlotte sight fished her new personal best trout from her kayak, while fishing in Mosquito Lagoon. This fish weighed eight pounds on the fish grip. Nice!

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Kayak Trout Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Hobie Angler

In the past couple of weeks, despite the poor water conditions at the lagoon, I have found that the overall population of seatrout is very healthy. I could be wrong, but as far as I can see the fish look very strong. This has been my experience so far this summer.

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Tarpon Sleigh Ride

Florida Sportsman member: QuiksilverIHB

Forum member QuiksilverIHB got himself a nice tarpon off the beach via paddleboard. We're sure that was one fun ride. Nice fish!

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Personal Best

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

I slowly waded up to them trying not to make too much noise and then just behind them I see a couple red brooms pop up, really nice reds. At this point, I didn't even care about those drum. I was able to get within 30 to 40 feet of the tails and laid one in right in the sweet spot on the first cast.

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Hollywood Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Dude-On-A-Kayak

Went out yesterday afternoon, the king bite was on in 100 feet of water off the Diplomat. I was starting to think my fish finder sucked, but I started marking fish and dropped the jig right on them. This was the first time I have actually been able to see several kings chase my jig back to the boat.

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Lagoon Tails

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

When they're tailing, they are so wrapped up in what they are rooting on that most fish you literally have to touch with the lure to get them to notice it. A good handful of the reds I have been catching recently were cane poled right at the side of the kayak close enough to where I can touch them with the rod tip.

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Plan B

Florida Sportsman member: Dude-On-A-Kayak

Without gogs or runners wahoo fishing was questionable. After trying live pichards + jigging from about 90-200' I gave up and went bottom fishing. I headed to a bottom spot off Dania. I hauled in a nice gag on the second drop of my mullet colored 230 gram "rudo" Jimy jig

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Monster from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

He has never been fishing in the Atlantic Ocean before and had never even been in a kayak before. We were in 110 feet off Boynton Beach when I set up his live bait rig with a live goggle eye and dropped it in the water. I am holding the rod explaining how a conventional reel works for only a few seconds when the drag starts to pull, then it starts to scream.

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Ozello Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: TightLinesGuy

Made the drive up to Ozello to do some kayak fishing with my Uncle for a few hours. Gorgeous backcountry fishing up there, I don't do it nearly enough.

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Catching off of Hillsboro

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I scratched up 6 runners and began fishing around 7:45am. First bait was not out more than 15 minutes before it was hit, boom! It acted like a big King Mackerel from the very first signature long screeching run.

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Matlacha Snookin'

Florida Sportsman member: ReelFinsFlorida

After an hour or so of no action I ran into a nice shoreline with lots of action and hooked up to the biggest snook I've caught off a kayak. What an incredible fight off the kayak with light tackle!

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Hallandale Phin

Florida Sportsman member: Dude-On-A-Kayak

At around 7:30AM I hooked up with a nice bull dolphin or "mahi". It ate the first ballyhoo I tossed out in 105' of water. I think that is the shallowest I have ever caught a dolphin. During the battle I buried a treble hook in my leg (like all the way in) and lost my sabiki rod. It was another expensive trip, but it was fun.

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All Day AJ's

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

At one point, I casted out and within 20 seconds of my jig hitting the water, I was bent over on a fish. The fish was peeling line off the reel towards the wreck, so I put some heavy pressure on him and he pulled off. I began reeling in, and another fish smashed the jig, and again pulled off under heavy pressure. When I reeled up the jig, it was bent up with a straightened out hook.

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Heavy Wind, Epic Bite

Florida Sportsman member: Rkotinsky

She surfaces and I see a massive head and huge dorsal fins as she circles my kayak. I loosen the drag so as not to lose the fish to a warn leader. She runs again and jumps fully out of the water, which is not very common for a snook this size.

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Catching Across the Stream

Florida Sportsman member: Cannible

Forum member Cannible shared some photos from his trip to the Bahamas, while fishing the Battle in the Bahamas kayak tournament.

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Boynton Phin

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

As I was paddling back closer to the beach I picked up this mahi in about 150 feet. I headed back to the beach just as Brian's client hooked up to a sailfish. Solid day.

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Trying Something New

Florida Sportsman member: anglerbros 7286

When I bought my kayak the original plan was to explore new areas and access waters I normally wouldn't be able to reach. Instead I keep going back to what I'm familiar with and it seems I may never leave. I decided to launch over by Pete's Pier since it's so close to everything. I tried something new this time and brought a cast net along with me and caught some really nice 2 to 4 inch white baitfish.

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A Fresh Change

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

My first few trips were pretty productive but the fish really left a lot to be desired in the size department. Went out this afternoon and finally put a couple halfway decent ones on deck plus way too many dinks to count.

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Catching off of Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

We decided to head in shallower, nada. Boat chatter on the radio was the same, nada! Was just about to head out deep when the clients rod got tight, king on. The greedy king ate a runner and a jimyjig so he wasn't going anywhere.

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Dinner and a Show

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Since the current was dead, and a fellow kayaker reported some action, I decided to head out to 500 feet to try for tilefish. I had a fair number of bites on nearly every drop, but only managed to catch four.

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Boynton Bite

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Landed one nice almaco in 460 feet, hooked right on the bottom. Continued to drift north while dragging a flat line bait and vertical jigging inwards from 480 to 180 feet. Metered some fish on the wreck just north of the inlet, but luck was not with me, I missed a fish on bait and got bit off on the jig the first pass.

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Mosquito Madness

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

Around 11, the wind dropped out and the sun came out nice and bright. This was the catalyst as the fish began popping up everywhere. We were on at least 10 separate pods of reds at one time with monster trout mixed in.

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Changing Tactics, Catching Fish

Florida Sportsman member: Anna

The tide was high when we got into the creek, so we tried our luck working some mud-flats and grass lines with various presentations, but only taker was a rat red. After a couple of hours I could tell that my friend was getting a little frustrated, so it was time to switch gears.

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First Time Fishing the Lagoon

Florida Sportsman member: kingkong954

Nia and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and kayak the 'pole and troll' zones of the Mosquito Lagoon. It was was our first time there, which means I had zero expectations of catching any fish

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First Time Fishing the Lagoon

Florida Sportsman member: kingkong954

Lauderdale Action

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

First good strike in 500 feet of water broke off the braid line, must have been a bad spot in the line. I re-tied and landed a nice blackfin tuna on my very next drop.

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Paddling Sebastian

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Forum member palmbeachpete posted an awesome video of some nice trout and redfish he caught via paddleboard. Pete says "January is a great time to paddle the mangroves and hunt redfish. The water is clearing up around Sebastian and the fishing is good."

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Wintertime Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

I battled her close quarters and managed to prevail. Feeling good, my casting accuracy got better and made some stellar casts between boats and pilings. I managed to pull out more snook 26 inch, 24 and a 22 incher. I also got a surprise redfish to boot.

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Pompano Beach Jigging

Florida Sportsman member: John Mckroid

The current was light and variable making it easy to stay on top of the marks. A Lot of the marks were small little tunny(bonito) and large blue runners, but occasionally an almaco jack, blackfin tuna or something else would hit the jig.

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Dania Beach Mahi and Tuna

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

The bite picked up for me between 3:30pm and 5:00 pm. I managed to pick up an almaco, bonito, another tuna and a nice mahi. The mahi hit a live goggle eye in 250 feet of water. I put the smallest circle hook I had available and downsized the leader size for visibility, it worked out this time.

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Catching with Junior

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

We lost a monster drum as well, 40-50 pounder. I had the net in my hand but he made a big surge as he broke the surface and pulled the hook..at least we got to see him! Had a great time out there just relaxing and watching the manatees and dolphins..even heard the drum drumming down there as we were fishing.

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Offshore Action

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

We were actually able to get offshore one day last week and fishing was great. Between Eric and I we got 3 kings (one being 30lbs) a sail and a nice mahi. All fish hit small blue runners in roughly 150 to 200 feet of water.

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First Red

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

The kids are out of school on christmas break so I figured I would get my boy out on the water in the yaks. He's still a little too young to be interested in hardcore plastic slinging type fishing so I just brought him out to where I knew there were a couple reds and we laid out a couple chunks and relaxed while taking in the scenery.

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Topwater Snookin'

Florida Sportsman member: kwanza98

Forum member kwanza98 put together a cool short video of a big snook destroying a topwater. Nice work!

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Hot Action before the Cold

Florida Sportsman member: Spacecoast Slayer

After half an hour of paddling I see a nice group of backs breaking the surface. Threw a chartreuse Mr. Wiffelure past them and whizzed it by and it got thumped. Assumed it was going to be a red but to my surprise it was a drum.

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From Dawn till Dusk

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

In 185 feet of water while approaching an area of feeding birds, the runner rod bent over. A mahi was jumping on the end of the line, and before I could get him landed the other reel started screaming.

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Great Day of Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

Not 20 minutes later I am working a nice choke point and I get crushed again! This time this fish knew instantly something wasn't right, and ran straight towards the mangroves went way back in there.

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West Palm Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

We got a late start so we purchased bait instead of catching some. Made it out to the grounds tossed out a livie and began jigging. Soon after I hear flip yell out "mahi heading to your gog."

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Dolphin on the Jig

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

Mine hit a Victory Lures Pink Dart Jig and Adam tossed his gog bug and another Mahi that was swimming by.

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Dania Wahoo

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

I was trolling a Yozuri Crystal Minnow and a blue runner. Just as soon as I reached 60 ft, the Yozuri got smacked. The fish made some hard runs before tiring down a bit, just enough to let me glimpse at the biggest kingfish I had seen next to my kayak.

Read more: http://forums.floridasportsman.com/showthread.php?206791-Wahoo-Caught-At-Dania-Beach-11-2-2015#ixzz3qdB1IjY5

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Starting November Right

Florida Sportsman member: jcanracer

We were thinking of calling it a day by 11am, but out of nowhere my last, near-dead, goggle eye got smacked and I was onto mahi number two. As with before, the fish did not want to come into the kayak. This time the mahi, after being landed, made a heroic leap back into the water!

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Pompano Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

After filling up with runners, I started fishing at 7:30am and there was no current, rain, but thankfully a little wind and frequent schools of baby bonitas breaking the water feeding. Fish bit good on runners for about two and a half hours.

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Jiggin' em Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Whelan

Launched with Paul from Boyton this morning. Caught all of my fish on a JimyJig Japo in the color punk pink.

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Boynton Drift

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

I hit the water at six to mullet all over the surf with runners, ladyfish and bluefish chasing them. Mullet were jumping into my kayak and I was even able to scoop some out of the water by hand. Got out and put a live runner on a rip in 130 feet and quickly got hit by a king.

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Banana River Action

Florida Sportsman member: AceDawg

Black drum were also scattered in small schools in about two feet of water, just barely breaking the surface with their tails. The total for the day ended with 17 reds, 2 trout, 1 tarpon, and 2 black drum.

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Pompano Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: jcanracer

We decide to pitch some lures that way to play with them for a while but they just wouldn't hit anything bigger than the white fry they were apparently chasing. As we were giving up on this area I see a mahi jump behind and to my left, then I see it jump again, and I look at my rod as it then bends over and starts to go off!

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Bulls from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: SpaceCoast Slayer

We poled around in the murk for three hours without seeing a single fish. I finally ran into one, almost literally but with the extreme murkiness it didn't see me. I flipped my Pearl White MrWiffelure three feet beyond the fish and proceeded to rip it back to me and he crushed five feet from the boat.

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Boynton Tunas

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

A few guys got some kings early in the morning but the live bait drift was mostly slow despite bait balls everywhere. I went out a little deeper to 315-325 feet and found some tuna. Caught a few and headed in to make it to work by noon.

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Doubled up

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

Forum member meckert put together a video of some nice sails caught via kayak. Nice work!

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Personal Best

Florida Sportsman member: TideUp

The water came on up and my go to spot was looking right so moved over there and bam caught a nice spotted red really quick. While dehooking him, I heard a monster slam around the bend so I grabbed the spook jr. And waded around the corner for a cast.

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Pompano Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Small Almacos bit well on the vertical jigs, one drop caught two jacks on one jig. Total catch for the day included 10 Almacos, two cudas, a bonita and a yellowtail snapper taken in 200 feet of water on the vertical jig.

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Boynton Bull

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

Forum member meckert shared a recent video he put together. He caught two nice dolphin off of Boynton and Lake Worth, on a speed jig and a blue runner. Nice work!

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Tampa Bay Tailers

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

I looked at the tide tables and found some good low tides occurring after working hours. Launched two hours before low tide and worked my way out to the flats. Saw dozens of mullet schools along the way none of which contained any red fish.

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Flamingo Reds

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

Today went much better. Finally got my first Florida redfish and my first redfish from the kayak. I caught two redfish, one mangrove snapper and two jack crevelle, my buddy caught one juvenile tarpon, six redfish, and a handful of mangrove snapper.

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Paddling the Banana River

Florida Sportsman member: AceDawg

The bite is solid from 6am till about 830. It slows down but is still possible to catch fish. One of the last reds I caught was right along the shoreline as I was heading back in around 1130. I saw a splash out of the corner of my eye and it looked like he was doing backflips in the water.

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Flood Tide Via Paddleboard

Florida Sportsman member: Jettyrat3200

Forum member Jettyrat3200 recently got on some nice reds from the paddleboard. Fishing the flood tides, flies were the ticket to getting the bite.

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Mill Cove Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: jacqueo

I must have hit the red on the head as I threw it because within seconds my line was screaming. 20 inch red into the cooler! Yes!

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Big Girl from the Groves

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

I positioned my yak to make a few good cast and my second cast in, I get thumped by a solid snook. I only had 20 pound leader but this fish wanted to play hide and seek in the mangroves so I had to get down and dirty with her and pull her out from under the mangroves twice! I landed her after a couple minutes and she hit the tape at 34 inches, but really really fat!

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Banana River Mixed Bag

Florida Sportsman member: AceDawg

After messing with them for a bit started heading back south scouting the shoreline and started spotting fins cruising the shore. Reds were scattered throughout along the shore and buried in grass. Caught 7 on my way back down before getting stuck in a storm. Hunkered down in the mangroves and sat it out for an hour.

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Vilano from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: kayakling

For about an hour large schools of spanish mackerel were about destroying bait. After tearing through some of those and some bluefish I slowly started to drift back to the bridge. Hit up my favorite spots on the way and only managed smaller jacks.

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A Drift with Friends

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

We planned a drift a few days back, and some nice fish were caught. Steve killed it out there with a sailfish, tuna and a kingfish.

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Good Day in the Bay

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

After a few casts my lure gets inhaled and I have a nice fish on. She goes airborne and a nice battle ensues with a good size snook. She heads for the mangroves and I stop her, she jumps again and again then goes under my kayak. I slowly work her and she tires and I measure her out to 34 inches.

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Pompano Blackfins

Florida Sportsman member: John McKoid

Weather was flat calm, but unfortunately the weeds were still a problem, causing fouled baits. Current was not too strong, but found a distinct current break in about 120 feet of water, fished it for awhile with no luck. Saw a few small blackfins jumping and jigged up one in about 175 feet of water.

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Tarpon at the Bridge

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

I was able to fish the last of the outgoing, and the beginning of the incoming and the bite was on today! Was able to stick 4 fish, 2 of which absolutely school me around pilings, and 2 that I was able to put the boots to in tight quarters and get them to the boat!

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Fort Pierce Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: inshore dave

I was casting a DOA Cal under the mangrove overhangs when I had a big explosion as soon as it hit the water. Well, after a 20 minute fight I landed by biggest snook to date.

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Sunset Reds

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

Put on my favorite sardine lure for a few more last casts into some mangrove edges in the hopes of saving the day with at least one keeper sized fish. My fish was granted when I cast into one of the few weedless edges on the backside of a mangrove island. Finally a good hard hit and the sound of drag with the end result being a nice 24 inch fatty red fish.

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Sebastian Offshore Via Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: fyshfynder

Next trip was solo about a mile South of the inlet. Wasn't much going on. Saw some birds way out, so I started paddling. Fish were busting under the birds. Tossed a live mojarra into the frenzy and got a big bonito that snapped my rod at the boat.

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First Sailfish

Florida Sportsman member: Tuffstang

After my second drop the drag clicker on my live bait started screaming. Dropped lever into strike and started cranking. It was just a dead weight no pull or flutter on the line. We went from depths of 200 feet to 400 feet in minutes when the sail leaped out and danced across the water. A couple more leaps and literally jumping over Devodud's bow, the sail tired out.

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Silver Kings from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: mjrudd1

During my latest visit to Florida, I went after tarpon mostly. Caught a few and had a great time. I prefer chasing them in shallow water but got to go where they are, not where they aren't. It gets really crowded out there, over 50 boats fishing the same area and usually I'm the only kayak.

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Vilano Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: kayakling

On my last cast after about three hours there I did stick an old nasty redfish. I helped him out and cleared some old rigs out from his mouth, medium effort measure in the Hobie was close to 42 inches. Left with a couple of decent flounder, also caught whiting, pigfish, ladyfish.

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Tuna on the Drift

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

Made 2 drifts for 2 bonita and hooked and lost something bigger. It was too exhaustive to try to make another wreck drift ( current was around 2.5 knots). Put out the live flying fish and it did not take long to get eaten.

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Banana River Variety

Florida Sportsman member: AceDawg

Got a wide variety of bites in the Banana River today. In total 6 reds, a small snook, 2 juvenile tarpon, my buddy got a nice black drum on a mirrolure (of all things for them to hit, haven't seen that before) and a handful of trout.

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Shallow Water Reds

Florida Sportsman member: SnookStack

During the lowlight morning hours artificial baits have been producing fish on the flats of Tampa. With the grass grown in it's been a weightless, weedless setup for my choice artificial setup. Later in the day, I've been working the late evening incoming through high tide with cut mullet.

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Tampa Bay Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

I leave the oyster flat and work some other channels and choke points and land another nice 23 inchred fish. With the day coming to an end I try my snook hole and work it from every angle. My lure gets absolutely annihilated and it feels like what I hope to be my first 40 plus inch snook.

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Canoeing with the Wife

Florida Sportsman member: Bush Whacker

Thankfully the rain stayed over towards the barrier islands the whole time we were out. We paddled south and tried the deeper flats for a bit with nothing but a few small trout. We then decided to whack the bushes. And that's where things lit up.

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Boca to Boynton Drift

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

There was some steady action including a big reef donkey that got away. Catches included 2 bonita, 2 small amicos, a small blackfin, a king and mutton. All caught on jigs except for the mutton.

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NMZ Fun

Florida Sportsman member: AceDawg

I hit the Banana River today out of Kars Park. Caught 6 reds and 3 snook for the day. First time I've caught a snook, great fight. Pretty good day even though the wind just hasn't given up.

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Good Bite on the Drift

Florida Sportsman member: kitesfr

As we passed the inlet, I hooked into something that made my reel scream pretty good. I felt a bit of a head shake, so I thought I had a big big bonito. He kept taking line and giving me a little back. I finally got a glimpse of it and thought I saw stripes!

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Coot Bay Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: Tnolaninc

I was able to land a decent micro-poon in the morning on a hand tied fly, jumped maybe 5 more on artificial Zman baits rigged weedless and on a DOA 1/8 jig, Landed 4 snook one of decent size.

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Jacksonville Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: unincom

Eventually the tarpon figured out which direction it wanted to go and pulled my anchor free from the bank and started taking me south. It pulled me back into a side creek above a submerged sandbar, which was a blessing as it allowed to to hop out of the kayak and fight it standing up.

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Backwater Action

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

Been getting the snook and reds on the 4 inch MrWiffelure Shad in the white/fire tail and straight pink colors. This is a killer lure and the snook hit it like it owes em money. Since I have started throwing it, it has definitely helped me put more snook on deck.

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Fort Pierce Backcountry

Florida Sportsman member: evergladeskid243

Picked up a redfish as I began to make my exit out of my spot, blind casting every mangrove shoreline with a topwater, hoping to hook a snook as grand as the one who had left me in despair earlier.

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After Work Red

Florida Sportsman member: jacqueo

I threw just past where all the commotion was and worked it back over all the bait ruckus, when slam! It took off under my kayak, to the left, to the right, around in a circle, all the while I'm cursing like a sailor at the fish.

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Clapboard Creek Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: jacqueo

That's when I remembered that I had a pedal drive and could easily troll instead of sitting in one place fighting the skunk. Threw a mud minnow onto a jig, cast it behind me and started working the grassline. Within one minute I had a great bite and pulled in my personal best flounder.

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African Pompano from the Yak

Florida Sportsman member: lmp1978

Forum member lmp1978 caught a stud african pompano via kayak, off of the beaches of Dania Beach. Not only do african pompano pull hard, they are great table fare.

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New Personal Best

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

I loosened the drag a bit so as not to have the hooks bend or the fish pull free. After 3 minutes of getting no where with the fish it finally came into view and knew it was a new personal best red. Now the pressure was on me to land the fish for some pictures and entry into the 30 inch club.

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Bahamas Fun

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

The weather was nice, little bit of offshore wind on day one of the tournament, but overall very manageable compared to Florida.

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Dinner and a Show

Florida Sportsman member: sake138

We met the bait guy on the water around 730. The current was pretty strong and so was the wind. We ended up drifting north about 7 miles! I got two mahi mahi, one being a 50 inch bull, and my first sail on a yak!

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West Central Kingfish on a Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

Getting a kingfish on the west coast, from a kayak, not the easiest task. When you consider relative quick migration, dirty Gulf water, days off from work, combined with hoping for good conditions, and getting your bait to stick once one decides to eat, the odds can be stacked against us!

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Indian River Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: Rulesman69

The bait was everywhere in the cove. Started throwing chrome Twitchin' Raps, 10:15, bam! Watched a 3 pound trout come up and slam the Rap right by the boat. 10:35, wham, big fish on, fought it to the boat and landed and released another trout about 7 pounds.

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Snook Filled Weekend

Florida Sportsman member: Silent snooker

Went back up to the Loxahatchee River hoping to play with some of the small snook we were catching two weeks ago and was lucky enough to find more upper and over slot snook than small ones.

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West Palm Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

Forum member PottyMouth and friend, Flip got out and caught some nice fish off of Palm Beach, also losing a few to the tax man.

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Good Luck in the Bluewater

Florida Sportsman member: Temensisyakfishing

I put the jigging rod in the flush mount rod holder, and I grab the rod when I see this beast jumping out of the water!. let me say that I can count the times I have gone out offshore with my fingers and this is my second sailfish ever, so it is amazing to catch one.

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Catching in the Kayak Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Nick561

Forum member Nick561 got into some fish offshore recently on his kayak.

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Brother's First

Florida Sportsman member: frankthetank

Forum member frankthetank got out with his brother recently and caught some fish. Fishing off of Boynton, not only did his brother catch his first sailfish, they caught 6 blackfin tunas as well. Nice!

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Snook Island

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

I had fished there many times before without much luck but it had been a while and decided to give it a shot. We only fished for about an hour and a half but I managed to get 2 for 2 on the under-slot snook. First one was about 23 inches and second one was about 25.

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Wintertime Bruiser

Florida Sportsman member: harrisa2006

I moved on, moving further up the canal and noticed I was sitting in 10+ feet of water, but I could see the bottom, up near the mangroves not far from me, so I knew there was a drop off, and with the water by the mangroves not moving nearly as fast as the channel, I figured it was a good ambush spot.

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Ozello Reds

Florida Sportsman member: TideUp

I fished around most of the morning without any bites fishing deeper cuts and drops around the area with no luck. Spooked a few reds after lunch in shallow flats so I changed my strategy and started sight fishing.

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Loxahatchee Snookin'

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Forum member palmbeachpete put together a video of him wrestling with some nice snook on his paddleboard in the Loxahatchee River.

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First Slam

Florida Sportsman member: MSW_SatelliteBeach

Coffee now cold and I'm wondering why, after years of catching trout with no problem, I can't find any. Wind starts blowing me off the bank I'm following just as I toss out a cast. Adjust kayak, reel line in to tighten slack on the rod and just as the mirrodine hits the top of the water, BAM!

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Sebastian Inshore

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Forum member palmbeachpete shows what Sebastian has to offer for the paddling angler. Launching at Riverview park, he gets into some fish and gives some helpful tips and directions.

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Fishing the Backwater

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

One particular area had a lot of mullet activity and the best water flow in the immediate area. We both continued to land more small snook and worked the area hard given all of the activity. Well it finally paid off when mama snook showed up for the party with her 32 inches of glory!

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Chokoloskee Via Paddleboard

Florida Sportsman member: Lurchy

I fished the whole incoming and part of the outgoing in the maze of creeks and bars to the WSW of Choko. Saw some reds throughout the day, and got a decent one close to the end of the day. I saw him move off a oyster bar and under some groves, pitched a gulp and he ate.

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Sanibel Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

Fan casted the area with my paddle tail jig and had a hit and miss from a good sized trout. Convinced that there had to be some big fish in the area I gave one last cast with my Rapala and it paid off with a solid hit and a big run towards the mangroves.

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Backcountry Camping and Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: Native21

We went back to the spot we originally worked and the poons were thick. We caught several more and jumped many more, the snook were mixed in as well so we were also pulling them out. We fished till about 4pm and made our way to our camp area.

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Skinny Water Bulls

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

We actually had a sweet double hookup at this point but his pulled the hook. After a quick photo op with my fish, Neil was hooked up again within two minutes and after a half hour fight put his redzilla in the yak. The girth on his fish was unreal, it was 35 pounds plus and healthy.

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Negative Tides and Chewing Fish

Florida Sportsman member: SnookStack

I planned on scouting reds either tailing or pushing water on the flats. As I moved out onto the flat, I was instantly gratified by seeing a bunch of single reds pushing wakes and leaving evidence of redfish with trails of dust.

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Pine Island Trout and Reds

Florida Sportsman member: JoeyHotFizzle

Forum member JoeyHotFizzle shared his recent kayak trip, fishing in Pine Island. Throwing a mix of artificials, he was able to fool some nice trout and redfish. Nice work!

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Avoiding the Wind and Catching Fish

Florida Sportsman member: C Dog

Hard to describe my emotions when I saw it wasn't a red, but it was the biggest trout I had ever seen.

I didn't have a scale or a tape measure. But using my old bass fishing days as a reference, I would say it was a lunker at least 6 to 8 pounds, at least 26 inches, and fat!

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Glades Slam

Florida Sportsman member: Native21

Here are a few fish from the day that helped me catch a slam. Although the poons had me numbered I jumped about 10 and happened to land the micro but none the less a slam. Snook were everywhere in that spot and it seemed like every other cast I was hooking up.

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Kayak Bassin'

Florida Sportsman member: inshore dave

To say that the day was stellar is an understatement. Between Steve and I we caught over 75 fish. Most were dinks in the 1-2 pound range with a good mixing of 3 pounders too. We also caught fish from just over 4 pounds to the biggest caught by me at 8 pounds 6 ounces.

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Night Time Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: frankthetank

I managed to come tight on a 50 to 60 pound fish that fought hard to get away. But after a long and intense fight, I got my picture and released the fish with good energy. After resetting the lines we had a few missed hits and with the last bait I hooked a monster over 150 but wasn't prepared and after a minute long run my leader popped.

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Trying a New Spot

Florida Sportsman member: YaknYeti

I started working the islands in this area and as I made my way around one of them something exploded on my DOA Shrimp. I thought it was a red at first because it wouldn't show itself and kept making long runs. Turns out it was a nice Snook.

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Crystal River Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

Pushed further out towards the gulf and found a nice channel with depths from 3 to 4 feet and water temperatures near 70 degrees. Switched to a RipTide mullet paddle tail with 1/4 ounce jig head in order to work the channel deeper and began landing trout after trout.

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Last Trip of the Year

Florida Sportsman member: lmp1978

Forum member lmp1978 got out one last time before the year ends and he went out with a bang. Beautiful fish and great work.

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Bradenton Trout Bite

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

I tossed my RipTide mullet with 1/4 oz jig head into a channel chokepoint and out of the depths only a few feet from my yak a large trout inhaled the lure. It was an awesome sight to behold given it's above average size and the visual provided after hours of fruitless fishing. For the next few hours I worked the area and landed over a dozen or more trout and limited out with 4 nice keepers.

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Day Saver

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

Forum member Pottymouth and a few buddies got out recently to chase some fish offshore. The bite was slow although they had live mullet and greenies, but this nice sailfish saved the day. Tight work!

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Bringing Home Dinner

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

The one cigar minnow that I caught did not last 5 minutes in the water before being inhaled by a mahi. I think a tank full of pilchards would have produced a lot of Dorados. Trolled quite a bit with the blue runners looking for a wahoo, only to catch another shark. Even though it was relatively unproductive, it was a pleasant day on the water.

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First Time Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: peacockbass921

I have done freshwater and inshore and I have done pretty good so far. Offshore was always in the back of my mind and I definitely wanted to try it. After declining a couple of invitations, because I didn't have any gear, I decided to go for it.

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Drum on Artificial

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

Saw what I thought was a big red about 75 feet away on a transitional edge. I pitched a copper colored Banks Lures Pimpin Shrimp with a dab of Blue Crab Pro-Cure at it, and the fish happily mowed it down.

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Bulls from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

My buddy Geoff and I got out not too long ago and played with some decent sized ocean Reds. They were thick and we got a nice day of sleigh rides in exchange for our sizable paddle to the spot.

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Catching Them in the Rain

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

Went offshore this past Sunday, it was rainy and overcast all morning but the seas were flat. Managed to get a sail, small tuna and this nice mahi.

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Kayak Blackfins

Florida Sportsman member: BOGEY

Went out yesterday around 1p.m. from Dania. Was only out for 3 hours in 280 to 320 feet of water. I caught these bad boys plus some smaller ones that I let go. It was an awesome day of fishing, no current, 5 knot winds, and the water was like glass.

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Late Season Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Ross

So, at about 1am I made a 15 mile hike to another location and splashed in. As we rolled up, fish were happy and popping on top. On Zack's first cast, he hooked and landed this respectable tarpon on a 7inch Bone Hogy Original.

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Busting Them off Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

Set up our drift and nothing. Hours went by and not a nibble. So I decided to try an old school trick and 5 minutes, later a fish was on!

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Epic SouthShore Redfishing

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

What ensued next was simply amazing, as I worked the GOLD spoon with hard violent twitches I had an ensemble of jacks and reds follow the spoon, some came within 4 feet of my yak! The harder I worked the spoon the more fish that followed it, unfortunately the jacks are faster fish and grab the lure first so I decided to toss out more cut pinfish.

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Foolin' with Artificial

Florida Sportsman member: nwxnw

Forum member nwxnw explained that he has been fishing live bait primarily for the past year, but recently has resorted to artificials, with great success! Nice work.

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Sails for All

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

Two clients, one from Colorado the other from Canada flew down for one thing, a South Florida sailfish lap dance. They gave me 4 days to put em on sailfish, we got it done the first day out and went 3 for 3.

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Kayak Fishing Yankeetown

Florida Sportsman member: TideUp

I ended up finding a beautiful shell flat that produced big time. There were small schools of black drum and sheepshead everywhere just waving their tails at me asking for a precise cast! I ended up catching more black drum than I wanted but managed to dodge a few to find some nice sheepies.

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Sailin' off Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: Nick561

Within 10 minutes one of Robs clients hooks up on a sail and it was off to the races. while they played with that I managed to lose 3 jigs to to cutoffs. I finally started jigging up some small blackfins.

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Amberjack From the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: Janos

Forum member Janos recently caught his first amberjack, and a pretty nice one at that. He was fishing from his kayak in 230 feet of water off of Dania, the fish ate a 7 ounce jig.

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South Beach Snook and Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: Poseidon10/31

Fished this am with Mapache Mike in Government Cut. No bait pods, luckily I brought some mullet for us. We landed a couple snook in quick order at the mouth of the inlet. He had to take off so I decided to escape the sharks and slow troll a hog leg mullet down the beach.

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Runners off Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

I was drifting 2 live goggle eyes near the skycliff when the rainbow runners hit both my baits simultaneously. I was lucky to land the smaller one, then grab the other rod out of the holder and land the bigger one that had hooked itself.

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Offshore Action in the Yaks

Florida Sportsman member: Ericjames22

Forum member Ericjames22 got into some nice pelagics lately, and happened to film it. Big Kingfish, Double hook ups on sails and more, all from the kayaks!

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South Florida Snakehead Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: peacockbass921

I love the small Ribbit frogs, black or green in color and using 6/0 Owner hooks for them. Small frog, big hook, this allows the Snakehead to take the whole frog and increases the chances of hooking them to about 75 percent.

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Dania ICW Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: peacockbass921

After 30 minutes, right before slack tide was there my line went tight and I started fighting a big fish. My target was tarpon so I was thinking TARPON! But since it didn't jump I knew it was a big snook.

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Yankeetown Yakin'

Florida Sportsman member: TideUp

We paddled out to our first spot around 9:30 to simply catch a couple rats and get equipment tuned in for later spots. My first cast with the spoon landed a little red so I knew it was going to be a productive day.

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South Florida Sail

Florida Sportsman member: bluewateryak13

What an awesome day on the water. It's been a while since having a nice calm sunny day of fishing. Relatively quiet, but definitely a memorable day as this is a first for me.

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Chasing Tarpon, Catching Snook

Florida Sportsman member: lmp1978

I went to Dania cutoff canal, looking for tarpon and I end it up catching this beauty. 39 inch snook, this guy was happily released back in the water.

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Indian River Bruiser

Florida Sportsman member: davederb

We took a break out near Pelican Island, when on the way back to our launch point, my live bait rod starts screaming. He immediately starts yelling shark, we were pleasantly surprised as this is my biggest snook yet from a kayak which measured 37 inches.

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Snook Saves the Day

Florida Sportsman member: Nick561

The weatherman was wrong. Wind was blowing and the waves were pounding. About to call it a day till rob says "I got a plan B". So off to his spot and sure enough it paid off. I got a nice 40" snook that was a fatty and rob hooked up but the hook pulled on what I think was a tarpon.

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Making it Happen off of Pompano

Florida Sportsman member: John McKroid

At deep color, I could see it was a long slender bluish silver fish, and since I was out beyond normal kingfish territory, anticipation of a wahoo was high. About 10 minutes later she was on the gaff, 53 inches and 32 pounds! It was a total rush!

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Boca Wahoo

Florida Sportsman member: AC_Yak

Weeds were a huge issue today with live baiting so i decided to set up shop and spool the baits out so they wouldn't get weeded as bad. I've found this tactic to be extremely effect in the morning hours when the fish are aggressively feeding.

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Reds in the Grass

Florida Sportsman member: Maverick

I use the yak to get close, very quietly, then slip out and wade to the fish. Makes it a lot easier to make a good presentation to the fish with a fly, especially in this wind. The fish were hungry and aggressive. I only spooked 1 or 2 with the line.

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Treasure Coast Snook and Reds

Florida Sportsman member: evergladeskid243

I made a couple more passes through the area having many strikes, wakes, and blow ups but no connections. Finally connected with a solid fish around that pulled me around and gave my stradic 3000 and 10 pound braid a good workout.

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Summer Slammin'

Florida Sportsman member: Devodud

We set out in a southeasterly direction at sunrise and stopped in 150 feet of water. As soon as we stopped my live bait rod gets slammed. It ends up being my biggest kingfish of the day. Within 5 minutes Suede lands a kingfish that could be the twin to mine.

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Summertime Kayak Bite

Florida Sportsman member: evergladeskid243

Found no shortage of baby tarpon feeding up in the shadows of the mangrove overhangs and culvert outflows. I caught lots of these little guys on both spin and on the 8wt on these small minnow patterns I have been tying, and on my new favorite lure I decided to try randomly, the Vudu shrimp.

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Matlacha Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: jocofi

We made a trip to Matlacha with big hopes of tarpon. They laughed around all around us most of the day. We even got a close up look at one that was sniffing around shallow waters. He seemed so intensely focused on the grass bed he didn't notice that he came within a few feet of our kayaks.

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Wahoo from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Yak

I was losing line fast, so I started pedaling to chase him down. The fish came to the surface and circled about 15 feet away. I saw the unmistakably tiger stripes and my adrenaline skyrocketed! The wahoo made a deep run and I slowly worked him up tail wrapped. After about 40 minutes, I gaffed him and brought him up.

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Night Time Snook Bite

Florida Sportsman member: AC_YaK

So far I have got over 10 snook over the 38 inch mark. All fish were caught in Boynton Spillway after sun down. All this rain has got the water moving pretty fast through the flood gates and it really heats up the bite.

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Tampa Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

My yak buddy made his way over to a deeper spot and hooked into multiple redfish and gave me a call to move on in. After landing his 4th fish, I failed to get a single hit with any of my lures; he continued to catch and release over the next hour.

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Sashimi and Sail

Florida Sportsman member: timmcollins

Forum member timmcollins and friends had a successful day off of Boynton. Not only did they boat a beautiful sailfish, they also caught a 35 inch black fin tuna for dinner. Nice!

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Big King off Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: 1OzLead

Early on we trolled to 180 feet and found some scattered weeds and stuff was going on here and there. After some drops we decided to move to 220 feet and Gio calls out fish on! Some time later Gio calls a king and we get together to gaff it and bring the catch in my bag.

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Slammin' in the Yak

Florida Sportsman member: summer daze

My top water plug was getting crushed just about every throw. Best fish of the day was a 39 inch snook. Caught lots of snook and trout and one redfish to complete the inshore slam. The biggest trout was 25 inches. Released everything except the big trout.

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Big Fish off of Boynton

Florida Sportsman member: Nick561

So I send the bait out while thinking how pissed I'm going to be when I lose another fish, I was in that mood. Well before I know it, a sail is cat walking right at me and I see my line slack, Fish on!

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Dania Wahoo

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

Anyways, found a nice north stream between 250 to 300 feet, and began jigging between those depths only. I couldn't capture on film the first couple minutes of the long run. I was busy just trying to keep my focus on having a good hookset. I thought I lost the fish, as he began to swim toward me. That's where the short video clip begins

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Destin Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: jmj75

Forum member jmj75 shared a great video, kayak fishing off of Destin. Amberjacks, snappers and a nice tuna to top it off. Nice work!

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A Recap

Florida Sportsman member: mangohunter11

Forum member mangohunter11 decided to post some pictures recapping recent fishing trips. Great photography and nice fish!

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South Beach Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: Poseidon10/31

I decided to start taking length and girth measurements of my tarpon so I could better calibrate my eye when judging weights of fish. I haven't measured a fish in so long, I wasn't sure if I was accurately judging weights.

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Flamingo Kayak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: BigGuyinaLittleBoat

My lure gets inhaled, I set the hook, and a 50 pound tarpon erupts. It's not even light out yet, welcome to Flamingo! After the initial jump it stays in the water and ends up just dragging me along the shoreline towing me like I'm not even there. After getting drug back a half mile the way I came I put too much pressure on my 20 pound braid and broke him off.

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Everglades Adventure

Florida Sportsman member: jvanpelt

Next it was my turn. As I sat and watched I noticed a small pod of tarpon feeding on some bait up against the mangrove shoreline. I through my Riptide Flats Chub past the pod and started to quickly retrieve it. I was immediately rewarded with an aerial display of another juvenile tarpon.

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Paddling off of Pompano

Florida Sportsman member: Captain Yak

I quickly threw the goggle eye back in the bucket and began fighting. After about 10 minutes with several gaff misses, I quickly realized that it's time for a longer gaff. I finally got it which ended up being a nice 42 inch king, my personal best.

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A Week in the Glades

Florida Sportsman member: jvanpelt

Day 1 was spent in a canal system that I was familiar with but had never fished. We launched our kayaks and were immediately met with rolling tarpon.

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Boynton Offshore

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

We head to deeper water and continue jigging and drifting. I hook up to something big until it breaks my 30 pound test line. Seconds later my gog gets smoked in 180 feet. Nice blackfin in the boat after a short fight.

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N.M.Z. Monster

Florida Sportsman member: RiverRat321

I casted my line out and let it sit for a second while I took a sip of my beverage and BOOM not even 5 minutes I was hooked up to the biggest fish I've caught to date unknowingly. The drag was screaming like no other. I set it as tight and possible without there being too much tension for my line to break.

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Vilano Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: kayakling

A large shark (likely) did wind up eating a ladyfish half Drew was drifting, he started getting towed but as he added some pressure it broke off. At around 10:30 we decided to head over to the bridge. I caught a nice 6 pound flounder (my biggest) right away but then besides ladyfish and jacks that was really it for a long while.

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Kayak Kings

Florida Sportsman member: meckert

Forum member meckert got into some nice kingfish recently from his kayak. Despite the storms chasing him off the water. Nice work!

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Wahoo from the Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: Pottymouth

Forum member Pottymouth caught this nice wahoo from his kayak. Fishing off of Pompano Beach with live bait produced the fish. Nice work!

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Siesta Key Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: strangeBrue

Finally got my new Predator wet off the beach for a little tarpon fishing. I've been watching guys get dragged around for years and finally got my chance. I had a bunch of shots throughout the morning and finally got one to eat a whitebait around 9:30. It was quite a ride.

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Slammin' before the Storm

Florida Sportsman member: SlamPiece

then got into a few schools that were interested, caught 6 reds up to 32 inches on Gulp!, jerk baits, and live mullet. Also saw several tarpon and hooked up to at least 8 or 9 times with no success but then i finally landed one! Also caught a few trout to complete a not so common slam for me.

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Boynton Sail

Florida Sportsman member: Produkt

We head out straight east and deploy our gogs at 80 feet. We make it to 250-ish and I hear my drag pull a little. I look at it again and it pulls a little more. Just as I'm about to pick it up I see a monster sailfish leap 30 yards away and my drag goes off. 30 to40 minutes later I have a huge sail in my lap.

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Emerald Coast Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: brunyan

Had a great time with a getaway to the Emerald Coast for opening of Snapper Season. First day went 4 for 4 on snapper (kept 2) and 1 for 1 on kings. Really surprised we didn't get into more kings that day. Second day caught a short gag, 2 short red snapper, 1 vermilion snapper, and a king.

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Kayak Trout

Florida Sportsman member: inshore dave

I spent the night at my buddy Stan's place Sunday night. Woke up early to fish the Indian River at Hutchinson Island with Stan and his girlfriend Tammy. Conditions were good with winds out of the East from 5 to 15 knots and a wind ripple in the water. Caught my biggest trout to date-27 3/4 inches long and a fat 6 pounds.

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Dania Jumbos

Florida Sportsman member: frankthetank

forum member frankthetank crushed the big blackfin tuna this weekend via kayak. Fishing off of Dania with live goggle eye produced fish up to 27 pounds!

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Tangling with Tarpon

Florida Sportsman member: Skunklife

Forum member Skunklife got down the keys recently and got into the tarpon! Going two for two from kayaks, while fishing channel edges. Tight work!

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N.M.Z. Bull

Florida Sportsman member: LilTucci

I pull up my park n pole and prepare for the sleigh ride! 5 minutes go by with this fish tearing off 20 pound braid and dragging my loaded down pro angler no problem, I gain a little bit of line and finally get a glimpse of the fish as it breaks the surface in the distance. Those red scales shimmering in the sun gave it away and I immediately knew this was a solid bull red! Needless to say at this point I am grinning ear to ear as this is why we came here.

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Slaying the Southshore

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

Managed to land a small snook and a 24 inch keeper red before having to take cover from the lightning for a couple of hours. After the storms faded, high tide approached and I began working the mangroves with the live target scaled sardine.

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Bluewater Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: LilTucci

Trolled for a little over an hour and had the pleasant surprise of having a 10 foot hammerhead circle my kayak a couple times before he decided to destroy my flat line and take me for a sleigh ride for a few minutes. Thankfully the line snapped before he spooled me. Peddled out to 150 feet where I saw some weeds, was there no longer than 2 minutes and my last blue runner gets inhaled by a big dolly.

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Redfish Sleigh Ride

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

Got a good ride out of this dude. I usually jump out and stake off to fight a big one but they really tucker out quick when they're towing an 18 foot canoe with a big ole dude like me in it.

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Battle in the Bahamas

Florida Sportsman member: palmbeachpete

Forum member and contributing writer palmbeachpete shared his recent trip to the Bahamas while fishing in the extreme kayak and paddle board tournament. A lot of nice fish caught and looked to be a great time had by all!

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Fort Lauderdale Wreck Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: kayakfrank

As soon as we reached our first spot, we both hooked up to bonitos right away. Not what we wanted, but still an ice breaker on the jigs. After getting in our workout on those bonitos, Jason landed a small AJ for the smoker and an African Pompano. No BFT's in these shallower waters. We averaged 225 feet or less depth throughout the day.

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Boynton Phins

Florida Sportsman member: drichard1986

Headed north for the first time ever in the yak. Did a Boynton to WPB drift with Eric and the bite was good all day. I got 3 dolphin, he got 2 and they were decent size! Eric also snagged an AJ and jumped a sail a few times. Awesome day on the water and glad to get back out on the yak and get some fish.

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Hallandale Offshore Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: bugdoc

Got another runner, then a few drops later I felt something a little larger. Got it about 60 feet off the bottom and it suddenly realized it was hooked, and drag started peeling out straight down. Finally pulled up a 28 pound amberjack after about 15 minutes. I went back to the rest of the group and took them back to the Tenneco, and I got a 22 inch mutton and what looks like a charcoal variant of a blue runner.

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Coral Springs Snakin'

Florida Sportsman member: USNAVY_Angler

While Rob spent most of the day trying to effectively deploy a fly for a Snakehead to eat, I had many opportunities to seal the deal and uncharacteristically missed more hook sets than I'm proud to admit, not sure what it was today. All in all, managed to land a solid 28 inch 5 to 6 pound Snake, another medium one around 2.5 pound and a baby which was released.

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Catching Fish and Bringing Home the Cash

Florida Sportsman member: cbmdk86

Assumed that this was my tournament hopes down the drain, and made my way back to the truck, but after a 17 mile round trip and 6 hours of fishing time, my little dink trout proved enough to secure the victory! Brought it home despite the stiff competition of 175 other competitors, with a good number of them in skiffs. Proof positive you can go out and be successful with just the bare minimum!

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Football Season

Florida Sportsman member:AC_YaK

After getting beat up on the wreck I headed out to see if the tuna bite would be on as it got later in the day and as soon as I got to 240 feet they were jumping everywhere. landed 5 out of 6 in 20 minutes CASTING the same 60 glow jig and ripping it on the surface. The last tuna I jigged up in 300 feet. A fun and action filled afternoon!

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Weedon Island Gator Trout

Florida Sportsman member: rkotinsky

High tide peaked at 6:00PM so I placed my yak into one of the passes and waited for the big drain to start. At 6:01PM one of my trolling rods with a clear gold speckled DOA shrimp gets hit hard and after a decent fight I pull in a 24 inch gator trout.

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ENP Kayaking

Florida Sportsman member: USNAVY_Angler

There were no tails to be seen anywhere but we pushed through and eventually found the Reds munching but fully submerged. I was able to hook up to this beautiful spotless Red that finally allowed me to try my Abu Garcia Revo Inshore bait caster. What a fight it gave me. We each hooked Sharks and lost them. Oh well.

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Mosquito Lagoon Reds

Florida Sportsman member: Pescatoral Pursuit

As fortune would have it, there was a small school pushing right towards me that I would've never seen except that the sun was at just the right angle, and though they weren't making a wake, there was just enough of a disturbance to "bend" the reflection on the water a slight bit. At first I thought it was a slight breeze kicking up, but it soon became apparent what it was.

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Second Place Dolphin Via Kayak

Florida Sportsman member: Ericjames22

Pretty solid day on the water March 22nd, I ended up with second place with the beautiful bull mahi. Hit a live goggle eye in 160 feet of water.

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Weedon Island Kayak Reds

Florida Sportsman member: Slamaholic

Our plan was to go to Googe Island and work all the back mangrove Islands on the way. We watched bait being attacked by pelicans and a lot of mullet action in deeper holes. We set up on the outside of the holes and would cast in Jig heads with live shrimp and bump the bottom. It didn't take long to hook up on the Reds. Great day out with the family.

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Southeast Yak Fishing

Florida Sportsman member: LilTucci

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