3-week fishing road trip

[J.A. Veil]

I recently returned from a 3-week fishing trip in Florida. I fished for 17 days in a row, mostly from kayaks, as I made my way from Miami to the Keys, to the Everglades, and around the Tampa Bay region. During the trip, I caught 26 species of fish, including some sought-after game species such as bonefish, barracuda, lemon sharks, bonnethead sharks, redfish, snook, grouper, and speckled trout. I was able to enjoy warm weather, clear water, and colorful and strong fish. On the negative side, many of the days on the trip were affected by high winds. I had three of my planned charters cancelled, and several others days in which the wind made fishing more difficult.

I included several photos below. For a full description of the trip, with day-by-day summaries and loads of photos, please check out my travelogue report available at:
https://drive.google.com/.../1_1.../view....

You can read it online or use the download button to move the .pdf file to your own device.

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[Ted H]

What a great trip. Well done. I experienced some of the winds and know how it can alter plans. Looks like you had a great time and really put in the effort.

[dsaavedra]

Sounds like a great trip John, I enjoyed the writeup. I think my favorite parts were your car-related mishaps; I'm sure they were annoying at the time but they make for good stories afterwards. I couldn't imagine a 1 gallon-per-minute pump... I'd be standing there for 20 minutes filling up my truck!

[J.A. Veil]

Sounds like a great trip John, I enjoyed the writeup. I think my favorite parts were your car-related mishaps; I'm sure they were annoying at the time but they make for good stories afterwards. I couldn't imagine a 1 gallon-per-minute pump... I'd be standing there for 20 minutes filling up my truck!

Usually when I get gas, I start the pump and don't pay attention for a minute. When I look at the pump, the tank is at least half filled. On that evening, I did the same thing and saw less than 2 gals had been pumped.

On last year's similiar trip, I made a very hard emergency stop. That caused my kayak to rush forward, smack the windshield, and leave a spider-web crack. Fortunately that did not happen this year.

[J. Rentch]

Had the opportunity to spend 4 days with John in Big Pine Key. So many places to fish, beautiful scenery, plus John was a great host for my first time in the Keys. I managed to catch five new species for me with only two of the four days due to winds. Would love to try it again. Thanks John!

[J.A. Veil]

Had the opportunity to spend 4 days with John in Big Pine Key. So many places to fish, beautiful scenery, plus John was a great host for my first time in the Keys. I managed to catch five new species for me with only two of the four days due to winds. Would love to try it again. Thanks John!

Here is John Rentch in action catching his first ever lemon shark.

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Here is his personal best barracuda. For a guy who was nervous about handling large, toothy fish, John quickly figured things out.

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Here is another good catch for him -- a bonnethead shark.

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[Mark]

Congrats on your trip, guys.

Florida offers wonderful kayak fishing opportunities.

But I'll gladly leave the sharks and cudas to each of you.

A pickerel is about as toothy a catch as I want to target!

[summersoff]

Wow, nice trip! That many species, you need to bring a Golden Guide to Florida Fish.
Florida wind is the worstest.

[J.A. Veil]

Wow, nice trip! That many species, you need to bring a Golden Guide to Florida Fish.

When I catch a new-to-me species, I often know what it is. If I do not know, I go online and try to find photos and descriptions. Usually that is enough. But for two fish I caught early in the trip (porkfish [yellow, black, and white] and Bermuda chub [larger, rounded, silvery]) I could not identify the fish. I posted photos on Facebook and soon received replies with accurate IDs. I also received some proposed IDs that were clearly off the mark.

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[Conquesthunter]

Awesome pictures and great story there John. I went to the Google link and read your day by day journal so to speak, really enjoyed the story, thanks

[Jigsup]

Nice! Looks like a wonderful trip.

[J.A. Veil]

After experiencing slow fishing here in Maryland during April after returning from Florida, I am ready to head back there. Hopefully in the fall or winter.