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I left BWI in the rain at 9:00 this morning. The flight landed in Tampa at 11:20. Over the next 45 minutes I retrieved my luggage, got my rental car, drove to meet kayak fishing guide Neil Taylor, and launched. That really amazed me -- 45 minutes from plane touch down to kayak launch.
Today we fished some bridge pilings in 15 ft depth jigging light lures with medium spinning tackle. The targets were pompano, big black drum, and cobia. Neil ties a light jigging spoon (Silly Willy) and a second hook with pink bucktail onto the same loop knot.
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The bite was slow (according to Neil's standards). It took an hour to get my first fish, a pompano. In addition to being very tasty these silvery flattened fish are incredible fighters. The ~14" pompano I caught fought as hard as a 22" to 24" rockfish.
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A few minutes later I had another bite. The fish was so strong that I could not move it. It took the 15-lb braid off the reel and bent the rod into a big inverted U shape. I tried to back myself away from the bridge pilings to avoid getting cut off by barnacles. After 5 minutes of just holding on without gaining line back, the fish managed to run against the pilings and cut the leader. I hooked two more of these huge black drum. On the third of these powerful fish, we had drifted 200 yds away from the pilings and I thought we were safe. Neil told me to palm the spool -- I guess I palmed too hard because the lure popped free. As I wound the line back I felt some resistance. It turned out to be one of the scales of the big drum. The scale fell off the hook just before I was able to pick it up -- it was the size of the top of a coffee mug. Neil has caught many black drum at this spot and suggested these fish were in the 50 to 90 lb range. It amazed me that they would hit such a small lure as the ones we were jigging.
Later I hooked one more fish that was powerful but not as strong as the first three. It got off the hook on its own. Neil thinks it was a smaller drum or a cobia. So although I have no photos to show of my near-miss fish, I know that I came close to some epic catches. Over the next three days we will fish flats areas for specs, reds, snook, flounder and anything else that shows up.
Today we fished some bridge pilings in 15 ft depth jigging light lures with medium spinning tackle. The targets were pompano, big black drum, and cobia. Neil ties a light jigging spoon (Silly Willy) and a second hook with pink bucktail onto the same loop knot.
002.jpg
The bite was slow (according to Neil's standards). It took an hour to get my first fish, a pompano. In addition to being very tasty these silvery flattened fish are incredible fighters. The ~14" pompano I caught fought as hard as a 22" to 24" rockfish.
003.jpg
A few minutes later I had another bite. The fish was so strong that I could not move it. It took the 15-lb braid off the reel and bent the rod into a big inverted U shape. I tried to back myself away from the bridge pilings to avoid getting cut off by barnacles. After 5 minutes of just holding on without gaining line back, the fish managed to run against the pilings and cut the leader. I hooked two more of these huge black drum. On the third of these powerful fish, we had drifted 200 yds away from the pilings and I thought we were safe. Neil told me to palm the spool -- I guess I palmed too hard because the lure popped free. As I wound the line back I felt some resistance. It turned out to be one of the scales of the big drum. The scale fell off the hook just before I was able to pick it up -- it was the size of the top of a coffee mug. Neil has caught many black drum at this spot and suggested these fish were in the 50 to 90 lb range. It amazed me that they would hit such a small lure as the ones we were jigging.
Later I hooked one more fish that was powerful but not as strong as the first three. It got off the hook on its own. Neil thinks it was a smaller drum or a cobia. So although I have no photos to show of my near-miss fish, I know that I came close to some epic catches. Over the next three days we will fish flats areas for specs, reds, snook, flounder and anything else that shows up.
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