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After reading Redfish's report of a road trip to Massachusetts, I am offering a report of my trip to Tampa. I made my fifth trip to Tampa this year to fish with guide Neil Taylor of Strike Three Kayak Fishing. We fished from Sun through Wed. Fishing was tough because of the heat (most catching on the shallow flats is done from sunrise to mid-morning), wind on all but the final afternoon, and the full moon. Despite these barriers, we managed to catch a wide variety of fish and had a few hook ups on large fish.
To summarize I caught 10 species of fish over the four days (all on medium spinning rods and artificials). The species included speckled trout, silver trout, ladyfish, lizardfish, grunt, flounder, jack, redfish, hardhead catfish, and pompano. I hooked several large black drum and a cobia yesterday afternoon, but all broke off before I could land them. I hooked a snook on Tuesday but lost him after a jump.
All of the shallow fishing (days 1-4) was done at different spots near the mouth of Tampa Bay. We fished grass flats and the edges of mangrove islands. We anchored up and cast hundreds of times until my shoulders and wrists were sore.
Here are the day-by-day details.
Day 1 - We launched at 6:45 and paddled out a few hundred yards over a shallow grass flat. We cast Mirrolure topwater poppers for 30 mins until my right arm grew tired of the popping motion. I caught my largest spec of the trip at 20.5". I did not get a photo when the fish was fresh -- the photo shows the fish after a 5-hour ice bath in the cooler.
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We spent most of the rest of the morning casting jigheads with 12 Fathom SlamR soft plastics and did not get many more spec bites. I did have one strong ladyfish on for half a minute before it jumped and spit the hook.
Before heading in, we anchored up at the edge of the boat channel and jigged for silver trout in 10' depth. These are related to specs but are much smaller. I caught about a dozen small silver trout and one grunt. I had also hooked a small lizardfish earlier in the day to give me five species for the day.
Probably the most memorable event that day was seeing a baby dolphin swimming with one parent – the baby was so close to the parent it almost looked like an appendage. A second dolphin (maybe the other parent) was swimming nearby. They stayed in the vicinity of our two kayaks for over 20 mins.
Day 2 - Neil had a charter from a father and two 14 year old boys. I tagged along and often fished separately from the group. We launched at 6:45 to a low water level. Neil took the other three to anchor up and cast for specs. He told me to follow the line of mangrove trees and cast 12 Fathom Fat Sam mullets against the shoreline hoping for a redfish or snook. The water level was too low for that – I had no bites. I joined the others an hour later. Finally by mid-morning I was in a school of specs and caught about ten small ones over the next hour. That was it for me. None of our fish today were big enough to add to the cooler.
Day 3 - We left extra early today so we could be on the water before sunrise (3:30 wake up was tough). We launched by 6:00 to a full moon casting a moonlight path across the water. At dawn we passed a mangrove island that served as a nesting area for pelicans and frigate birds. They were active as the sun crept above the horizon. I enjoyed seeing a ibis with a long curved bill fly by in the early dawn backlighting. Neil took me to fish some mangrove shorelines where he hoped to find some reds. Sure enough, they were there. I caught one nice redfish and had a larger snook on the line for 30 seconds -- after a leap and tailwalk, the jighead popped loose. I found one corner that produced two flounder, including this one that came home with us. Neil hooked several reds too.
As the sun climbed higher, we spent several hours casting to grass beds on the flats. In some of the spots the grass growth was thick and lush, and the water was the clearest I have seen there. But the bite slowed down. We finished at noon having caught reds, flounder, speckled trout, ladyfish, a jack, and a lizardfish.
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Day 4 - I got up even earlier this morning (3:15) in order to check out of my hotel and meet Neil. We returned to the spot that had produced on Day 3 to try again. It was windier, and quite a bit of floating grass had moved into the area making it tough to keep a lure clean. In two hours of fishing, I caught just two small flounder. We called it quits and left to run some errands.
Neil hoped that the winds would drop so we could jig some bridge pilings for larger fish. Fortunately this happened. We launched at another location near a bridge with pilings in 10-15' depth. For this type of fishing, Neil uses a small Silly Willy jig and a teaser fly both attached by the same loop knot. We nosed the kayak up next to the downcurrent corner of a piling and jigged the light lure near to the piling. The bite improved as the current began moving. Of course it was much tougher to hold position. Neil is good at this type of fishing -- I did not do as well.
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In two hours of jigging, I hooked two large black drum (~50 lbs or larger). The drum try to swim to the pilings and wrap the line against sharp barnacles to get free. Once a drum is hooked, you try to move the kayak away from the bridge into open water and let the current drift the kayak farther away. This is tough when a strong fish is pulling line off the spool at will. On the first drum, I had moved 50 yds from the bridge but saw the last few wraps of line on the spool. I tightened the drag again, gained back some line, then the fish made it to the pilings and broke the line (imagine frustration and expletives).
A few minutes later I hooked a second drum using a different rod and reel while Neil retied a lure on the original one. I moved into open water again and was fighting the fish successfully when I head a loud "Pop". The line parted at the reel (more colorful language). The line must have had a weak spot. Those were my two drum shots with lots of hard pullage, but no actual catches. I had a similar experience in 2014 when I hooked four drum that day and landed none. Neil has the technique down and knows how to fight the fish and work the drag. I have not yet learned the finer points of the technique. We were using pretty light tackle for this style of fishing. We used 7' medium weight St Croix inshore Mojo rods and a Daiwa Ballistic 2000 series reel with 15-lb braid. I probably should have tightened the drag down more to hold off the fish. Maybe I will be more successful next time.
I also hooked another large fish that swam away from the pilings and spit the lure after a minute of fierce pulling. Neil often catches cobia there (he hooked several yesterday) and thinks that I had hooked a cobia. So I had several near misses on some spectacular light tackle catches. I did manage to land a hardhead catfish (quickly released) and a pretty pompano (good eating). I hope to return to fish with Neil in September and get another shot at the large bridge fish.
To summarize I caught 10 species of fish over the four days (all on medium spinning rods and artificials). The species included speckled trout, silver trout, ladyfish, lizardfish, grunt, flounder, jack, redfish, hardhead catfish, and pompano. I hooked several large black drum and a cobia yesterday afternoon, but all broke off before I could land them. I hooked a snook on Tuesday but lost him after a jump.
All of the shallow fishing (days 1-4) was done at different spots near the mouth of Tampa Bay. We fished grass flats and the edges of mangrove islands. We anchored up and cast hundreds of times until my shoulders and wrists were sore.
Here are the day-by-day details.
Day 1 - We launched at 6:45 and paddled out a few hundred yards over a shallow grass flat. We cast Mirrolure topwater poppers for 30 mins until my right arm grew tired of the popping motion. I caught my largest spec of the trip at 20.5". I did not get a photo when the fish was fresh -- the photo shows the fish after a 5-hour ice bath in the cooler.
001.jpg 003.jpg
We spent most of the rest of the morning casting jigheads with 12 Fathom SlamR soft plastics and did not get many more spec bites. I did have one strong ladyfish on for half a minute before it jumped and spit the hook.
Before heading in, we anchored up at the edge of the boat channel and jigged for silver trout in 10' depth. These are related to specs but are much smaller. I caught about a dozen small silver trout and one grunt. I had also hooked a small lizardfish earlier in the day to give me five species for the day.
Probably the most memorable event that day was seeing a baby dolphin swimming with one parent – the baby was so close to the parent it almost looked like an appendage. A second dolphin (maybe the other parent) was swimming nearby. They stayed in the vicinity of our two kayaks for over 20 mins.
Day 2 - Neil had a charter from a father and two 14 year old boys. I tagged along and often fished separately from the group. We launched at 6:45 to a low water level. Neil took the other three to anchor up and cast for specs. He told me to follow the line of mangrove trees and cast 12 Fathom Fat Sam mullets against the shoreline hoping for a redfish or snook. The water level was too low for that – I had no bites. I joined the others an hour later. Finally by mid-morning I was in a school of specs and caught about ten small ones over the next hour. That was it for me. None of our fish today were big enough to add to the cooler.
Day 3 - We left extra early today so we could be on the water before sunrise (3:30 wake up was tough). We launched by 6:00 to a full moon casting a moonlight path across the water. At dawn we passed a mangrove island that served as a nesting area for pelicans and frigate birds. They were active as the sun crept above the horizon. I enjoyed seeing a ibis with a long curved bill fly by in the early dawn backlighting. Neil took me to fish some mangrove shorelines where he hoped to find some reds. Sure enough, they were there. I caught one nice redfish and had a larger snook on the line for 30 seconds -- after a leap and tailwalk, the jighead popped loose. I found one corner that produced two flounder, including this one that came home with us. Neil hooked several reds too.
As the sun climbed higher, we spent several hours casting to grass beds on the flats. In some of the spots the grass growth was thick and lush, and the water was the clearest I have seen there. But the bite slowed down. We finished at noon having caught reds, flounder, speckled trout, ladyfish, a jack, and a lizardfish.
004.jpg 20160621_075317.jpg 20160621_070646.jpg 20160621_074219.jpg 006.jpg 007.jpg
Day 4 - I got up even earlier this morning (3:15) in order to check out of my hotel and meet Neil. We returned to the spot that had produced on Day 3 to try again. It was windier, and quite a bit of floating grass had moved into the area making it tough to keep a lure clean. In two hours of fishing, I caught just two small flounder. We called it quits and left to run some errands.
Neil hoped that the winds would drop so we could jig some bridge pilings for larger fish. Fortunately this happened. We launched at another location near a bridge with pilings in 10-15' depth. For this type of fishing, Neil uses a small Silly Willy jig and a teaser fly both attached by the same loop knot. We nosed the kayak up next to the downcurrent corner of a piling and jigged the light lure near to the piling. The bite improved as the current began moving. Of course it was much tougher to hold position. Neil is good at this type of fishing -- I did not do as well.
002.jpg 001.jpg
In two hours of jigging, I hooked two large black drum (~50 lbs or larger). The drum try to swim to the pilings and wrap the line against sharp barnacles to get free. Once a drum is hooked, you try to move the kayak away from the bridge into open water and let the current drift the kayak farther away. This is tough when a strong fish is pulling line off the spool at will. On the first drum, I had moved 50 yds from the bridge but saw the last few wraps of line on the spool. I tightened the drag again, gained back some line, then the fish made it to the pilings and broke the line (imagine frustration and expletives).
A few minutes later I hooked a second drum using a different rod and reel while Neil retied a lure on the original one. I moved into open water again and was fighting the fish successfully when I head a loud "Pop". The line parted at the reel (more colorful language). The line must have had a weak spot. Those were my two drum shots with lots of hard pullage, but no actual catches. I had a similar experience in 2014 when I hooked four drum that day and landed none. Neil has the technique down and knows how to fight the fish and work the drag. I have not yet learned the finer points of the technique. We were using pretty light tackle for this style of fishing. We used 7' medium weight St Croix inshore Mojo rods and a Daiwa Ballistic 2000 series reel with 15-lb braid. I probably should have tightened the drag down more to hold off the fish. Maybe I will be more successful next time.
I also hooked another large fish that swam away from the pilings and spit the lure after a minute of fierce pulling. Neil often catches cobia there (he hooked several yesterday) and thinks that I had hooked a cobia. So I had several near misses on some spectacular light tackle catches. I did manage to land a hardhead catfish (quickly released) and a pretty pompano (good eating). I hope to return to fish with Neil in September and get another shot at the large bridge fish.
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