Stalking pumpkins on the flats

                              

                   

Launching your kayak at first light as you make the paddle tword your favorite flat you see wading birds fly by. You feel the cool brisk morning air as the fog lifts and rolls passed your paddles. Your like a predator in there natural habitat. The water is calm and slicked out nobody is around then suddenly one tail, two tails, three, four. You found what your after. A school of red fish feeding off the bottom heads in the grass and there tails waving at you like a good morning hello. You make the perfect cast drop your soft plastic just ahead of them then, bang! Your hooked up and going on a sleigh ride. There's almost nothing better then sticking a solid redfish and sight casting them on the flats. It has to be one of my favorite styles of fishing it can be very technical at some times and even more diffucult but on the perfect day when everything comes together it can be udderly amazing. When looking for the perfect place to find these pumpkin colored bull dogs I look for a few things. First would be good bottom always look for shallow water with turtle grass and sandy potholes and a mangrove shoreline wih deeper pockets. These fish will hang out in the pot holes waiting to predate on smaller baits (crabs,mullet,shrimp,pinfish etc) as they pass by or down deeper in the deep mangrove pockets. When sight casting for reds I always use a 7'6" medium light tackle rod with a 3000 or 4000 class spinning reel 10-15lb braid and 20-30lb florocarbine leader. You have to make nearly the perfect cast to these fish and sometimes almost anything will spook them. When casting to tailing reds or reds pushing water make sure to always lead them off because placing the bait in the wrong place may spook the fish or just won't get any attention at all. Be methodical not always does it happen on the first shot but being persistent is key. Some of my favorite go to soft plactics for doing this are gulp jerk baits, various swim baits and walk the dog style top water plugs. When rigging the soft plactics I use a weighted weedless hook and a loop knot giving the bait as much action as possible. There feeding pattern often changes so using proper technique and switching up your retrieve and bait style is a must. Redfish are a hard fighting fish and will give you there all everytime you hook one. Keep at it learn the pattern for your local water and you will succeed in catching them. Good luck tight lines and have a happy new year!          

Yellow Mouth top water munchers

                Targeting speckled sea trout on my kayak is always a blast! My favorite way to target these fish is with hard plastic top water plugs. Sea trout may not be the hardest fighting fish by any means but there explosive top water strikes make up for anything they lack in that department. When targeting speckled sea trout on my kayak I look for moving water(ettys,slicks etc) at the end of channel or creek mouths. I like to fan cast the area using heddon spooks bomber badonkadonks Mirrorlure top dogs and various propeller and popper style baits. I like to anchor or power pole down quietly as possible and work the area methodically untill I get my first strike, trout normally come in bunches so when you find one more then likely there are plenty more. Watching the voracious strike from these fish never gets old the way they "pop" your plug is really like no other then you see a gnarly head shake and a big ole' yellow mouth hence the nick name yellow mouth.  When targeting specs I like to use light tackle 2500 and 3000 size reels 10 lb braid and 20 lb florocarbine leader and a medium light action rod 7' or 7'6" foot rod are always best to make nice long casts. Trout are also great table fare but make sure to always abide by the law when taking legal size fish and the limit. If you have anymore questions feel free to leave me a comment and I will gladly reply! Now get out there, get that topwater clicking and catch that trophy speckled sea trout! Tight lines.            

Big bass deep in the swamp

         

Targeting large mouth bass was always a favorite of mine growing up, and there are many techniques you can use to target these big bucket mouth bruisers. In this post I will be explaining how to fish for them using soft plastic worms Texas rigged. A go to of mine when I want to put up numbers and size. My favorite worm style is a Gary Yamamoto Senko June bug or ox blood color, baby bass and even watermelon red. I like to fish the Texas rig in heavy structure pitching it with a 1/8 oz- 1/2 oz free flowing bullet weight depending on water depth temperature and feeding pattern. Most bites you get on the Texas rig come on the drop, so proper placement is a must you have to make almost the perfect cast to get your bait into the strike zone. Normally I'll work a deep shoreline pitching the worm into Lilly's or on a tree line with fallen trees or where the trees overhang the waterline giving these big bass a place to hide when the predate on smaller baits. Make multiple casts and work the area well once you find a pattern stick to it and you will begin to find the bigger fish holding togther. Sometimes these big fish can be finicky and picky normally I use a 20 lb florocarbine leader and a medium light action rod to help me place the bait in the perfect place, steady dragging or bouncing bottom on my retrieve back. Now that you know my favorite way to target big bass in the swamp you can give it a try! Good luck and tight lines!    

Snook Fishing in South Florida

Snook are an amazingly powerful, hard striking, and hard fighting fish. Whether your targeting them with weedless soft plastic application belly crawling flats, trolling channels with hard plastic plugs or soaking baits on bottom there are a multitude of ways to target this sought after line sided fish. My favorite and most affective way to target them throughout Florida has been fishing a flair hawk jig or live shrimp and jig head application. When looking for snook I look for an area with high current and structure(bridges,passes,inlets,spillways etc.) any area with moving water. Snook will feed by sitting behind structure in high current areas waiting for weak baitfish and other baits to come by. Knowing that will help you get your bait or lure in the correct place to get that thump! An affective way to target them is to find your favorite rock jetty and slowly work bottom cast into the current and slowly work your favorite lure back toward you. Targeting snook is all about covering ground when your a land based fisherman so fan cast the area be methodical, but don't waste too much time. Snook are a very tide dependent fish and feed on tides and location depending on tide changes. My average night consits of at least five different locations chasing the tide accordingly. Once you learn the tide for your area and how to match that with your preferred method of targeting these fish bites will come more and more consistently. 

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Tight Lines!

Devin

Welcome to my blog

As an avid fisherman I constantly get asked questions about gear, technique, locations, etc. Ive decided to create a blog to share my experiences, give tips, and answer the questions that people have been dying for me to answer. Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment!

Follow me on Instagram! @lookyakatit_devin

Tight lines!

Devin