11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

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Manning
Supporter 2009 - 2013
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Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:19 am
Location: Sarasota

11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

Post by Manning »

Had a very interesting time fishing this morning. The quick summary of the fishing part was a couple of trout over 20 inches and the biggest blue fish I have ever caught. I estimate the blue at about 8 lbs. The blue was lots of fun as it just crushed my topwater lure and gave a great fight. The camera on my cell phone is acting up since it got a little wet so the only picture I have is of one of the trout.

The really great part of the day was before I caught any of the fish when I encountered a dolphin. I was on a flat back behind some mangrove islands trying to stay out of the wind when I saw this dolphin chasing fish. There was less than 3 feet of water on the flat so the dolphin's fin was out of the water pretty much all of the time. When I first saw him he was a over a couple hundred yards away. I slowly fished my way over in his direction. When I got within about 50 yards he came over to check me out. He swam a slow circle around the kayak within about 10 feet of me. I have had dolphins do this before, but today the water was gin clear so I could see him really well. Appeared to me to be a young adult between 5 and 6 feet long. After he checked me out he went back to fishing. Really fun to watch. He was working close to one of the mangrove islands and was really thrashing around. Then he started swimming back towards me. I was paddling along the mangrove island heading back to the main part of the bay. The dolphin came up along side again and I could see that he had a good size sheepshead in his mouth. I continued to paddle at a moderate rate and he just swam along with me. Then he gave the fish he was holding a flip and thrashed around chasing it again. Once he grabbed it again he came back beside me. He repeated this act 2 or 3 times as me moved along to the bay. At some points he was so close to the kayak I could have touched him with the end of my paddle if I wanted to. When we cleared the end of the island and started to move into deeper water he turned north and I went south with a big smile on my face. All in all he had swam by me for between 5 and 10 minutes. Last I saw him he was still carrying his sheepshead.

Image
Being out on the water in the kayak is the prize. Catching fish is the bonus.

Steve
nemo327
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Re: 11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

Post by nemo327 »

I have seen dolphins tossing fish to each other before. Like a game of catch. You only see these things from a kayak. How many turtles does a power boater see? Kayakers see them all of the time. Keep paddling.
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Manning
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Location: Sarasota

Re: 11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

Post by Manning »

In the past when I have seen them throwing fish it was always an adult teaching a young dolphin to catch fish. They would throw a mullet and then the young one would go get it. I have seen this many times. Not always sure if the fish being thrown is being thrown by mouth or actually smacked with tail. Always fun to watch.
Being out on the water in the kayak is the prize. Catching fish is the bonus.

Steve
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Re: 11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

Post by Flatz Komander »

Awesome report...sometimes it isn't catching fish that makes a day so memorable!

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fishshooter99
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Re: 11-30 An Interesting Day On Buttonwood Bay

Post by fishshooter99 »

Great report and great picture.
Gary
expatriate Floridian living in the foriegn land of Georgia
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