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Beat the Heat

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:10 am
by Gibby3474
I've lived in Florida for most of my life. Is it just me or is this the hottest summer ever?

It's brutal to be on the water during mid-day. But if you get out before dawn, it's very comfortable -- especially if you're fishing dock lights.

I've been getting tarpon, snook, spotted seatrout, lookdown and jack crevalle. I've caught and released 15 tarpon so far this year.

I use an 8-weight fly rod, with floating line, 9-foot fluorocarbon leader (20 pound) and my Snook Shrimp fly.

I won't divulge my favorite spots, but I will advise that you'll probably find fish around any lighted dock where the water is deep enough and there's decent current. I prefer a strong outgoing tide.

I tie my flies on No. 4 hooks. Realize that most of the bait (minnows and shrimp) are small and that's what the fish are keyed into. Cast a larger fly into the light and it most often will go ignored.

On the maiden voyage of my new NuCanoe Pursuit, I managed two tarpon and two snook before daylight. I jumped six tarpon and probably had another three or four hit that I didn't get the hook set.

In fact, the tarpon were so aggressive that I couldn't get past them to get a snook until it was nearly daylight.

Fish in the light:

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Tarpon (you can have them out of the water if they're less than 40 inches):

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Snook:


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Trout:

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Lookdown:

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Re: Beat the Heat

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2015 8:32 pm
by MikeM
Looks like you broke that boat in just fine.
Looking at some of your pictures it seems that all those grooves in the deck would be pretty uncomfortable to stand on especially barefooted or with just 'beach shoes' on. Any problem for you?

Re: Beat the Heat

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 6:44 am
by sfurman
Nice, I have never had one but they say those look down are really good eating. they are in the jack family, along with pompano.

Re: Beat the Heat

Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2015 9:45 am
by Manning
You have definitely been killing that dock light thing. Nice job.

Re: Beat the Heat

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2016 7:01 pm
by SoHumble
I know that this is a pretty old post, but I just found it. With the daytime temps being as brutal as they have for the last couple of months, it seems like night fishing would be a sensible alternative. I have never kayak fished at night and was wondering if you (or anyone really) would share a few tips. For example you talk about strong current. Do you anchor and fish into the light? Any special equipment needed and any other tips that someone new this might find helpful would be appreciated.

Thanks