The last three weeks have been, by far, the most hectic I've experienced in quite some time...between work, family, and friends I've had to squeeze in two camping trips, I'm not complaining, its just been a bit crazy.
I took Cory out fishing a few months ago and he came back with his brother, Jake, to do a little camping out in the 10,000 Islands. With the weather report looking not-so-good I decided on Rabbit Key to ensure a relatively protected paddle back to the mainland just incase the weather turned...glad I did.
I had taken Cory fishing a few months prior, he loved the Malibu Stealth 14 so much he not only went out and bought one when he got back home to VA but he became a Malibu dealer! His family owns a Toyota dealership and now they have Malibu’s on the racks of their Tundra’s and Tacoma’s…very cool. So Cory brought down his Stealth and I lent mine to his brother. Cory and his brother are both big guys, and they packed a ton of beer, on top of a massive tent, a plethora of food…the stealth ate it all, they were a bit bow-heavy but we were in a rush to hit the water so we didn’t pack as carefully as we could have.
We landed at Rabbit, made camp, and all decided we needed a nap as Cory and Jake had gotten about an hour sleep the night before and I was no better…we woke up just as the tide was rising and Jake caught his first snook and redfish back to back.
We poked around the islands with not much to show for it but ladyfish; Cory caught a stingray we thought might have been a nice red. We set out shark lines and proceeded to have a rather slow night, we did managed to bring one shark in for some photos, after that I passed out again till the mornings thunderstorms woke me at 8am.
I knew the weather would be bad but we’d have a window after the first band, we broke down camp quickly, and paddled like crazy for chokoloskee…we didn’t make it. Right as we were entering Rabbit Key Pass the next band struck us with a fury. I couldn’t see past the front of my kayak and at first there wasn’t any lightning…that changed, drastically. Our choices at this point were: A) hide under a tree like an idiot or B) paddled through Chokoloskee Bay with 20-25 knot winds, chop, oyster bars I can no longer see, and lighting striking all around…I went with the latter, figured I’d rather go out with my boots on.
So we braved it across the bay, I avoided every single oyster bar without being able to see the channel markers…except the last one. I had Cory and Jake following in single file behind me so I could warn them if I hit a bar. When I ran aground I had both the wind and waves pushing my kayak further up the oyster bar…I had no choice but to use my hands to brace against getting pushed further up onto the shallower part of the bar…it wasn’t pleasant in the slightest but I got my kayak off the bar, against wind and wave, with minimal injury to my hands.
After that debacle we landed at the marina, it rained the whole time we packed up and then as soon as I got my wet, soggy, cold butt in the truck the rain stopped and the sun came out…go figure. The good news was that the first two bands were not the last and we did get out before the worst would have hated to have seen something even remotely worse.
Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
- Redfishn'Ale
- Posts: 283
- Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2008 8:49 am
Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
Malibu Kayaks Pro Staff
Re: Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
Great pics and report! I am heading next week to Pavilion and Rabbit! Hopefully the weather will be a little better than you experienced! Any suggestions on lures?
Phillip - Heritage 14'
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- Posts: 947
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- Location: miami
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Re: Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
brutal...you are the camp master...good to hear from you again...
Gen 9:2 "And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered." .... even God likes Dreads....
Re: Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
What an adventure! Great pics as usual.
-Cisco-
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
- Eleanor Roosevelt -
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
- Eleanor Roosevelt -
Re: Rabbit Key 12-18-19-09
glad you are back rolondo, lets fish some weekends