Executive Summary
Temps 60-80; water temps upper 60's lower 70's; winds 5-10. 3 fish - estimate mid 50's slam
Details
I had originally scheduled myself a visit to "The Bridge" but with a migraine the night before I scaled back to just getting out and taking it easy.
On the water at 7am I found myself fishing the edges of a mangrove; a small snook cooperated but didn't like his photo taken - between the lack of light and movement all shots were pretty weak. Call it 15" - maybe more.
I pushed out into the bay and was on the lookout for larger game - I had hit the trout pretty hard the previous week and decided I would target reds. Last week in the sane general area a fellow kayaker had hit the reds hard, the smallest coming in at 27" the largest 32".
With the sun now coming up I took a couple moments to take some sunrise shots. I think this one came out best.
The morning started out good enough and it seemed I had the trout dialed in again using the 4" Zmann paddletail - this upper teens/lower 20's guy cooperated for a couple shots. That's the same lure from the previous week. I was noticing that the fluoro tends to be pretty visible depending on the light and water condition. I have a friend who fishes braid to the hook and constantly outfishes everyone. So it makes you wonder...
This had potential for a good shot, but it was out of focus.
With a snook and a trout on the boat I was still on the look out for some reds. Quite a few boaters were too - pushing a 22' Cuddy into 2' of water doesn't work, but more than one tried. Another angler needed to get his gears and motor checked as he was starting and grinding his way in. That said the outgoing tide really started to pick up and there were hundreds of mullet making their way down the underwater cuts and highways. I put myself just at casting distance and was rewarded with a lower 20's red. As he was coming in I saw a second larger one thwacking him so I tried to double up but when the second red saw the boat he took off.
Here you can see the fluoro a bit better.
I liked the way this one came out - a head shot would have rounded it out, but then again I liked the details of the scales going away.
That pretty much finished the day - around 11am I just sat back and took in the day. Most of the boats had been chased out by the outgoing tide and it was just myself and another kayaker. We exchanged notes; neither one of of trying to catch anything, and by then the gig was up and the tides were pretty much shot. It was a slow but steady long paddle into a 5 knot wind, but eventually I made my way in.
Rounded out the day at the Daddy daughter dance at church. All was well until Gangnam style broke out. Suffice to say that the supposed video is making it's round and in my daughters words "I have scarred her for life." Mission accomplished. Op... Op... Op... Op Op
