Went out this morning around 7:30 and stumbled on a nice school of Redfish. Got a 24" right off the bat with my Sebile and was able to experiment with some other of my favorite lures the rest of the time. The school stayed and ate until about an hour after the tide started to come in. A very good morning on the water. Kept my slot fish and plan on having a nice blackened Redfish dinner this evening.
Been kayak fishing just about every morning this month. Results have been spotty. Some days you tear em up, the next you see nothing. Early in the month the Snook were up the creeks and later in the month Tarpon started to move into Alligator Bay. They have been out in the Harbor for a while but not up in the bay. That is until the Ladyfish moved in. Reds are hard to find but I did hook a few Trout, some Snook and an occasional Snapper.
The more I use my Ultimate 14.5 by Native Watercraft, the more pleased I am with the boat. It's hard to find a more comfortable boat with so much storage. It is a little bit of a beast to paddle compared to my touring kayak but the trade off is worth it.
If you are interested in a little kayak fishing, let me know. (941) 255-3686
The American Cancer Society Relay for life of Charlotte, is holding a "Kayaking for a Cure" paddle Saturday, August 21st. There are four launch areas planned, depending on your experience and energy level all of which will end at the Port Charlotte Beach Park.
.Boca Grande (expert-intermediate)
.Ponce de Leon park (intermediate-novice)
.Harbor Heights Park (novice)
.Port Charlotte Beach Park (relaxing nature paddle)
All culminating with a BBQ and awards ceremony at the Port Charlotte Beach Park. This should be a lot of fun and is for a great cause. Registration is $25 and includes lunch, beverage, t-shirt and entry for prize drawings. Launch time will be scheduled based on departure point. Non paddlers can register for the BBQ for $10.
For more details and your registration packet, call (941) 627-3000, or email ( bruce.garrison@cancer.org )
If you would need to rent a kayak for this day of festivities, Call us early to schedule your rental. (941) 255 3686
Just had to do it. I've been wanting to paddle and fish the ares around Turtle and Bull bay for a while now so I decided I would camp on Hoagan Key and paddle over to the islands and fish during the day. What a fine afternoon and evening I had on the first day. I had Light winds throught the trees, beautiful skys, mullet jumping, just a perfect setting to take in the bounty of our barrier islands.
To be continued.
Just got me an 8 foot Bait Buster from Fishin' Franks and just wanted to say how pleased I am with the net. On the first cast out of the bucket, it opened nicely and 6 beautiful finger mullet were inside.
Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.
The contract with the county is almost complete. It looks like we will be the official kayak rental company for the Charlotte County Beach Park starting in early December of 2009. We are, of course, excited about opening a new location at the Port Charlotte Beach Complex.
Saturday May 8th at 10am, It' Time! Kayak and Canoe will offer kayak instruction for the novice. These classes are designed to give the new paddler who wants to know more about recreational kayaking a better understanding of how to maximize their experiences on the water.
Covered in the intro lesson will be some boat terminology and the differences in basic kayak design. We will then look at some options for more easily getting in and out of a kayak, the basic paddle strokes used to efficiently move your kayak through the water and lastly fundamental safety practices.
An hour and a half paddle is included so we can practice what we've learned. These lessons are directed toward recreational kayaks.
Sign up is easy. Just give us a call at 941 255-3686 or email us your intentions to attend the class.
See ya on the skinny water
Mike
My project this week has been making a Greenland paddle. While attending the Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival in Ft. Myers last week, I was fortunate enough to hear the talk by Ed Engle on the making of a Greenland paddle. Ed, I understand, is quite the paddler and has been making Greenland paddles for quite some time. He piqued my interest and gave us several sources for information on the Internet for making a GP. I went to the site .qajaqusa.org/ and found tons of great info on kayaking. After a Google search for "greenland paddle making" I found the website carvegp.com where I downloaded the pdf of Chuck Holst and watched the video by Matt Johnson on making a Greenland paddle. These sites had everything I needed to make my paddle. I'm looking forward to learning the new paddling techniques necessary to get the most out of this paddle. Today's the day it gets wet.
Myself and best friend Mike Duncan, had a great day fishing with Capt. Bruce Hitchcock of No Free Lunch Charters out of Chokoloskee this week. He put us on so many Snook we lost count. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. I've never caught this many Snook on one trip. We also caught trout, lots of ladyfish, several keeper Reds and even a nice size flounder. What a great day of fishing.
Our guide, Bruce was the best. Not many guides I know would have burnt the fuel he did to put us on the fish and he was was there to help whenever we needed it. So thanks Bruce for a great time.
You can reach Bruce by calling 239 695-2172 or email CaptainBAH1@aol.com and his website is backcountryfishing.net I highly recommend you look him up if you're planning a fishing trip in the Coastal Everglades.
The fishing this October by all reports has been good. I however, have had the root on me all month. Catfish, Catfish and more Catfish. It is good to see life coming back up the harbor though and mullet are everywhere and I have had some knockdowns that were quite impressive lately. Sometimes I see huge schools of mullet back in the cuts and lakes where motorboats can't get and I'm not sure what but something rather large will be tearin' em up. The mullet themselves are 18 to 24 inches.
The season is coming and I got to get this root off of me.
Mike
May 2010
Fishing has been good this April and the beginning of May has been just as good. I've caught Redfish, Snook, Trout mostly on the incoming tide. They are in the harbor and on the flats.
