We fished Wednesday out of Castaways. We had a full moon tide, which is a good tide, but can be hard to fish. The forecast was for a high of 95 and breezes to 20. I prayed the breeze would stay with us.
We departed Castaways shortly after 7 AM. It was a beautiful Florida morning. The tide was already half high, because the tide never went lower than 1.2 ft. on the low. So, our tide would be a big one, but not a strong one.
After a good run on paddle and trolling motor, we were at our first stop. The weed situation was drastically improved from the last few weeks prior. There were still some floating weeds, but nothing like it had been. We went to work casting DOA CALs, spoons, and Gulps. I fully expected a slow bite until the last couple hours of the tide, that is so typical of full moon tides. But, over the first four hours of the tide, we managed 8 or 9 redfish, and Kevin and I both missed several fish. We caught reds on everything we were throwing; DOA CAL shad in Arkansas Glow and Stark Naked, Gulp, and spoons.
As the last couple of hours of the tide were upon us, we moved to an area that would give us a greater opportunity to catch snook, especially large ones in the shallows. I knew the fish would be there, so it was just a matter of if we could get them to bite. I positioned myself first, and then had Kevin anchor right next to me. I didn't need to fish, as I knew the fish were there. But, they didn't want to bite. I pulled up and went to an area nearby. Same result. Finally, I told Kevin I was going to check a spot a short distance away, and would call him if I stuck a fish. I advised him to stay there and keep working on that spot and hope the fish would eat before the tide quit.
At my new spot I tagged another keeper redfish fairly early on. I called Kevin, but got no response. A few more casts and I had another redfish on. About that time Kevin called me and told me he had something big on. Silence. I watched from a bit too far away to tell for sure what was going on, but I could see that Kevin was on the move.
"What have you got, Kevin?"
"It's a big snook. It's got me in the mangroves."
Not knowing fully what was going on I described the old grouper trick for getting them out of the rocks, and suggested he try it on the snook. I've used it many times over the years to save a snook from being lost to a cut-off.
"I've got it in the boat! It's a 33 inch snook!" His voice could not contain his excitement.
"Please come take some pictures!"
"I'm on the way, Kevin."
I advised him to temporarily stringer the fish so that he could return it to the water until I got there. I took off.
When I arrived at Kevin's boat, he had the glow of a father holding his first-born son. He pulled the fish up out of the water and posed it for me to take some stills. It was, as you see, and beautiful fish. And, a lucky fish.
That snook had smacked his Stark Naked at full gallop. Either the bail on Kevin's reel wasn't fully closed, or it popped the bail open without Kevin realizing it, and took off. With the bail open, Kevin thought he'd already lost the fish. Upon discovering his bail open, he began reeling in the slack line, only to discover the snook was still on and had swam around the back side of a key and tangled him in the mangroves. But, it was still on. Somehow, he managed to recover all his line without cutting it off in something sharp, got the fish freed, and fought it to the boat. Miracle fish! And, Kevin now has the honor of catching the biggest snook since I've been back in the kayaks! And, Dennis Dickerson has the honor of catching the biggest redfish from the kayaks, so far at 32 inches.
Once we got pictures and a short video, we went back to fishing. It was apparent that the bite, for what it was worth, was over. We worked on the fish a bit more just to make sure, and then headed in. About a quarter mile from the ramp, my trolling motor went up in smoke. Lots of smoke from the top end, and probably a cooked circuit board. No fire, but a dramatic end to the day.
We hadn't set the world on fire, but we did bring home our limit of reds, and Kevin's first snook will be hard to beat. We agreed that what may have been just another day in a flats boat, was a great day in the kayaks.
