By: Dan Carns
Something you learn after a long time of fishing is that no two fishing trips will ever be the same, ever! So, this reminds me that if you are just starting out or you are visiting from somewhere else and you go fishing here in S.W. Florida you may be discouraged to continue or go back to the same place based on a slow day. So many factors come into play, time of day, wind, temperature, sunlight, tidal flow and tide height are just a few of the variables that determine what the day will be like. Pre-storm and post-storm conditions change the barometric pressure which has a huge effect on fish and how they feed. Another consideration is the time of year and bait availability. You may be really close to feeding fish and not know it because of bait location so you should be paying close attention to signs of feeding behavior. If you have ever hired a guide or gone fishing with someone with extensive experience you’ll notice that they are constantly on the lookout, scanning the horizon for feeding birds or scattering bait. Sometimes it’s just a little swirl on the surface that tells you fish are feeding while other times it’s that smack of a top water strike that you don’t see but you can hear that gives it away.
You may go out one day and knock them silly only to return to that same spot at the same time with the same bait/lures the very next day and find it completely dead. Having a general plan is important but you must adapt and move according to the environmental conditions of the day. Often the biggest driving factor will be the changing tide as it goes from high to low or low to high therefor what was working at ten o’clock in the morning will now be approximately fifty minutes later the following day.
Here at Gulf Coast Kayak we have several guides that spend a lot of time on the water and from day to day conditions never really repeat themselves so we do everything we can to increase the odds of having a great day on the water. You may call to schedule a trip and want to go at a certain time but often we’ll look at the tides and wind condition and suggest an alternate time for launch. We have a number of repeat clients that come to us every year and they will tell you that they have never had the same experience twice. Our launch location offers a huge advantage in that within a mile or two radius we have so many different environments including grass flats, oyster bars, deepwater channels, mangrove covered island and docks so while you may not be able to repeat a particular trip you can create a new memory for that day.
It’s a Wild World-Get Out There!
Fishman Dan
@paddlinandfishin