By Dan Carns
Every year I compete in a few kayak fishing tournaments here in SW Florida. As part of the preparation you need to pre-fish a week or so before hand to try to establish a pattern of fish behavior and location so you’re more tuned in to the fish come tournament day. If it’s a SWFL slam series you’ll need to catch a snook, spotted sea trout and a redfish. Some of these fish are so predictable, trout and snook, that you can just go to a spot and know that you’ll find them. Redfish on the other hand need a little more finesse to pin them down, so I spend a fair amount of time specifically targeting them. Not only am I guilty of bypassing opportunities to catch other fish, but I see this all the time, a guy or gal comes back to our launch dejected because they just spent four hours trying to catch one species and failed. I’ll usually try to engage them a little further only to find out that they’ve caught more than a dozen fish that on any given day would be a record for someone else! Usually it’s multiple species, but not the intended target so the trip is seen as a failure but in truth adds to the background knowledge you build in patterning fish behavior. Changing your expectation is paramount to enjoying every trip out and will increase the opportunity to catch more fish.
On a recent scouting trip, I landed upwards of forty fish, six different species and no real trophies but had such a good time that the prep work I was doing became secondary to my mission. While debriefing this trip, I also realized that I was so locked into a particular lure and style of fishing that I may have missed the chance to catch even more fish. I think we’re all guilty of this so don’t be afraid to instantly change tactics or bait, even location and species as you just may hit upon something completely different that results in the fish you’ve been chasing. Bryan, the owner of Gulf Coast Kayak, and I were recently fishing a tournament in “our” backyard and I watched him paddle into this area that I’ve paddled by hundreds of times because I felt it was unproductive only to watch him boat a beautiful redfish out of a school of twenty fish. This same scenario plays out everywhere every day and while no one wants to lower their expectations for a fishing trip, just a slight change in attitude may reward you in the long run!
On a side note I’d like to give Island Coast Trailer in north Cape Coral a shout out for their outstanding, prompt and reasonably priced service. Like many of us here in S.W. Florida I also own a center console boat with a trailer that needs servicing periodically and these folks will treat you right every time!
It’s A Wild World-Get Out There!
Fishman Dan
Dan Carns at 239-283-1125
