Welcome back Yak fans, and say hello to August! You know Summertime in Florida, when you have to bring your A game to have a successful and fruitful trip. With all the rains, the water temperature is all over the place. But, this time of year, it’s mostly warmer than many of our favorite species like. This leads us back to the spring-fed creeks. That’s right, Summer and Winter both have that constant 72 degrees of outflow and will always be a fish happy spot.
Your main targets will be snook and reds, as well as, black drum still hanging around. Don’t be surprised to find a shark on the end of your line. Sharp nose and bonnethead, as well as, bull sharks like foraging in the shallow water this time of year. I remember one time, an overly friendly black tip really wanted to eat the trout I had on the stringer (one of them must have been bleeding a bit–never a good thing) LOL. Anyway, I hit him with my paddle at least four times, and this in less than a foot of water, and he still kept coming back. Sneaky bugger waited till I hooked into a nice red and attacked while I was distracted. So, a 20-inch trout ended up a 15-inch trout. He got five inches of my trout and I landed a 26-inch red—we’ll call it even.
Back to present day, snook are seemingly everywhere and are hitting well on topwater lures. My Zara Spook Jr in bone silver works well for snook and the reds really go for cut ladyfish this time of year. Mangroves and the occasional black drum will still be hanging around back in that cooler water.
On another note, we crossed a milestone this month. Yep, it was August 2009 that a relatively new magazine brought on a writer to cover the kayak fishing stories. That writer was me! I’ve watched Coastal Angler Magazine grow and expand as I’ve gotten older and grayer. I’ve also loved sharing my stories and misadventures. To one and all, thank you for your support and thank you for reading.
And on yet another note (yeah, I’m all over the place this month), I wondered what do you all think about the seeming increase in cases of the flesh-eating bacteria. A buddy of mine calls kayak fishing a contact sport–we’re going to be getting wet and we’re going to be in the backcountry. This, I understand, is a breeding ground. So, let’s all throw a bottle of antiseptic in the old tackle box and be careful out there!
Stay tuned for next month’s story. I’m going to be targeting inshore goliath grouper! That’s right, heavy offshore gear and a 14-foot kayak–what could go wrong? I look forward to letting you know. It should be an interesting trip. Till next time, and thanks for the last decade, your favorite kayak fisherman. Bruce.