11/17/13 Halfmoon Bay. GoPro surveillance on the crab trap revels some surprises. First of all, I was surprised to see that the rigid Promar Hoop Traps are not completely escape proof.  Then the special guest makes his appearance.  Is it a WSB or just large Croaker?  Its difficult to tell.  I tried to slow it down and tweek the colors, but I cant tell for sure.  Any thoughts?   

A fellow DOI coworker and I will be launching at 7 am. and targeting Lings. Company welcome.   

After a brief two day stay in Jacksonville Florida, my wife Chelsey and I headed south for the Keys.  We stayed in a beachside condo on the Island of Grassy Key; just north of the city of Marathon.  Upon our arrival, we discovered that our kayak rentals were already waiting for us at the door step.  Things were going just as planned.
For the next week we lived like tropical cast aways leaving the condo only to resupply on beer and groceries and explore the flats in search of Barracuda and Tarpon. After some online research and the advice of experienced individuals including but not limited to Ross from Hogy Baits, I was confident in my plan of attack.  Having never been to this part of the country before however, I was embarking on an adventure of which I could only imagine.
It didn’t take me long to figure out how to trick the Barracuda which prowled the flats in groups of a dozen or more.  By tying up our kayaks to the numerous mooring buoys located through the inshore waters, we could stalk the flats on foot. 4 inch jointed floating shallow diving Rapalas proved too enticing for the Cudas to resist.  I caught them up to about 36” with little trouble.
Sporadically but consistently, pods of large tarpon up to about 5’ would come calmly working their way through the area hitting the surface for gulps of air.  They reminded me of dolphins as groups of up to 6 individuals would come past us hitting the surface one at a time.  At times they would come close enough that we both were able to have a very good look at one another.  They were calm and confident and would not spook if we remained calm as well.  It was an emotional dilemma deciding whether to continue catching and releasing feisty Cudas, or pursue a chance at the real heavy weight champs of the flats; Tarpon.  After a couple days of Cuda action, I made my decision to get serious in my efforts to land a Tarpon.
I picked up some live crabs as bait spent the next couple days hunting these elusive fish.  To keep a short story short, I never hooked up with a Tarpon, but did discover that Bonnet Head Sharks also take a liking to crabs.  I wound up catching two medium sized Bonnetheads and lost larger ones as I was not using steel leaders in pursuit of Tarpon.
All in all, I had LOTS of fun in Florida.  It is completely different from the icy waters of the Pacific in every way. No wet suits, no GWS, and gin clear water. While I enjoyed every minute of it, I was glad to get back home to Santa Cruz.         

I am selling my go to lake fishing platform only because Im saving up to convert my Adventure to Island status. This pontoon has unfortunately been discontinued and is no longer available, but comparable models include the Outcast PAC 9000 Series which retails for $1800.00  My Flats Raider will include a 27 lbs pound thrust Minn Kota tolling motor, 715 CA Deep Cycle battery, a battery box with charge gauge, a battery charger,  a wheel for transport, and the pump with valve adaptor. 
One of the cool features of this boat is the deck space. Two removable deck inserts can be found behind the seat and in front of the seat.  The deck behind the seat holds the battery and leaves room for cargo.  The deck in front of the seat is useful to contain excess fly line for you fly guys. Besides the fact that I don’t fly fish, I use fins so this deck gets in the way of my legs and feet.  To take advantage of the extra deck space, I simply lashed it to the front end of one of the pontoons.  This way I am able to spread out plenty of tackle and gear for easy reach.       
The pontoons each use two separate bladders; each with their own valves: an added safety measure in the event of pressure loss.  The valves are quite robust and feature a threaded valve cover.  The pump comes with a female end adaptor that snaps onto the valve stem for inflation.  The pump is duel action meaning it is inflating during the push and pull.  The nylon over the bladder is much more robust than any other tube I have seen yet.
The 27 lbs trolling motor is nearly over kill for this little rig.  On full speed it can be hard to control the direction, but with practice it can be steered precisely.  On low and medium speed it handles very well. The battery is sufficient for at least 4+ hours of continuous runtime on low and medium speed.  The battery box has a charge gauge. 
The padded bucket seat is quite comfortable to sit in for the entire day.  As I said, I am only selling this to fund the Adventure upgrade as I mainly fish the salt these days. This is hands down the best pontoon boat I have ever had.   

Post, PM, or call if interested
831-595-8760
Matt


Here is a Cabelas Customer Review

http://reviews.cabelas.com/8815/319553/creek-company-flats-raider-9-pontoon-boat-reviews/reviews.htm

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/beached-great-white-shark-gets-human-help/20xcldb5

Let the tastless jokes begin!


http://www.weather.com/sports-rec/fishing/fingers-found-in-trout-20120927
 

Ill be taking advantage of the luner cycle and launching from either the harbor of Capitola tomarrow (Thursday 8/16) morning at 6:00am.  Company welcome.

Is anybody using down scan imaging sonar.  I have heard rumors that down scan do not work well in salt water or in deep water.  “Deep water” is a relative term; I rarely fish deeper than 100 feet, but I mostly fish in the salt.  I'm hoping somebody can share firsthand experience with down scan before I put out the money for one of these units.
Any thoughts?