From West Coast to West Coast - Bassmanben invades the Bay Area for a Snipe Hunt

Confused yet?  I'll clarify for you.

I'm down here in the Tampa Bay Area for business, and of course with nothing to do on a weekend, I figured I might as well try to kayak fish.  I booked a trip with Neil Taylor of Adventure Kayak Fishing to chase a slam - Snook, Redfish and Speckled Trout.

I met up with Neil at Dunedin Causeway at 6AM on Saturday 6/20.  He figured we should chase the snook early morning, then go after reds and trout.  Surprising to me, at 6AM it was still dark.  Usually I'm on the road to pleasanton at that time and the sun is already peeking over the Sierras.

Neil uses Native Watercraft - our boats for the day were a pair of Ultimate 14.5's - these are more of canoes than kayaks, and have a tunnel hull for stability.  Neil was pretty much ready for me by the time I got there:



A little chit chat about the boats and plan, and we were on the way, paddling through the dark.

Soon we reached the fishing grounds and the sun was ready to pound us.  We went to one of Neil's secret areas, and I started out casting small shrimp imitations.

I had a few tap taps, but nothing really interesting.  Probably pinfish (look a little like shiner perch) or lady fish.  I had one decent smack, and my line went slack.  I reeled up to set the hook, but nothing there.  



We continued after the snook for about an hour and a half, but with no love.  The sun was up by that time and beating down on us hard.  It felt about 90 degrees and it was only about 8am.  We paddled down to an are where Neil had some recent success with the redfish.  Tried our best but I could not find any reds around.  I did however see a group of about 6 smaller reds right on the shoreline when I accidentally drifted in too close.  Spooked them off.  We anchored up and tried in the area.  I didn't have any luck, but Neil hooked and lost a red and caught a couple of catfish.  The water was like glass:



The heat was beginning to be unbearable so we went to take a short break and cool off by wading around.  Here is a pic of Neil near his boats:



After that we picked up and chased after some trout and other species.  We anchored up fairly close to the channel.   The wind waves and chop from the boat traffic was a bit of a pain.  Because the yak was pretty much empty, i had some problems with hull slap on the paddle over.  The natives are nice and stable but they do not handle great in the wind because of the high sides.

We anchored up and started fishing.  I had a couple of hits but nothing stuck.  Finally, I landed a small trout, probably 9" long.  After that, I landed a second trout, about 13".

Bendo shot:


The payoff:


That was it.  I hooked up another nicer trout around 17" but he got on top and wriggled free.  Got a little tired and we decided to book it home.  Slow day but I learned a lot.  

Second day...to be continued....

Day 2 -
Neil was generous to allow me to borrow one of his kayaks for the next day.  He would be guiding in the afternoon/evening and said that I could tag along.  I didn't want to get in the way of him and his business, so I tried to give them some distance.  Not sure if he would provide that arrangement to everyone, but I was sure happy that he offered it to me - saved me some $$$ on rental for sure.

On the way out to the launch site I had some extra time so I stopped by the local kayak shop.  They have a cool parking area, covered in palm trees.




The name of the shop is Bill Jacksons.  They carry dive, hunting, kayaking, fishing and general outdoors gear. 


They carry OK and Native Watercraft.  I wanted to see more of the Natives, so I took a look at the Native Propel 14.5


Interesting boat, I like how easy it is to put in and take out the propel drive.  I also thought it was cool how it could go in reverse.

Got back on the road and saw something that california could use more of - Mooch this pic is for you.
  Lots of plastic.

Welcome to Dunedin Causeway.


Pulled up to the launch, a small kayak and sailboat rental shop at Sail Honeymoon

Met up with Neil and his client Bob at 3PM.  



I would be riding in Neil's Ultimate 12 -


The wind chop and boat traffic made it a little rough getting across.  But we took our time since it was not even close to snook time yet.  We stopped and made some test casts looking for some trout, while Neil picked up some bait for the evening.  I took the opportunity to try to stand and sight cast.  I stood up fine but didnt see any activity in the water. Water clarity was not great due to the strong tides, warm water and boat traffic. 

Felt good though:



We hung around for a bit making bait and waiting for the tide.  Soon we moved towards one of Neil's hotspots and waited for the snook to come in..and waited...

The bait came in and were moving around, but we did not see much in the way of snook activity.  We tried for them anyways.  I got one real good run by a snook but the hook didn't get in.  Neil said that he thought the snook may just be tail grabbing the baits - that's likely since I got about 3 strong hits but could not get a hook in.

I finally hooked something up, it fought decent...

 but turned out to just be this guy:


Finally Neil hooked up and passed the rod off to me.  At first we thought it was a red since it was just kind of bulldogging in and not really peeling line.  Of course as soon as the fish saw the boat, it decided to turn into a snook.  The fish blew off on two consecutive 30 yard runs:



But on the third 30 yard run, i felt a *pop* and heartbroken, I retrieved my line - the hook had just become unbuttoned.  Heartbroken, i kept trying but didn't get any more hookups.

We made a move in the pitch black of night.  I was lucky that there was light coming from the city or else I would never have been able to see Neil and Bob move around.  We tried a couple spots and ended up on the back side of an island.  We could feel the stiff Gulf breeze coming over the island.  It felt nice on such a hot evening, but made it difficult to spot bait and snook.

Finally, Bob hooked up and was able to bring a snook to hand.  They do exist!  Up until this point a snook was a mythical creature like the snipe, photoshopped into hundreds of pictures in the past.



Bob looked pretty awesome with his cigar and holding up a snook:



We toughed it out a little longer after that, but it was past midnight and we decided to head in.  Neil really wanted to get me tied to a snook but what can you do?  The fish were just not cooperating with us. 

While I only landed 3 fish and a bunch of bait over 14 hours of fishing, I don't feel any loss.  It was a great trip and Neil tried his best and was an excellent guide.  I would highly recommend him if any of you guys end up in the Tampa area.  He was very gracious and an excellent host.  Snook pull hard and are very spirited fish.

I have a new sense of resolve however, so I will take another shot at them.  Already working on planning a fly out trip to chase those suckers down this fall or next year.  Hopefully at a time when it is not 93 degrees with 3,000% humidity.

haha wtg dude you might not have gotten one to the boat but at least you had a bomb a$$ trip with bomb a$$ company next time Jai Boi

Keo

Looks like A greta time on the water Ben. Isnt it great exploring new waters. Thanks for the report....Andy

That looks like fun!  I definetly hope to kayak fish Florida one of these days.  Thanks for the report and pics.

Fun travel mission Ben! We sell the Native Ultimates and I always thought of them as a great platform for this type of fishing.Very cool.

Great report - very Tani-like!  What made the report (and your trip) so great seems to be your attitude.  Appreciation for the experience, the people, the new locale...  you nailed it, Dude.  Well done.   

awesome report ben, even with out the elusive snipe fish, hahaha, sounds like a wonderful experience, and the fact that the guide let you tag along on a payed trip shows some great professionalism and is a great advertisement for his services, cameron

Thank you for sharing your experience Ben.  Great report and pictures!

Yep, excellent blow by blow report & pics, Ben. 

Thanks for the great read and cool pictures this morning Ben. You just made my
day even with the lack of fish pictures. I am glad you had a wonderful time out
there meeting new guys with the same passion in kayak fishing as we do. Thanks
for sharing your trip bro.

Jedmo

Ben,
Nicely documented 

As I told Ben, "timing is everything."   The timing of Ben's trip was right there in the middle of five or six days of Heat Advisory.   The fish react negatively to that sometimes which was pretty much the case on that morning trip (and a lot of the morning trips since then).   We put the time in though, and bringing you back out for that evening out was going to give you more opportunities.   

You forgot to mention Bob's stealthy kayak exit at the island!   

I mentioned Ben and Bob's trip in my regular weekly report.   I don't want to violate any of your site rules by posting links to other sites so I'll wait to get the OK on links before doing anything like that.    Speaking of this, anyone who would like to see my articles, I'd be more than happy to add you to my database for the emails I send out.   Just send me an email ([email protected])   From Ben's description of your group, you guys are really a lot like the kayak anglers out this way, it's just a different game.    That stuff you guys do it very interesting.    I've also been in touch with some guys in Hawaii that do some deep water fishing.     With what I do, most of this fishing is in one to three feet of water.   In a mostly urbanized area, being shallow has many advantages and the kayak is basically about the only way to get in there.

The snook is a great fish to battle.   Ben was hooked up to a pretty good one, unfortunately he didn't stay hooked up.   

Thanks for the kind words Ben.   I'd be more than happy to take any of your members out for a trip when they are visiting the Tampa Bay area.   

Enjoyed looking around your site.    You guys definitely have great interaction as a group.   That's fantastic.

Neil
(guide services, Adventure Kayak Fishing-   Safety Harbor, FL)

hey, Ben -  great adventure and report!