I met Tracey and Aaron a few years ago when I had a kayak
guide business. They were in town for a few days from California and wanted to
catch a redfish. After a 10 hour day, I finally put them on their first one and
we have been friends ever since. They have come back to Florida to visit since,
but it wasn’t until this trip that I was able to get some time off and fish
with them.
These two wanted adventure, and I was going to find it for
them. The first day we spent at Estero River Outfitters getting geared up and
selecting loaner kayaks. They serviced my Revo’s Mirage Drive and we began to
plan the next three days.
I planned an ambitious three days of fishing beginning in
Pine Island on Saturday. We reached to launch just before sunrise to
beautifully calm water and clear skies. Our targets were Pineland reds and
trout. We headed south from the launch and immediately began landing nice
trout. We were using Spook Jrs and white paddletails on jigheads. We scoured
the grass flats catching trout, but the reds eluded us. I was approaching an
area close to an island and a beautiful red and blue tail rose from the water
just in front of me. I quickly motioned to Aaron and Tracey to join me and we began
casting to the area. A slight breeze picked up and drifted us right into the
redfish school and we watched as they spooked off the flats. We ended the day
with many nice trout landed and several sharks sighted. Aaron and I were in
Hobies and Tracey used an Ocean Kayak. She kept up with us easily. By the time
we were loaded up at the launch, a nasty cold had its grip on me.
The sun rising on Pine Island Sound
Tracey keeping up
Aaron hooked up
Tracey's trout
Topwater did the trick
Another trout of many
The next morning I had planned a 10K Islands trip. I was
feeling so poorly that I wasn’t planning on fishing at all. My brother in law,
Joe Jones talked me into going close by, so we modified the plan and launched
in Estero Bay instead. The tide was a very slow incoming tide that moved very
little water. I didn’t expect much to happen, so we moved quickly to cover as
much area as possible. We worked our way into the bay where I eventually caught
a decent trout. After a while, it didn’t seem like we would catch anything
else. As we were heading back and hitting areas we had already been, I managed
an underslot snook. Aaron scored a small redfish about the same time. I visited
one of my favorite redfish spots and it paid off with a mid-slot fish. Tracey
managed a redfish close to the launch as well. It ended up being a pretty good
day in spite of me feeling under the weather. I scored a slam and Tracey and
Aaron both got redfish. We rewarded ourselves with wings at Buffalo Chips that
night.
Aaron's red
Tracey's red
Bob's red
Day three began with overcast skies and more of my cold. We
started later as our quarry for the day was peacock bass. This was a bucket
list fish for Aaron and Tracey, so we headed to Naples to a canal that never
disappoints. We tied on topwater lures and I brought a half dozen shiners in
case they were slow to bite. It turned out we didn’t need them as the fish were
more than willing to hit our Spooks. There were boats heading up and down the
canal, and there we were landing big peacocks, one after the other. By
mid-morning the sky opened up, but we kept at it. The fish didn’t seem to mind
the rain, so neither did we. Eventually the fish got wise to us and the bite
stopped. They wouldn’t touch the shiners either. We all had our fun, so we
headed back to the launch. It was a great day to end the adventure.
One of several largemouth caught
Tracey looking for peacocks
Aaron's nice male peacock
Tracey and one of her colorful fish
Another great peacock bass
This is what kayak fishing is all about to me. I have met
many friends on kayaks. I probably would never have met these two had it not
been for guiding them and like so many others, they have become lifelong
friends. We are already talking about going to California to visit and fish in
their waters, but I don’t know about that. There are no redfish there.
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