Aaron and Tracey's Excellent Adventure

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.

Wading for Topwater Redfish

I almost talked myself out of going. Fishing buddy Joe Jones said “c’mon, we’ll go for a couple hours”. So I gathered up my gear and we drove a few miles to a secluded flat to hunt for redfish. We arrived to a negative tide and waded down a shallow creek to a small bay hiding the redfish flat.

The bay is fed by two creeks on either side and has a muddy bottom. On one side is a long oyster bed adjacent to one of the creeks, and in front of that a deeper depression that slowly rises to the mud flat that comprises most of the bay. We entered the bay via the creek opposite the oyster bed as the tide began to flood in.

We waded out onto the soft mud and signs of fish were everywhere. Across the bay the mullet were jumping and baitfish were scattering nearby. Joe and I were both using a bone colored Spook Jr. A little wind was blowing over the water making it a bit more difficult to work the lures effectively, but in the end, it would make no difference at all.

Within two minutes, Joe said “fish on”, but I heard the splash of the lure getting crushed. I made my way over to Joe, slogging through the knee deep mud, to get a picture. He released the slot redfish and we continued fishing. A minute later, another splash. This time I could hear drag peeling as Joe is trying to control this beast. As I make my way back over to him, I see the big redfish as it makes a run right past me. “That’s a nice fish!” I call out to Joe as he laughs out loud and replies “Yeah”. Joe brings the redfish close in just as the leader breaks, losing both fish and lure.

 

As Joe was busy retying, I was busy catching. I casted my Spook Jr toward a mullet school that looked a little agitated. After three attempts at the lure, the redfish finally hit it and we were locked in a struggle. It wasn’t a huge fish, but he felt big on my light tackle. After a fairly quick fight, the slot fish was released. He was quickly followed by two more.

 

Joe had tied on another Spook Jr and was back at work. This time it was a sailcat! On topwater! Joe followed that up with another small redfish. I stopped taking pictures as it was too difficult to move in the deep mud. We had been in the bay for about an hour and a half, and we were already feeling the effects of the workout. We started making our way back toward the creek when Joe spied fish near the mouth. Joe made a near perfect cast and his Spook Jr was crushed by a snook that sent the lure flying into the air. No hook up, but fun to watch.  

 

We made it back to the truck right at the two hour mark. It was a great morning for topwater redfish, but we were feeling physically. It was worth the work with many fish landed by both of us.