Florida Flats/Keys fishing adventure (pic heavy)

Spyman · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2018 6:49 pm

Just got home from a Florida yak fishing adventure that started off with 5 nights in New Port Richy, followed by 4 nights in The Keys on Lower Matecumbe Key and finished with 2 breezy days in Edgewater fishing the famous Mosquito Lagoon. I caught a bunch of different fish, but my highlight would have to be the 4 sharks that I caught in the Keys. They were all smaller(4 to 5 ft) except the one that got away. There are bigger ones that I will target the next visit to the Florida Keys with upgraded equipment. I have shark fever

Gag Grouper

Lady Fish that I caught in New Port Richy and brought to The Keys and caught all of my shark with

New PB Trout 22in

Didn't manage any big Reds, but got a few.

Blue Runner and a Lizard fish

Manatee came right up to us, was bumping the back of my kayak and pushing me along.

Brian showed me up In New Port Richy and Mosquito Lagoon. At least he let me use his secret florida rig to try and catch up to him.

Circle hooks were Awesome for sharks, everyone except the one that bit through my metal leader was hooked in side of mouth.

My Fall Walleye/Salmon/ Musky trolling set up is now my shark setup.(Bought this Penn209/Shimano TDR off of Grizzly off this board

)

My first Tarpon. Not quite the size I thought my first would be

teppy · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:19 pm

Awesome adventure and incredible post!
Thanks for sharing.

Teppy

Roblin · **Joined:** Mon Jan 12, 2015 6:53 pm **Posts:** 843

Good for you. I'm jealous.

Glad you were able to fish someplace warm. Quite a selection of fish.

The manatee would have been cool to see.

We'll have to wait a couple of more day for the shorts to come out.

jkd24 · **Joined:** Thu Jan 21, 2016 2:34 pm **Posts:** 386

Nice pics would like to fish florida some day, you can keep the sharks though lol

TheLandshark · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:30 am

Very cool

Grizzly · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2018 12:00 pm

Very cool Peter, love the pictures your yak exploits have taken you so far its really amazing and I'm so impressed lots of people can boat of fishing multiple fish species but not in one type of boat this puts you on a leading edge....... good luck this spring, be safe!

adventure · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2018 2:31 pm

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing. It was well needed while we wait for our water to open up.

littledog · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2018 4:29 pm

Must be quite the rush releasing sharks at the side of your kayak(I assume you don't haul them aboard to unhook em).....Nice Aventure, great photos ,Thanks for sharing!

Spyman · **Posted:** Sat Mar 10, 2018 7:28 pm

It was a rush for sure. All sharks released without taking out of water. No way would I try to pick up a 4+ ft shark up in my kayak. I'm a little crazy but not stupid

Circle hooks made release very easy. A very careful grab and quick jerk with long pliers and away they went. Probably my best fishing experience I've had yet.

West Lake Willows · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:15 am

Great adventure and awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing.

You probably have seen them, but in case you haven’t, a dehooker is like $7 and works so fast and easy. Might be worth it fishing out of a kayak down there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Spyman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:08 am

West Lake Willows wrote:

Great adventure and awesome pictures. Thanks for sharing.

You probably have seen them, but in case you haven’t, a dehooker is like $7 and works so fast and easy. Might be worth it fishing out of a kayak down there.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes probably a great thing to get for next trip for sure. Everything down there has big teeth. Thanks for the tip.

Pro Tackle · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 7:53 am

Awesome trip bud! That kind of fishing sure gets you hooked on the salt water species. Even the smaller fish fight hard.....plus you dont know what you are going to catch. I am going down this fall to key west to relax and of course fish.

I havn't caught a shark yet....Tarpon is by far my favorite (so far)!

Did you take your own kayak or did you rent one?

Great photos!

Stacy

Spyman · **Posted:** Fri Mar 30, 2018 9:39 am

Pro Tackle wrote:

Awesome trip bud! That kind of fishing sure gets you hooked on the salt water species. Even the smaller fish fight hard.....plus you dont know what you are going to catch. I am going down this fall to key west to relax and of course fish.

I havn't caught a shark yet....Tarpon is by far my favorite (so far)!

Did you take your own kayak or did you rent one?

Great photos!

Stacy

I brought my own kayak down, catching a shark out of my kayak was a dream come true. I ended up catching 4 and losing one that shredded my wire leader which was much bigger, so probably a good thing

I would love to hook into a big Tarpon. Even that small one I caught put on a show that no smallmouth could match. I guess we were a few weeks too early for them. Next time. Saltwater is amazing. I would really like to hook up with a local next time and try some deeper water reef/wreck fishing where the big fish hang out.

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Florida Flats/Keys fishing adventure (pic heavy)

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