Florida fishing

[npbarca]

Hey guys,

I'm going to florida for 2 weeks on Friday, to sanibel island on the gulf coast. I'm an avid fisherman so if course the majority will be spent fishing! Right now, I have 2 goals.

1. Catch a large tarpon from my kayak, and
2. Catch at least a 4ft shark from the beach.

I've been to sanibel before, and the fishing is top class. I'll hope to post some awesome pics on this thread. I'll also be on the lookout for interesting fish, not just gamefish so I'll hope to have some pics of those!

Nick

 

[gravel_digger]

now that sounds like a nice get away...

 

[verbal]

Enjoy the vacation. Good luck on your fishing.

 

[spazmattik]

Tarpon? Kayak? Sounds fun. Dont forget to catch some cichlids too.

 

[YSS]

Have fun!

 

[daninmd]

I was born and raised in Florida and lived in SW Florida. Its getting a little late in the year for tarpon. they are still there but will be tougher to find on the beaches where you typically would go after them with a kayak. July 4th marks the end of the big schools of tarpon running the beaches. your best bet is to try and target some of the year-round tarpon that hang out under the bridges. earlier morning or late evening/night are the best times. they will also be in the passes but I wouldn't recommend that in a kayak.

as far as sharks go, that's a no brainer and will be easy to do. best strategy to catch them on the beach is to use your kayak to paddle out your bait to a little bit deeper water and then return to shore and fish. best baits are going to be a dead ladyfish, jack or even better yet a live stingray.

good luck man. I was down in Florida (about 30 minutes north of where you are going) a couple of weeks ago and the tarpon were still on the beach. Snook are all over the beaches right now. we easily caught 50 of them in the surf the week we were there.

if you need any info let me know.

 

[npbarca]

Update: 2 days down. We've been having some pretty strong thunderstorms the first 2 days all day, so fishing has been to a minimum. So far only some mangrove snapper and a ladyfish have been caught. I have a kayak fishing trip to the flats planned for Wednesday, and 3 more the following week. The sharks have been active along the beaches at night though, with 2 hookups but one spit the hook and the other broke off. Anther update hopefully with some good pics will follow.

Nick

 

[Ballen0351]

NiceI lived in Sanibel and Cape Coral as a Kid

 

[npbarca]

Got the shark rig up and running today. One big hit so far.

 

[AquaStudent]

The image isn't showing up for me. Will you post it again? Can anyone see it?

 

[npbarca]

I tried posting it again.

 

[blkmjk]

Not working for me either.

Drew

 

[rich_one]

It might be too big... try resizing it.

-Rich