A while back, there was a thread in the Saltwater Kayak Fishing Section of the YakAngler Forum entitled Clearwater/Fort Desoto. Biding my time before I replied, I received an email from Mark saying “This is all you”. So I reached out to Chris Funk, aka Feral One, and made plans to meet near Fort Desoto this weekend. Greg Becker and I were running a little late to meet Chris, who was already on the water ready to go.

The Tampa Bay Chapter of Heroes on the Water held its first event this past Saturday at beautiful Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg Florida. Our honored guest for the day was Don Floyd and his wife Donna. Don retired from the US Army in 1999. He saw one of our flyers at the VA and decided to give us a call. I’m sure glad he did. While this fishing was not all that great, I do believe our guests had a great time out on the water.

Sixty two anglers woke up bright and early on November 19th, in eager anticipation of kayak fishing tournament number two in the Paddle-Fishing.com Tournament Series. “The Mystery Lure” has all anglers using the same exact lure or in this case “lures”. This year the Mystery Lure was sponsored by Culpirt Riptide. As each angler signed in, they were handed their lure bag, loaded with an amazing assortment of lures.

After my last two dismal trips, I wasn’t sure if I should answer the phone when my buddies Walt and Greg called me. After all, they were the administrators of the beat downs I got fishing with them last. I figured “What the heck, at least I could get some good pictures if this trend continues”. So as we all met at the launch, we were met by another friend of mine, Chris, who has also recently put me to task while fishing.

Ok, so I took some liberties with the title, but like the movie, I’m haunted by waters. I want to know what’s around the next bend in the mangroves, that hidden pond in the back country, or up the river I used to fish when I was a younger man. So when my buddy Walt called me and said “Let’s go see if they are biting up the river”, I jumped at the chance. This time of year the snook head up the rivers in search of warmer water, so this would be a perfect opportunity to see how well they are making a comeback after our terrible winter of a few years ago.

This past weekend I met up with Chip Gibson and his son Brad, as well as Greg Becker and his son Robert for some kayak fishing in Cedar Key. The plan was to get the kids on some big Black Drum and possible in the IGFA record books for Catch, Photo and Release. Chip had purchased the official IGFA measuring device, so all we needed was a Big Ugly.

I got hit with a care package from Mister Twister the other day, payment for a review I had done a while ago. Well to say I was blown away was an understatement, I thought they had forgotten about it and to tell you the truth, I wasn’t expecting anything in return. Mostly RT Slugs in various colors, there were a few packs of crabs thrown in for good measure. So many baits and not enough time...

Capt Pat Horrigan asks “Can anyone catch Bob Bramblet”? This past weekend Bramblet held onto his lead in The Tampa Bay Slam Classic, with only a couple of kayak fishing tournaments left everyone’s wondering if Bramblet will hold onto his ever decreasing lead. Read the full tournament details below.

The popular Tampa Bay kayak fishing website, Paddle-Fishing.com finished its 8th year of hosting a unique Paddle Fishing Tournament Series. The “PFTS” as it’s known by competitors, began its life as the “One Lure Challenge”. When “Mr. OLC” Erick Bell moved to NC, the torch was passed to Todd Llewellyn who came up with the new name.

Seems just like yesterday that I was down here in Stuart Florida for the DOA Lures Paddlers Only Tournament, I quess that old saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” really is true. Once again I find myself with my kayak fishing buddy Norm Hall and we set out with high hopes of finding some respectable fish.