We were on the road by 4:15am, grabbed some gas and met back up with Chip “treehugger” and Brad “Clone” and our local YakAngler guide Steve “ShallowPockets” at 5:30 am down in Siesta Key, FL. We were at the launch site before sun up and quickly got the kayaks unloaded and loaded up with our gear. A few last minute bimini knots tied in the dim glow of the dome light of the mini-van and off we were in search of baitfish and Tarpon.Steve quickly caught a good amount of bait fish on his sabiki rig and passed them out to the crew. Then it was merely a sit and watch game, well okay,
sit watch and fish while we wait game. We all had our eyes peeled for rolling Tarpon. The excitement was killing me! After getting skunked the last two days, I thought this is going to be the day. Redemption is going to come this morning in the form of a good long sleigh ride on the water.After a while with no sightings we decided to paddle to a rocky area to fish the rocks while we wait for rolling Tarpon. On the paddle over we saw two rolling but were not able to get in front of them quick enough. Errrrr! Not sure what else to say about it, skunked again.
We all continued to fish the rocks, take in the beautiful weather, and great company and conversation for a couple more hours before calling it a day. As seemed to be the trend for Mark and I, we decided to put the Emotion Grand Slam through a little more “field testing” before making the two hour drive back to Auburndale, FL to return them to David Simms.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat with Steve, Chip, and Brad; enjoyed a couple of adult beverages and called it a day.
Thanks again to everyone especially Steve for being such a great host during our time down in Siesta Key, FL.
