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.

Mini-Doggle: Definition - Not quite a Boondoggle - almost, but not quite.

Kayak fishing for me is all about the adventure. Not knowing what’s around the next corner, the anticipation of an unknown area and what it could hold, the challenge of unlocking those hidden secrets - that’s what draws me to the sport. So it was a no-brainer when Chip Gibson called me and asked if I wanted to fish Mosquito Lagoon. Did I want to join him and Brad? ”Of course!"

For my last kayak fishing trip of 2011,I made the decision to go to a location that I hadn’t visited in quite some time. This New Year’s Eve trip would serve two purposes: finishing off a great year, and hopefully giving me some content for my next magazine article. I made the some calls and rounded up the usual suspects. Chris and Tom would be there, and I would pick Greg up along the way. As we drove over the Skyway Bridge enroute to Fort DeSoto, we could tell it was going to be a good morning. Flat calm conditions greeted us at the launch. We were soon on the water, casting Heddon “Super Spook, Jr.” topwaters into schools of mullet, looking for redfish.

As in most of my kayak fishing trips I had a hard time sleeping the night before, so I spent some time going over my gear to make sure everything was in good working order and packing my tackle bag with the items I would need for the next day’s trip. The person joining me on this trip was someone who I enjoy spending time with on the water more than anyone else and who introduced me to fishing some thirty years ago my Dad!

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.

No matter where you live, there are opportunities for a road trip. I am fortunate enough to live within an hour’s drive of the 10,000 Islands and the Everglades. I have long wanted to go on an overnight kayak fihsing/camping trip to some of the outer islands on the Gulf of Mexico and partake in the legendary fishing there. After lots of preparation, my chance came during an April weekend.

The Irishwaterdogs Invitational was a great event again in 2011.The IWDI is an annual kayak fishing tournament held in Jacksonville, Florida each October. The goal for this event was to bring together anglers, paddlers, vendors and local charities to help raise money for the Cleft Palate clinic of Jacksonville, FL.

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...

After a great season of kayak fishing the IFA Kayak Fishing Tour will host its final regular season event in Ruskin, Florida.  You've seen many of the tournament recaps here on YakAngler and we are looking forward to seeing the tournmament results for this final event.  This is a great program that is helping to grow the sport of kayak fishing in a huge way and we are happy to be able to spread the word with other kayak anglers.

Kayak fishing in Florida has many great opportunities. This week I thought I would go back a few years and share one of my most favorite spots here in Florida. The island of Chokoloskee sits right in the middle of what’s known as the 10,000 Islands, which starts in Naples and runs all the way south along the west coast of Florida.