Dave, Tim and I went out this morning and fished our usual spot. We found lots of trout that seemed to have a real attitude, I've never seen them hit and fight that hard. Tim caught the first redfish at 32" and Dave got the biggest at 38", which is the record out there for us so far. I caught one small slot size red, and about a dozen or so trout.

38" Redfish

Just got back from our camping trip to Hillsborough River State Park. One of the highlights of the vacation was a 2 hour canoe trip down the river. We saw lots of wildlife including gators. Devin did a great job on the whole trip taking pictures.

A 2 hour trip down the river

It's hot and it's fishing, but it's really not Hot Fishing. With the hotter weather now the fishing has actually started to get much more difficult. They are getting more spread out and not as easy to catch.

Went out this morning with Dave and his dad borrowing our canoa and I caught this one 23" trout first thing... then after that nothing but small trout and redfish all under 19 inches or so.

23" Trout

Getting ready for a big fishing tournament next weekend so working out our strategies. Caught about 10 of these guys this morning. Largest was 27". Dave lost one probably twice that size at the boat when his line snapped.

27" Redfish

Dave had to do some stuff with visiting family, and neither of the boys wanted to go, so I was on my own this morning. Headed out early thanks to our new outside alarm clock (noisiest bird in the neighborhood). I wasn't the first one out even at 6:30AM though, 2 or 3 others were there ahead of me. Started out casting to some bait fish and didn't get anything. Was getting a little worried, since this area is usually pretty quick to produce fish, so staked out and started trying different lures. Found one that worked, and just about wore myself out for the next hour or so. Caught 3 nice sized redfish and a whole bunch of trout. The biggest red was 25" and the other two were both 23"

25" Redfish

21" Trout

23" Redfish

Nasty forecast for today, so we were the only ones out early this morning. The fish didn't seem to mind the cold and wind though, as we had another epic day. Caught what has to be my biggest trout so far. We caught a bunch of really nice trout and a few good sized redfish that we brought home for dinner.

Everyone always comments on the spots on the tail of redfish, they can take on multiple forms, and some have a ton of them. This one has a spot in the shape of a guitar pick which I thought was pretty cool.

23" Spotted Sea Trout

23" Redfish

Fished the No Motor Zone (NMZ) with the kayaks this morning. Wind forecast was dreadful, but out of the West so we thought we'd give it a shot. Caught a bunch of trout and one really nice redfish.

Derek and I took the new canoe out this evening for a test drive. Unfortunately it has a small defect so we are going to have to return it, hopefully they can get a replacement for it as it worked out very well. Now I'll be able to take one or 2 of the kids (or maybe even Lisa!) out fishing with me. Derek was the first to volunteer after doing so good paddling in the front seat tonight.

Mad River Passage 14

Danny and I took the kayaks out early this morning and fished the banana river. Lots of bait activity but not much of anything biting. I caught one nice size trout. It was a beautiful morning to be out on the water though.

Danny in the Hobie