I cannot remember the last time I caught so many different species from the yak.

I met Al Clements (Shell Mound Al) at the launch on Covas Creek at about 1 this afternoon. We planned to launch there and beat up on the Redfish. When I saw how low the tide already was and how hard the wind was blowing out of the East, I said we needed to fish somewhere else. We fished the 'Cooch instead.

We caught 20+Trout, Redfish, 2 Snook, Jack Crevalle, lots of Ladyfish, 1 SW Striped Bass and 1 Largemouth. We anchored just down tide from a big spring in 15-18' of water. The fish were suspended at about 4' or so. I didn't try a top water but we saw lots of striking fish.

None of the fsh were very big but I kept a limit of Trout on the small end of the slot. I lost one about 3 pounds. The Snook were about 18" or so and Al caught a 22-23" Redfish. I had a really nice Striped Bass swirl at my jig as I lifted it out of the water. He probably weighted 10-12#. The one I landed was about 20". Whether he was legal or not, I don't have a clue.

Ths Snook fought about like a small Trout. One of the Snook looked terrible with several skin lesions. One of the biggest Trout had recently run afoul of something with big teeth. The scratches were completely healed but I'd imagine he suffered for a while.

All in all, it was a great fishing day.

There was a lot of small bait fish in the area we were fishing. I saw fish (Jacks or Ladyfish) push them against the bank several times. The first Trout spit up a small minnow in the yak and I tried to match it for size. Later, when I realized the fish were suspended high up, it got a lot more productive.

I used a 2" shad tail on a 2/0 Split-shot jig. I made up a bunch of Split-shot jigs this morning.


Hot bait for me was a 2" swim shad on a 2/0 splitshot jig.
I made up a few this morning. It takes about 15 seconds to make the SSjig.

CaptKen that is a very well thought out and impressive set-up you have on your yak. It looks very comfortable with the seat raised up on top. My question is with seat raised up like that is does it make it top heavy or unstable?

The standnfish is not my idea. I wish it had been. It is, however a mighty handy gizmo to have on a kayak.

Re: The bassboat seat. The Mini-X is a very wide kayak--34.5". It is super stable so my high seating position is no problem. I am 68 years old and have never been graceful but I have absolutely no problem at least for me.

A friend who has a Mini-X got in mine a couple of weeks ago and said it was mighty tippy to start with. He paddled around for about 20 minutes in mine then we went to Wal-Mart, bought a seat like mine then to my shop where we installed it.

I've used the same type seat on a Malibu X Factor and an Emotion Mojo and installed them on several other yaks.

So far, I haven't joined the "Bottom's Up Club" but it could happen the next time I bump a Manatee, Gator, Tarpon or Porpoise. With the outriggers deployed on the SNF, I sit on top of the leaning post most of the time. I see about 10x the number of fish I could see if I were sitting.

The link to my split-shot jig in an earlier post no longer works. Here it is again.



I like the weed/snag guard, especially when Flounder fishing.

Nice day on the water and great tip on the split shot jigs.

Capt Ken,

I didn't know you were a Red Raider. I lived out in Levelland for about two years.

Nope, I'm not a Red Raider. I bought a couple of new Red Raider long sleeved Tee shirts at a yard sale for a buck each a while back. I much prefer Auburn Tee shirts but not enough to pay $20 for a fishing Tee shirt.

The red shirt might make me more visible to air boat drivers but most of the around here are probably drunk in addition to being obnoxious.