Took the yak to the open water for the first time, might have found an addiciton within an addiction. Launched out of Micklers about 1230 with SeaDog and BenPaddlin to do some exploring. Got some eels and grubs to throw at some Cobia, also brought some frozen mullet for whatever was hungry. Launch went flawless other than a few over the bow leaving me sitting in 6 in of water but nothing my $3 Max Liquidator floating manual bilge pump couldn't handle. Trolled various baits up to a mile out seeing what we could find. Blues were hungry as always, lost 2 grubs within 20 mins. Picked up a blue on a spoon with a swim mullet trailer and as I was getting him to arms reach a 3 or 4 ft shark came from below and saved me the hassle leaving only the head 5 ft from the yak. While rebaiting I see what I thought to be a pogy pod so I start paddling towards the dark cloud in the water. Get about 20 ft from it and suddenly realized it wasn't a bunch of small fish but a ray bigger than my kayak. Thing looked like a killer whale as I saw the white underneath of the wing as it broke water swimming. I have to say the 300 yds those guys were from me seemed like a mile, not sure why but all of a sudden I felt a little small and insignificant. After losing another grun @ 4 for $8 I threw a mullet on the 1/2oz jig and threw it out drifting/paddling with the wind. Saw my rod bend, set the hook and knew it was game on. Reel screamed for 10-15 secs, tightened the drag enough to not get spooled (8 lb test, don't ask!) It took a little more drag, took to the air twice. Looked to be about 2.5-3ft and silver but we couldn't get an ID on it. It then seemed to be casually pulling me along as I got back a few feet of line at a time. I have a bad habit of talking smack to good fish and couldn't resist. Started running my mouth, calling it inappropriate names, begging it to take more line. Well it obliged and with a quick change of direction, my line had enough and I heard the dreaded pop, only to be left calling myself inapproriate names. Got one more bit of excitement as what had to be a decent shark pulled me around for a few mins before line went slack and I got my rig back with a mullet head left on it. Reached our destination at 33rd St in Jax Beach and re entry was flawless for all, sorry to disappoint but no new members of the Upsidedown club today. Great learning experience, first thing tomm I'm spooling 2 bigger reels with 15 lb for next time. Absolutely killer day, whole other perspective when leaving the shelter of backwater. Losing that fish is only a motivator, I was thrilled to hookup on my maiden voyage and even more thrilled to stay upright. Great weather, great people and great experience.

nice man, get a cobe... a few of my friends went out and they all had cobes they are thick and rayys are everywhere.... weekends are to crowded for me.... hope u get a cobe next trip

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Genius!

Very nice. I wanna go!

Awesome report. I'm going out tomorrow (Sunday) and I haven't bought my offshore setup yet so I'll only have 10# test. I'm not expecting much though.... just getting used to it... learning.

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-Jon
GOGITUSOMEGROCERIES.com founder and CEO

Lots of fun! learned a lot about what to bring next as far as bait. Saw two rays and two turtles personally and a glimpse of a free swimmer that took off. It's nothing like fishing for Cobia from a boat you can see very little so there is a need for a little luck. Worth the learning experience.

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"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in
a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside,
thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming...
"Wow! What a ride!"

There were a ton of boats out there, all on the cobe hunt. Saw 3 rays and a few pogy pods, even while you can see them from the yak its gonna take persistance and even a little luck to land one. Probably gonna build my own Cobia jigs and practice cast netting from the yak. I have a feeling soon after the classic I will be upgading, I stayed wet and had probably 2 gallons of water inside the hull. It was awesome out there, the marine life you see in the clear water is amazing. Forgot to mention the huge pod of dolphins that were corraling a pogy pod, had to be 15 of them. When we got a little closer they sent out the scout squadron to check us out. 6-8 of them in a straight line, looked to be set to t-bone us. They surfaced the last time about 10-15 ft to get one last look at us then disappeared under us. There will be many more trips this summer, I'm hoping to knock a few species off my list!

Did you say you guys launched at micklers and got out at Jax beach? Did you drop a truck off and load the yaks in another truck? If so that's a pretty good plan. How do you know which way the current is going? Wind direction?

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-Jon
GOGITUSOMEGROCERIES.com founder and CEO

Yeah we saw the wind forecasted to come out of the SW in the afternoon so we decided to do south to north and go the 2 truck route. We didn't really plan around the tides, your either getting pushed towards shore or away, either way your always working against the tide to a certain extent. Once your out there and get a feel for what your working with its not too hard to get a good drift going. We def didn't sit still for too long, easy way to get your lines twisted. I supposed you can get anchored and spot fish but we were happy to drift. Its about 10 miles by road, we figured 8 or so on the water, after zig zagging some to try and find the pogy pods we prolly paddled 10-12 miles. Had at least 1000 at Micklers and it seemed like all eyes were on us waiting to watch us launch, nothing like a little pressure for my first launch. Luckily the landing was a little less crowded since I had read that's usually the trickiest part of the adventure.

I'm glad you guys enjoy being out there as much as I do. Should be a great summer for fishing out there. Saw a couple of what were probably skyrocketing kings tear up some bait pods. Look forward to the next time fellas

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OK Trident 13
OK Drifter 12
Northeast Outfitters Canoe 14

Going all the way up to 15lb eh? LOL maybe you ought to consider 50lb braid and proper leaders depending on what you are targeting - just saying cause it's the OCEAN ya know? Heck 8lb test isn't even appropriate for inshore - you need at least 15-20lb braid or mono.

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"This is my signature not my facebook page."

I agree with Mike There are big fish in the ocean. I have my BTB rods rigged with 30 lb braid and 80 lb leader. That's the same thing we use out at the St. Mary's jetties also.

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Hobie Pro Angler 12

I like the challenge of putting tackle to the test. I was told you should be able to land a fish twice as heavy as your line if you do it right. Course I could load up 20# and yank 5 lbers to the boat in 30 secs but to me that's no fun. I have yet to land anything over 9 lbs inshore and that's the first fish I've lost to lighter tackle. I've landed a fat 28.5 and a few upper slots with no probs on 8 lb. Its Yoshuri flouro blend with an actual breaking strenth closer to 13#. Morocco laughed at me when we went to the jetties until I landed a 3.5 ft ray on 8lb. I expect to lose a few fish and I really didn't expect to land a honker, trip was finalized at 1230am the night before so I didn't exactly have time to go buy and spool heavier gear. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

i agree even for offshore i think 15lb is plenty if u have a leader... that is ofcourse if ur chasing cobes bull reds even kings or even tarpon... Just make sure u have a nice leader for the kings.. and about 60-80lb leader for the tarpon... Hell you will get it bud, only time id beef up bigger than 20lb is if ur bottom fishing for grouper to get them up fast then id get up to the 30 or maybe 50... You will get it stick to it and when u do then it will feel that much better... Good luck boss

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Genius!

I'm seeing more and more people choosing to use lighter tackle. It may not be the conventional way to go about landing bigger fish but, i can see the appeal. He and i had this discussion before about the light line. I can assure you, its intentional lol. Sure Catch is the same way. I gave Jim a very hard time about his 8# line. For some, its all about the challenge rather than catching. I would do it myself but, i don't like re-rigging

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176 Sportsman

For the guys talking of using heavy line-- heavier than 20 or 30 pounds... How much force can you really apply to a fish from a kayak? I can pull myself all over the marsh when i get snagged on an oyster bar using 10 pound braid. The force of pulling my boat in the water can rarely break the line. I would think that heavier than 20 and expecially 30 would do little since you can't really muscle a fish much from a yak. And if it's open water, what are you gonna get snagged on? Heavy leader I understand. I'm new to going offshore, so I'm still in the process of rigging and buying gear. Just curious if my thinking was off and I need to size up in my line class.
matt

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fish fear me, women want me.