Southwest Florida Kayak Report (with pics)
For the past month, we've been fishing Lake Manatee, a 2,500-acre lake located in Manatee County east of Bradenton. It's definitely one of my favorite lakes to fish. Bass, bluegill, shellcracker, speckled perch (crappie), sunshine bass and channel catfish are plentiful -- and all readily take flies.
We've been averaging 75 fish per person per trip. We mostly target bluegill on light (2-4-wt) rods, floating lines and 7 1/2 leaders. We generally start the day using No. 10 poppers. The early topwater bite has been good. However, it usually shuts down after a couple of hours. Rather than giving up, we go subsurface, using No. 14 gold bead Hare's Ears, No. 12 Myakka Minnows (my creation) and No. 14 bead-head nymphs (olive or rust). The subsurface action has been hot and fun.
I was taken deep into the backing recently. I was casting a Hare's Ear toward the cover and hooked a fish. Instead of a bluegill, it turned out to be a sizeable fish. Fortunately, it headed for the middle of the lake rather than back into the cover.
Before I knew it, I was into the backing (first time ever in fresh water in Florida). I fought the fish for about 5 minutes, then the hook pulled. I'm sure it was a hefty channel cat.
Channel cats grow pretty large in the lake and are plentiful. They'll hit flies often.
Kevin Cook, who runs Casey Key Anglers & Outfitters in nearby Nokomis, fished with me and hooked a nice channel cat on fly -- a No. 10 Wooly Bugger. This cat, however, headed for the bushes and broke off just as we were landing it.
Bass are beginning to school up and chase shad. I ran into a school that was chasing minnows on the surface at the end of a trip the other day. I caught a fat 2-pounder on a No. 12 chartreuse popper.
The speckled perch run should bust loose as soon as we get a cold snapp. Ditto for sunshine bass (a cross between and white bass and striper). Sunshines average 3 pounds and often go 7 or more.
The best thing about Lake Manatee is it's great for kayak fishing. There's little boat traffic (we're often the only people on the lake) and we catch lots of fish.
For more on Lake Manatee, check out: http://www.floridastateparks.org/lakemanatee/
Here are a couple of photos from our outings:
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Originally Posted by Gringo
