Kayaking Placida During Florida Fish-In

Fishing Saltwater Fly Fishing
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Hey Florida Fish-In Freaks,

I’ll be fishing the Placida area on Saturday out of my kayak. I’m not a guide but know just enough about the area to get lost or maybe even put you on a fish or three. Mangroves, flats, oyster bars, mangroves with oysterbars, etc. No guarantees other than I guarantee you a nice paddle and hopefully a fish or three.

I’ll be heading out of Grande Tours as soon as they open which is 8:30am. They close at 4:30pm but I asked about coming in a little later and the lady said that could be arranged. We may be exhausted by then anyway.

Single kayaks … paddle only … rent for $45 + tax for an 8 hour day. Single kayaks rigged for fishing are $60+ tax for an 8 hr. day. Didn’t think to ask if the kayaks are rigged for fly fishing or spin fishing. If they are using Scotty’s rod holders, they can be switched out. Not sure though … sorry.

I have one extra kayak (Wilderness System’s Tarpon 120) that is rigged for fishing and is up for grabs. I also have one 14ft Old Town Guide Series canoe that is also available. I’ll be bringing the extra kayak down for sure but unless a special request for the canoe is posted here in the next couple of days, I’ll leave it behind. Or e-mail me at fla_skibum@hotmail.com and put Bring Canoe in the Subject Line.

Low tide is at 8:58am and high tide is at 2:57pm for that Saturday. The quicker we can get out to the flats the better our chances of spotting a tailing red on the incoming tide.

Again, I’m not a guide, just a mediocre fly flinger at best. But we’ll have fun none-the-less.

Here is the link to Grande Tours.
[url=http://www.grandetours.com/:22640]http://www.grandetours.com/[/url:22640]

They have tons of kayaks but it wouldn’t hurt to phone ahead. They might just have your kayak ready at the launch if you give advance notice of what you want (if you know).

Hey … do NOT forget your water and especially your sunscreen. A nice floppy hat and long sleeves wouldn’t hurt either. 'Tis gonna be a little warm for the “Nawthunuhs”.

Gil

[This message has been edited by FL_SKIBUM (edited 28 February 2006).]

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Oh, forgot to mention that Placida will be about a 30 - 40 minute (correct me if I’m wrong Dave) drive from Venice. It will be Saturday morning so traffic shouldn’t be too bad.

Gil

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Gil we are all excited, I hope you will let a little Lady Bug by Dave Curtis go along . Michele has outiggers and whiskers from The Yukon, a 700 mile 29 day sojourn among other adventures.

Excus my spelling and gramma, I hooked Mondays and Fridays so I could Hunt or fish.

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About a 40 minute drive to cover 23 miles. Water is clear in Bull Bay & Gaspirilla Sound, the Peace River is dark & the Harbor is still like Guiness Stout in places, Lemon Bay should be clear water. Might be alot of fun, as kayaking is something I’ve not tried because of lack of time. Only drawbacks on this weekend are the amount of boat traffic & the 3 redfish tournaments in the area.Clearwater, Punta Gorda & ???. Lemon Bay is sort of on the far reaches of where they’ll fish, but the shallow water of Whidden & Catfish Creeks should keep a large majority of the boats out.

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" … the shallow water of Whidden & Catfish Creeks should keep a large majority of the boats out."

That’s what I’m counting on Dave. By the time the water gets deep enough (high tide 2:57pm) them Redfish boats will have to be thinking about heading back to their Weigh-Ins.

You’re more than welcome to paddle out with us. Keep in mind that you just may wind up wanting to own one. They are great for fishing the No Motor Zones.

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Old Geezer,

What’s that white stuff in the photo? We have sand that color, but didn’t know NY had that colored sand??

Enjoy the fish-in. Wanted to attend but have to work on a project.

Regards to all.

I fly fish the salt because the voices in my head tell me to…

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With 120 boats in the flatsmasters out of Punta Gorda, there’s going to be boats everywhere. Talked with Capt Tournament this morning & he said his Pathfinder, which drfts 9"; can get in there on the morning tide, but alot of the boats won’t fish the area as snook are on the move!

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We’ll talk when we get down there…

We’ve been wanting to try yaks and it sounds like fun; but, we have no experience. As long as the paddle is easy we’ll be OK…I think

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Well, hopefully the boats will be poling while up on the flats. The boats poling don’t bother me … it’s the ones who think they need to be on plane in that 9" of water you speak of that worry me.

Florida just passed Michigan (just under 1,000,000 now) as having the second most registered boats in the U.S. Second only to California. Guess we’d better just get used to it.

Gil

p.s. The wind would be the only thing that would make this a somewhat difficult paddle but 10 mph is what was called for last time I checked … not bad, not bad at all.

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Since the Flatsmasters is a one day event,only Saturday; you may want to reconsider & fish Sunday. Then again, you could actually fish Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda up towards Fishermans Village & catch all the fish weighed in & released the day before, unless they’ve swum down the east wall; but still an easy paddle ! ( a tackle shop employee gave me this little bit of info )

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Dave,

Sunday at Placida is going to be NUTS too. At least in the morning.

There is some kayak “race” starting in Ft DeSoto heading to God knows where and all of them are getting off the water in Placida on Saturday afternoon/evening and taking off again on Sunday morning.

“Grande Tours” will be BOOKED to the max with kayaks and kayakers Sat night and Sun morning.

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There are other kayak rental options for the pirates. Sent a 1 st day email to FAOL, because the bulletin board wasn’t online until the it’s fish-in week post from here.