There’s nothing better than getting the kayak in the water, tossing a few lines, and almost getting attacked by a bull shark.
As an avid kayak angler myself, I’ll be the first one to tell you, there’s a lot to love about yak fishing. For starters, you’re not filling it up with gas (you see those prices right now), you can get into just about anywhere (places boats can’t go), and it’s a whole lot cheaper than buying a new bass boat.
My Old Town Sportsman isn’t exactly cheap, and when you throw in the Minn Kota Terrova and my Humminbird Xplore, it starts to add up… but hey, still a lot cheaper than a boat.
Although, as someone who mostly fishes the norther natural lakes of Wisconsin, it’s a whole different ballgame than saltwater fishing in Florida. Sure, I have to dodge the occasional wake boat, but I definitely don’t have to worry about sharks.
Florida Fishing
Florida is refuge of sorts for anglers of all kinds. It’s freshwaters are full of trophy largemouth, bowfin, gar, and many other game species while the saltwater fishing is some of the best in the world.
The Sunshine State gets especially alluring in the winter, when the painfully cold air most other places makes fishing impossible, but don’t let dreams of crystal clear water and an array of fish so wide it’s near impossible to know them all cloud your head, because there’s certainly a downside, especially when your vessel of choice is a kayak.
But there are some benefits… a kayak allows anglers to push deep into the backcountry, navigate winding mangrove tunnels, and silently stalk fish in “skinny water” (water less than a foot deep) where motorized flats boats simply cannot go.
Kayak anglers are usually hunting species such as bonefish, tarpon, and permit, along with redfish, snook, and barracuda.
Fish in the Keys are notoriously highly pressured and easily spooked by engine noise or hull slap. A kayak allows an angler to silently glide within casting distance of a tailing bonefish or a laid-up tarpon without alerting them.
However, that’s not all that’s in the water…
One angler was out in the Florida Keys when he had quite the scare thanks to one of the aggressive species of shark that patrol the coastal and inner-costal waterways.
Rich Janitschek hooked up with something small that he’d probably turn into bait, and just as he got it out of the water and was reaching to grab it, a big old bull shark came barreling towards him.
For a second it looked like we were in for a tiger shark in Hawaii situation but fortunately for Rich it turned down at the last second when an free and easy meal was no longer in sight.
Even for a seasoned Florida angler like Rich, the moment was downright terrifying, who started his caption simply with:
“Code brown”
Can’t blame the guy if he needed some new undies after that, just watching got my pulse elevated. All’s well that ends well (I guess) and he continues to fish from his kayak, but let this be a warning to all heading down to Florida at any point this year.
Yes, there’s lots of incredible and mostly harmless wildlife, but there’s also a ton that look at you as nothing more than their next meal.
