Florida Fishing - Saltwater Style (11/23-11/25)

Had three absolutely beautiful days to fish saltwater.  I hadn't fished the west coast of Florida since 1993.  A friend of ours hooked us up with a condo in Siesta Key - another incredible find while in Florida.  We found a place to launch near Turtle Beach.  Dropped the kayak in and found tons of fish.

Best fishing seemed to be on the incoming tide.  Overall best action was morning almost at low tide just as the tide began to move.  We caught snook, speckled trout, flounder, mangrove snapper, lady fish, redfish, black drum...the entire family had a blast.

I again was super impressed by my Okuma C3-40X.  Used the 6'10" light rod paired with the Helios spinning reel to tame the sea.  Biggest fish was a big snook (not sure of how big it was - not familiar enough with length and weight with saltwater fish).  We purchased a couple shrimp imitation lures made by Savage lures (TPE Manic Shrimp - avocado and brown were our best colors).  These shrimp do an unbelievable job of imitating the real thing.  We started with the 4" model and down sized to the 2 1/2" model.  Both were extremely effective.

We found fish tightly schooled in key areas where there were little deeper depressions.