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Fishing From A Canoe Can Be Fun And Lucrative

Photo by FRED EVERSON

Extreme low tides on the South Shore flats are made to order for a canoe or kayak.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 12, 2008

Cold fronts have been frequent and fairly severe for this time of year, and that's scattered the sardines that were so plentiful a few short weeks ago.

For live bait anglers, sardines are the key to success, and when they get scarce the fishing gets difficult.

For fishermen who do not rely on natural bait, however, November is often one of the best months of the year. Snook are still in season, on the flats and eating. Redfish are schooled up and staking out their winter turf, and cobia will roam the flats for the next few weeks in clear water.

I awoke one morning last week to an extreme low tide - so low that I could not get my skiff off the lift. But it was sunny and cool with a light breeze so I rigged my rowing platform on the canoe, donned my waders and headed for the flats south of the Little Manatee River.

The tide was so low that my oars were bottoming out as I rowed across the flats in less than a foot of water. Even a high-dollar carbon-Kevlar poling skiff could not travel in water this shallow, and while you seldom find fish here, they will head for deeper water inside the troughs.

As I rowed across the bar on the north end of Sand Key, I swapped ends of the canoe and pushed instead of pulled. When pushing the bow forward, the canoe is so quiet and the profile is so low that it lets me get very close to redfish, and this day I was not disappointed.

Redfish began to scoot around me in easy casting distance, and on the second cast I hooked up on a long cast with a pompano jig.

This is a great lure to throw at spooky redfish in shallow water, and it will also catch trout and snook. It was a fat 25-inch fish and full of fight; it took me the better part of 10 minutes to land, and since I had fish dinner on my mind, I stepped out of the canoe in ankle-deep water to ensure the catch.

I put that fish on the stringer, strapped on my wading belt with another rod, put out the anchor and walked away from the canoe in search of another fish.

I saw plenty of redfish and had a number of good casts to them, alternately throwing a 7 MR Mirrolure and the pompano jig.

But the tide had slackened, the wind picked up and apparently the bite shut down. It was blowing so hard it was easier to walk the canoe back to the mouth of the river than buck the blow with the oars. Wind is any paddle craft's worst enemy, but as it was out of the north I was able to tuck behind the lee shore of the island in the mouth of the river and made it back to the dock without much trouble.

Even though I seldom travel in water deeper than 2 or 3 feet, I wear an inflatable live vest. In this cool weather, it is lightweight and comfortable, and since the law requires you to carry one, you might as well wear it.

The other essential piece of equipment on any paddle boat is an anchor. If you want to get off the boat, you have to secure it, and remember they can float off in an inch of water.

Fred Everson is a Ruskin fishing guide. All South Shore fishermen and guides may submit information and photographs to be included in this column by calling (813) 830-8890 or sending an e-mail to ihuntsnook@aol.com.

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