Southwest Florida Kayak Angler's Association

Went to Chokoloskee on Saturday.

Day didn't start out great - my 2017 Frontier decided it didn't want to start up at the gas station at 4 in the morning.
It hesitated in my driveway but I figured maybe it had to do with the angle I parked and my low fuel situation.
Luckily a guy was there and jumped me.
Figured I must have left something on/open the night before when loading my stuff up. Figured the drive to Choko would charge it up.

Went to my uncles, got him all loaded up, made our way to Choko.

Got to the Choko Island Park around 640 and had to wait for it to open.
Met a dude there with a Vibe Kayak, had extensions off to a pontoon with a little 3.5? hp honda in the middle. Pretty slick setup.
Ramp was pretty busy but we finally got on the water around 720 or so.

Tide pretty low and going out.

Uncle ran into some oysters. couldn't see very well due to the sun being low. the bay is like one large oyster bar. Have to be careful even in kayaks.
We started watching boats and found a way to get out a bit.
Wouldn't want to go boating in the area without a local expert, seems like a good way to ruin a boat.

Didn't have much luck fishing the exposed bars so we went back in the mangroves and fished around for awhile.

Got a small trout early, a small jack, then later casted to a wake cruising a few foot of a shoreline. hooked into a monster fish. Thought for sure it was a red but it ended up being a large jack. Was a good fight. Dissapointed i didn't get my red but i won't turn down a large jack any day.

Uncle got a small grouper on a DOA Shrimp.
We had gone a few weekends ago and I got one then as well.
Pretty cool catch.

Got some finger mullet from a little cut we found. It's odd how different this place is compared to Matlacha.
at Matlacha you can easily find spots to get out of the kayak back in the bays and creeks and whatnot - not so much here.
I have a small net I can throw from the yak. Got a handful of finger mullet.

Lost a few to what i assume were probably snapper or small grouper.

Tide was coming in at this point and I mean it was /coming in/ - so much water movement it's insane.

Threw a finger mullet by some mangroves in heavy flow and hooked up immediately.
Fought it in and it turned out to be a large spanish mac.
thought this was weird because I usually only catch these out on the beaches.

Was getting really hot and no see ems started attacking us so we started making our way back, fishing the spots we had already fished on low tide on high tide now.

Ended up getting another trout, this one pretty decently sized.
Lost my last finger mullet to something small.

Uncle had a massive take that pulled him into the mangroves and broke him off. Assuming a large snook.

Headed back to launch.

No reds or snook but it was still fun getting out there and exploring. Chokoloskee is like another world.

When we got back in boaters kept asking how we did. I guess no one did super well that day, the running theory was the full moon the night before but...

Went to start my truck - dead.
The dudes working there had a jump box, I guess for boats but it worked for me. They were super helpful.
Got jumped and headed back to the cape.

Guess the battery had a dead cell. Alternator tested fine.
175 for a new battery. sigh.

Other than that was a great day.
Fishing was rough but it's so awesome there it's worth the drive.

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Making some fishing vids when I can, check them out if you'd like.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB_GwMr8PPyMFNknau3b5mw

Choko is like another world... its amazing the difference in places, variety is good though, Biscayne Bay is crystal clear fairly hard bottom with lots of grass but no oysters except one small secret spot, Flamingo is mud central murky water used to have good grass but not so much any more but don't get out of the kayak there you'll lose your shoes and sink up to your waist, then Choko is hard bottom generally murky and more oysters that you can imagine I have to follow FH, Viv, or Pete around...

Not been to Pine Island or around Matlacha so its good to have another paddler from that local area around.

Good report... and at least ya caught some fish.

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Old Fugger who just likes to fish, have tackle will trave

Thanks for the great report.

Other than your battery problem, how do you like the 2017 Frontier.

A new or newer truck is on my wish list to replace my 2004 Chev.

I love my Frontier.
I had one before but it wasn't the full cab.
it was a 4 cyl like 2015 or something.

Upgraded to the 2017 6cyl Frontier Desert Runner in preparation for my baby. Needed the full back seats.

I love it.

There aren't like any super fancy electronics or whatever but I've got no problem with that.
Seats comfortable, ride is good, I got no complaints.

If I had the money i'd probably go with a Tacoma to be honest but I really like my truck.

Had nothing go wrong on my previous one. Owned it for like 3 years or so, all I did was change the oil. I put some miles on that bad boy, driving to NC multiple times, down to the keys a lot, etc.

_________________
Making some fishing vids when I can, check them out if you'd like.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB_GwMr8PPyMFNknau3b5mw

I echo Krash's comments on Choko, can be a frustrating place. Sorry you had truck issues, but at least you got back

I had battery issues in the last couple weeks also, must be that time of year winter is coming...

Had mine in the driveway though, dead as dead can be the doors would not even unlock, had battery replaced, less than 2 weeks later same thing.. dead as dead can be not evne a click... called again I have AAA, they came and said probably either your starter or alternator.. I said you checked it last tie you were here... he hooked up his tester again and sure enough dead as dead can be.. hooked his jump box and the alarm goes off and would not go off and he said that's probably your problem the alarm must be bad and ran your battery down.. I laughed and said BS dude... he hooked his truck jumper cables up and after about 30 seconds hit the keyfob button and it shuts off the alarm.. also locks and unlocks the doors, cranked it... he ran his test. said its not the starter or altenater, and replaced the battery again... signed his forms and away he went... been good since.

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Old Fugger who just likes to fish, have tackle will trave

It's frustrating to deal with but that's life I guess.
Hopefully my new battery holds up.
Hopefully yours does too lol.


I plan on going to choko again when the water temp goes down some, feel like the fishing may be better.

One of my bucket list fishing things is to go out in the gulf stream out of Lauderdale or Miami or whatever and fish for pelagics.
See dudes do it in yaks and it looks super awesome.

Wish we had that kind of offshore fishing on this coast.

Our deal here is the inshore I suppose but with all this fresh water, algae and red tide...

_________________
Making some fishing vids when I can, check them out if you'd like.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB_GwMr8PPyMFNknau3b5mw

Salty Vet
Thanks for your comments on the Frontier truck. It probably is a safe bet for my newer truck but I do have a friend that has a Tacoma that is a beauty and recommended. So, I will consider a used Tacoma if I can find one for a reasonable price.

There are a bunch of oyster bars and islands in Matlacha Pass if you launch from Tropical Point park. I used to fish that a lot when I lived on Pine Island. Very fishy and you can anchor your kayak and get out and wade the edges when the tide is right. I have caught everything out on those bars except that snook seem to be in close to the mangroves.

Yep, batteries is part of maintenance for us car owners just one thing like tires and oil ya have to replace.

Offshore you read about is one thing but getting out to the gulf stream is another. Most kayakers you read about are launching off Dania Beach or Pompano Beach and fishing what I would call near shore fishing or areas boaters bottom fish and seldom get to the actual West edge of the gulf stream itself. The stream is usually a good 3 or 4 miles offshore from Dania, a little closer in Pompano.
The kayakers are basically fishing structure, wrecks or bottom, and some get out to 350 to 500'. They do catch Dolphin, Sailfish, Wahoo occasionaly but more often the big catch is AmberJack, various Tuna/Bonita, and KingFish once in a while a keeper Grouper.
When we go in the boat offshore we generally don't even drop a line until we hit 750' area and thats only if we see birds, floatsam, or a weedline or big patch, which is about 5 miles off and we usually venture out about 11 plus miles where its 1000' -1200' depths.

Our inshore fishing in Ft. Lauderdale is non-existant, Miami's Biscayne Bay is the closest thing we have but that's either search for Bonefish which has been rather futile lately by kayak, some small Trout, a Snook here and there, and maybe a Tarpon.

Soon as my friends get back from vacation I plan to fish more of Choko area.

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Old Fugger who just likes to fish, have tackle will trave