Slamming in the shallows

Flats fishing with Southern Drawl Kayak Fishing has been good and should really get better now that the cool weather has arrived.

Slams -- redfish, snook and spotted seatrout on the same trip -- have been par for the course. In fact, we've slammed on eight of our nine recent outings.

Top spot has been Bishop Harbor off southern Tampa Bay during the incoming tide. We've been getting snook to 26 inches, redfish to 28 and spotted seatrout to 16 on Rapala Skitter Walks, D.O.A. 1/4-ounce gold glitter shrimp and D.O.A. CAL Jigs.

Spotted seatrout also are scattered on grass patches in the middle of the harbor.

Outside in Tampa Bay, we've been getting redfish, snook, spotted seatrout, jack crevalle and flounder. We recently paddled to a spoil island near Port Manatee and caught eight snook to 27 inches, three redfish to 24, four spotted seatrout to 18, five jack crevalle, two gag grouper and 11 flounder. Most of the fish came at the bottom of the tide, right on the edge of the flat.

Next day, snook and redfish were absent, but we did land 15 spotted seatrout to 18 inches on CAL Jigs.

Ken Taylor of North Port joined us for an all-day outing and caught plethora of spotted seatrout on D.O.A. Shrimp and the MirrOlure MirrOdine in gold finish. He caught his fish in Bishop Harbor and on the flats in southern Tampa Bay.

We also landed snook, redfish, spotted seatrout and flounder on the trip.

John Garrity of Toledo, Ohio and his son, Jake, fished a half-day with me at Buttonwood Harbor on Sarasota Bay. Action was slow on the outgoing tide, but they did end up with spotted seatrout, jack crevalle, ladyfish and flounder.

We'll start running our heralded Everglades trips in about a month. In addition, to largemouth bass, bluegill, shellcracker and stumpknocker, we target the exotics: oscar, Mayan cichlid and peacock bass.

Fishing improves significantly after the rainy season when the water level drops. It concentrates the fish. Anglers average 100 fish or more per trip.

Give me a call at (941) 284-3406 if you'd like to book a kayak fishing outing.

Remember, the worst time you'll have will be pretty darn good.