Florida second report - little tunny!

[BenCantrell]

Second Florida report! Most of May was too windy to get out on the open water here, but Memorial Day weekend was perfect with low wind in the mornings. We launched from a different beach from my first report that didn't have stairs to deal with. Using beach wheels saved a lot of time compared to carrying loaded kayaks one at a time.



As soon as we launched we were surrounded by fish blowing up bait on the surface. My kayak partner hooked up with a Spanish mackerel right away using a Rapala Slashbait 12.



I was using an almost identical X-Rap 10, and within 10 minutes or so I caught my first little tunny.



Ended up with five of them all together. I learned that if you want to release them healthy it's best to keep them in the water and shake the hook loose with a pair of pliers. We kept the ones that didn't make it.





I trolled several miles with an X-Rap Magnum 20 and a similar sized Yo-zuri lure that also dives 20 ft, but neither got hit. We wanted to catch some small reef fish to pad the lifelist, so we headed south to the area we fished from my first report. I dropped a jig tipped with shrimp and pulled up a blue runner.



Next was a blackear wrasse, a new one for me.



Followed by a hairy blenny.



And an Atlantic bumper, also new.



At noon the wind picked up abruptly, so we paddle back north to our beach. I swung out to deeper water (30-35 ft) so I could troll the 20 ft lures, but they still didn't get touched. When I dropped below 20 ft I switched back to the X-Rap 10 and picked up another guaguanche.



One of us had a picture perfect landing, and the other surfed a wave in before wiping out in the trough. A rod bit the dust, but other than that nothing was lost.



We brought home the Spanish mack for dinner and 2 little tunny and a ladyfish for future shark bait. The mackerel was excellent marinated in a mixture of kombucha, soy sauce, honey, and sriracha.



Once again we didn't make it far from shore. We agreed next time we want to head out further and bottom fish some wrecks or artificial reefs.



Miles: 7.3
Hours: 5:00
Water Temp: 79 *
Wind Speed: 2 to 12 **

* Water temp from https://seatemperature.info/sebastia...mperature.html
** Max wind speed from https://www.windfinder.com/report/me...res/2021-05-29