Kayaking
November 2000 --- I recently bought a kayak because I thought it would be an enjoyable change of pace from offshore fishing (and good exercise as well). I bought an Ocean Kayak "Scrambler XT". It's 12 feet long, weighs about 56 lbs, and is a "sit-on-top" type kayak. There are many great places to kayak around Central Florida. The Wekiva River is about 4 miles away from my house and I can also use the kayak to try some saltwater inshore fishing (like in the Banana River no motor zone).
Here are some photos of the flora/fauna I took during a short trip on the Wekiva river just north of SR46. This trip was on December 1 and the temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees. :)
These first photos should give an idea of the amount of traffic on the river during the week. (None!)
Various "chicken" type animals....
Fall colors in Florida....
These small black chickens are very nervous and only allow me to get within about 20 yards before they haul butt.
Pictures from another trip on the Wekiva (12/09/00). Here's Bob enjoying the downstream run....
A small gator catching some sun on a tree limb....
Here's a picture of Clammy in one of the canals during our first kayak fishing expedition to the Mosquito Lagoon.... Clammy was the big winner that day. I got humbled and abused by those darn fish.
The next trip to the Mosquito Lagoon was by myself. I made several changes to my tactics and they worked (for the most part). I caught four trout (10"-18") and three Redfish (18"-32"). I caught two of the trout on a floating silver/black Rattletrap, one on a gold spoon, and one on a weedless bass jig head with chartreuse salamander tail.
It was the first time I've pursued Redfish up on the flats, and it took a while to figure out an effective tactic. Problem number one was just spotting them. Several times I was right on top of them before I saw them because they make no disturbance in the water when they're just moseying along. Problem number two was getting them to hit something without spooking. Problem number three was finding something to throw at them that didn't get weeded in only 10" of water. Finally I tried a root beer DOA colored shrimp and I worked it real real slow. And I caught all three Redfish within 30 minutes on the DOA. And by the way, it's not easy to take a decent picture of a fish when you're alone and in a kayak. The big redfish towed me around for 10-15 minutes.
Nov 2001 --- Took a couple of trips on the Wekiva over the Thanksgiving holiday. The weather was great (mid 70s). The wind was blowing pretty good though...
Here's a link to another page with more recent photos I've taken with my new digital Rebel SLR camera while kayaking. The new SLR (with 75-300mm IS lens) allows me to take MUCH better photographs.