Sept 19
Navarre, Florida

Left Mississippi around 3 A.M. to do a little offshore kayak fishing.  The drive over to Florida is never that bad.  I may be a little tired but the excitement of catching pelagic's certainly overpowers it.  The night before I checked the surf report one last time before going to bed and I knew it was on.  I am a very avid kayak angler here along the Mississippi gulf coast, catching red drum, speckled trout and flounder consistently.  Not once has it ever god old but every month or so I make the pilgrimage across Mississippi and Alabama into Florida to get my fix on big fish and newer species.

     I pulled into the Navarre Pier parking lot just about the time the sun-rays starting beaming out of the horizon.  I scrambled to get my boat and gear down to the beach as if I was in a race with someone.  I've always been like that, I just get so excited.  Each time fishing out of the kayak feels like it did the very first time.

     I busted through the breakers and made my way out to just past the second sand bar where I sabikied up some hard-tails and a few very large cigar minnows.  Once I had the fish candy in the boat I was off to deeper water.  I must of only trolled for about 15 minutes before something started peeling out some drag.  I knew it was a king by the way he struck my bait, he ripped 50 yards of line out in one burst and then it was over.  I reeled him up to the boat, grabbed the built in handle he had provided(his tail) and wrestled him in.  He had a bit more energy than I had imagined at this point but he was in the boat and there was no going back.  

     The next hour or so consisted of me trolling along with pretty much no action.  That's when the next king hit, peeling out just as much line as his brother before.  I already had one in the cooler and no room for him so I took my time with the fight, played with him a bit.  Unfortunately it was a minute too long because a few quick thrashes of the head and he was free to fight another day.

     Just as I got to trolling again I ran into some other yakkers out there, one whom had a decent sized mahi on the line.  It was going Nuts!  I think that fish spent more time in the air than he did the water.  This got all his little buddies excited and everyone started hooking up.  I chucked a live hard-tail over in the water a few times and finally hooked up to my first ever Mahi!

     Overall it was another amazing day on the water.  The king ended up on the smoker and the mahi made for some of the best fish tacos i've ever had the pleasure of eating!  Tight lines my friends!