Summer Time Fishing

With summer fully entrenched here in Florida, it’s a good time to review summer time tactics.  With the water temps on the increase, I would like to discuss the most import ant thing to remember this time of year. Fight your fish quickly and spend the extra time to revive it fully before releasing it. This means upping your tackle, go to a heavier pound test on your leader, tighten down the drag, even use a heavier rod if necessary.  With the warmer water, it tends to get just a little murkier, so upping your leader from 20 lbs to 30 or even 40 lbs isn’t that big of deal.  I find that the fish are more active early in the morning and late in the evening when light conditions are lower. So upping your leader should be no problem.  Tighten down on that drag. There’s nothing better than fighting a big ole redfish when it’s taking drag. That’s all well and fun when the water is cooler, but this time of year if you let a redfish take too much drag, you can and will kill it.  They will fight so hard that lactic acid builds up their muscles and this can kill them. So crank down and that drag, get them in quick. Hand in hand with this, maybe go to a heavier rod that will allow you to do this.

So you’ve caught a really nice redfish, snook or even a tarpon. Now what?  You owe it to the fish to spend the proper amount of time to revive it. Using a lip gripper or whatever method suits you, work the fish forward, allowing fresh saltwater to pass through its open mouth and gills. If I get out of my kayak and if the bottom allows, I will walk a short distance away. Why you ask? Well most likely you have stirred up the bottom around your kayak, so you would be introducing muddy water with no real oxygen content into the fish. I also don’t agree with the method of moving the fish back and forth. This can cause water to flow backwards through the gills, which are designed for water to move in one direction only. This method might seem like its working, but it can be harmful. Spend that extra time and make sure the fish doesn’t swim away only to turn belly up.