Guided Kayak Ocean trip with JD7.62 on 8/25

My wife and I just got back from Destin for an extended weekend. Knowing I didn't want to spend every single waking moment on the beach, I remembered that JD7.62 had posted a thread about guided kayak trips near there.

I contacted him and we went out on Saturday morning. I had a blast! I caught a couple of King Mackerel, 3 Red Snapper, 1 Cobia (quick release, though) and some remora (those were kind of a pain). I've basically never done any saltwater fishing and those fish pull HARD! We talked to a few other kayak fisherman when were done and we did better than most, if not all of them.

I say "I caught" because Jason (JD7.62) spent the entire trip either making sure I was having fun, educating me on fishing the local nature and creatures, catching bait, baiting my line, taking the fish off the hook, etc.

We went about 2 miles out and saw a couple of different pods of dolphin that surfaced right near the kayaks. The coolest site, though, was a big loggerhead turtle just bobbing up and own on the surface a couple of miles from shore.

As I said, I had a great time and would recommend anyone who is going to that area to look up Jason and book a trip with him. He's very knowledgeable and good company. Since we flew down there, I didn't have any fishing gear and he provided everything.

Nice post, I enjoyed reading it. Great testimonial for his service to.

WTG Jason..

That strong North East wind was killer and you handled it exceptionally well. I had a great time and glad I could put you on some fish. That remora was nuts when he stuck under your kayak and then stuck under my kayak. For those of you that dont know, remora have a sucker on their head and you cant get them off once they stick on something and his fish was still hooked to his line when the fish stuck to our kayaks. Here is one of the kings you caught.

The storm has the water ROUGH right now with some solid fifteen foot waves so I think its going to be awhile before we hit it again.

With the coming cooler weather I'm looking forward to the tuna and sail fish to come in with more regularity. We also have more predictable weather as those pop up summer storms sure can bring up the pucker factor when they spawn out of no where and youre rods start humming with electricity and your a few miles out.

I have also recently purchased a Hobie Revolution so now I have two Hobies for anyone wanting to fish hands free as you peddle instead of paddle. As far as I know Im the only person in the area with this option.

Again, Mike I had a great time and I'm truly impressed how well you did given the rough conditions.

[QUOTE=JD7.62;497078]That strong North East wind was killer and you handled it exceptionally well. I had a great time and glad I could put you on some fish. That remora was nuts when he stuck under your kayak and then stuck under my kayak. For those of you that dont know, remora have a sucker on their head and you cant get them off once they stick on something and his fish was still hooked to his line when the fish stuck to our kayaks. Here is one of the kings you caught.

The storm has the water ROUGH right now with some solid fifteen foot waves so I think its going to be awhile before we hit it again.

With the coming cooler weather I'm looking forward to the tuna and sail fish to come in with more regularity. We also have more predictable weather as those pop up summer storms sure can bring up the pucker factor when they spawn out of no where and youre rods start humming with electricity and your a few miles out.

I have also recently purchased a Hobie Revolution so now I have two Hobies for anyone wanting to fish hands free as you peddle instead of paddle. As far as I know Im the only person in the area with this option.

Again, Mike I had a great time and I'm truly impressed how well you did given the rough conditions.[/QUOTE]

Man, that is awesome.

Way to go know1. Those kings are a blast. I have yet to hook up with a cobia. We went out with jd7 earlier this summer and had a blast.

Jd7, we randomly start talking about wanting sit on tops just because of that trip. I hope I will be able to make the trip down next year. I dont know yet how leniant they are with new nurse schedules.

[QUOTE=killroy1221;497083]Way to go know1. Those kings are a blast. I have yet to hook up with a cobia. We went out with jd7 earlier this summer and had a blast.

Jd7, we randomly start talking about wanting sit on tops just because of that trip. I hope I will be able to make the trip down next year. I dont know yet how leniant they are with new nurse schedules.[/QUOTE]

If you can make it down let me know and we will wet a line for sure. I've found some great bottom spots since yall came down which gives us even more opportunities to catch fish. Also, you wont have to paddle any more with my two new Hobies.

I love kayak fishing. Being so close to the water in a small craft getting towed around by a fish is just a blast. Due to my location being over twenty miles from the nearest pass, we rarely see boats and get to fish waters that are not hit very hard at all so the fish are bigger and willing to bite. Also, with my Hobies anyone who can peddle a bike can now fish out of a kayak hands free.

Im really excited to see what the fishing is going to be like after this Hurricane clears out. I hope it bring in plenty of grass and the bigger pelagics to tangle with but the wait is killing me.

Thanks for posting the picture, Jason. I didn't have it with me when I started the thread.

Very nice! :) I would love to do that one day!

The fishing in Destin, FL is awesome, I go down and fish there about every 6 weeks. My next trip down is in a little over a week away, be down there from 8-15th fishing every day. The amount of fish that can be caught there even close is just amazing. I go a little farther out 12, 16 and 20 miles out to different wrecks and the mother load is at 16 and 20 miles out. Good days are 75-100 big fish no bs, snapper, grouper, AJs, sharks etc. Its just amazing.
Anybody that happens to be down there Sept. 8-15 give me a shout would be happy to take you out.

Otherwise if down there you don't have a boat or the means to go out get hooked up with someone like JD7.62becuase its an awesome fishery there and you don't have to go that far. Fishing is great year round.

Living on Lake Cumberland is great, but I can't resist the Destin trips, its too much fun so I leave the stripers to swim another day.

I will be down in Destin with the family from Oct 6 - 13 and would like to do some fishing while there. Only thing I've ever tried there was fishing from the jetties bc our condo is right near there, and never had too much luck. I would like to find a way to catch some fish while down there as well.

a few pics from last trip

[QUOTE=JUSTINHALL;497154]The fishing in Destin, FL is awesome, I go down and fish there about every 6 weeks. My next trip down is in a little over a week away, be down there from 8-15th fishing every day. The amount of fish that can be caught there even close is just amazing. I go a little farther out 12, 16 and 20 miles out to different wrecks and the mother load is at 16 and 20 miles out. Good days are 75-100 big fish no bs, snapper, grouper, AJs, sharks etc. Its just amazing.
Anybody that happens to be down there Sept. 8-15 give me a shout would be happy to take you out.

Otherwise if down there you don't have a boat or the means to go out get hooked up with someone like JD7.62becuase its an awesome fishery there and you don't have to go that far. Fishing is great year round.

Living on Lake Cumberland is great, but I can't resist the Destin trips, its too much fun so I leave the stripers to swim another day.[/QUOTE]

I fish often offshore with some friends out of Destin and Pensacola. This fall, when the blue water comes back in, we plan on doing a mothership trip and take a few yaks out to troll for some big game like wahoo, billfish and big mahi, maybe even try something crazy and fish for swords at night around the spur.

We dont do too much bottom fishing on the boats because we can access all of those fish except AJs - well we do occasionally catch AJs but not often - just a couple miles off Navarre Beach for a fraction of the price. We have live bottom spots in seventy to seventy five feet of water that close in. On calm clear days you can just see all of the snapper swimming around the reef and put your bait in front of the one you want.

DRob, if you are interested in going out with me just shoot me an email at jldowns04 at gmail dot com. If you are staying by the Destin Jetties you are only about thirty minutes from me. October is my favorite time to fish. The water is usually flat and crystal clear. Also the tuna and sailfish tend to come in better in October.