May Florida Trip

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I've noticed that I really don't share much on here, and I want that to change. So now when I do a trip you all will be informed and will get a recap, like it or not.

Alright for the past two years I have been hearing about the JKF it’s a Kayak Fishing Tournament in Jacksonville Florida. The proceeds go to the Down Syndrome Foundation of Jacksonville, and this is the largest kayak fishing tournament in the U.S. This is something that has interested me and it would give me a reason to go back to Jacksonville where Sarah and I lived for four years. It was easy talking Sarah into going all I had to say was Florida and fishing and she was game.
We planned this before Sarah got a job so I went ahead and planned the trip for 9 days. Well in the meantime Sarah picked up an awesome job, so she couldn’t make it the entire time she ended up flying down on Wednesday.
My plan was to head out on Friday the 6th and drive straight to Jacksonville. 3pm couldn’t come quick enough at work; I was already packed and ready to go with a quick stop by Sarah’s office to tell her goodbye. Well with Wade in Atlanta I had to try to meet up with him. So a quick stop at the Vortex http://www.thevortexbarandgrill.com/ for a burger and chat with Wade was great. Back on the road around 9:30p. The drive was great not really any traffic, and I enjoy driving by myself I don’t get any of those (What are you thinking about questions). I arrive at my buddy (Boris’s) house in Jacksonville around 2:30am. I got some good rest that morning.
Saturday we woke up and just took it easy. We went Black Fly Outfitters http://www.blackflyoutfitter.com/ , The Salty Feather http://www.saltyfeather.com/ , Strike Zone http://www.strike-zonefishing.com/ and Black Creek Outfitters http://www.blackcreekoutfitters.com/blackcreek/ where I paddled my first Paddle Board, and Boris jumped in a Tarpon 140. The paddle board is a different creature and I think I will stick with the kayak. Boris really liked the Tarpon 140. We met up with John Stewart aka JohnYaxJax on most forums he came out of retirement for Black Creek Outfitters. We both spoke with John for about two hours. John and I made plans to fish later in the week (Monday May 9th).

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It’s now after 1:30pm and past my feeding time so I have to get food. It just happened that it was Saint George day. I really don’t know all the history, but I ate so much great food, and had some great Plum Brandy. We ate, drank, and talked for the next 4 to 5 hours. There was a language barrier but food and drink somehow always break that barrier. Then off to a local brewery Bold City Brewery http://www.boldcitybrewery.com/home.php where we met up with some friends (Jay and Manessa) that Sarah and I used to live near, also Sarah worked with Jay. The Dukes Cold Nose Brown Ale, and the 1901 Red Ale were excellent brews and both get a two thumbs up. Brian and Susan Miller the Owners and Operators of the brewery were very pleasant and helpful. The food was also very good. We hung out until 1030pm or so just catching up. I also talked Boris into fishing with me Saturday morning since I have Sarah’s kayak with me.
We get up Saturday morning around 4:30am, and Boris cooks breakfast for us, and packs a lunch. We head to Wal-Mart for drinks and so Boris can get a fishing license. Now back on the road around 7am. We stop by the bait shop for Mud Minnows, and live shrimp.
We arrive at our launch location 7:15am, and start getting everything unloaded and the kayaks set up. On the water before 7:45am, and start heading back the creek. I look behind me and there is no Boris, so I keep fishing, and after 30minutes I get worried so I paddle back. He is taking his time enjoying the beautiful views, and not to worried about fishing. By this time I’ve caught a couple reds, one flounder, and a couple trout, and Boris is fishless. He ends up setting up on a bend at falling tide and starts picking up reds on a shrimp under a float no big ones all 12-16”, but he is having fun. We start chasing the tide back out and he picks up a ray, catfish, and flounder. We get off the water just after 5pm, and head back to his place. Now he says he’s getting a kayak, so if anyone from Jacksonville is reading this and has a good kayak for sale just P.M. me.
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Monday I fished a different Creek with two locals John Stewart (JohnYaxJax), and Steve. John was running a little late so Steve and head out. He has pimped out his Native with a sweet trolling motor. We fish the last part of the outgoing tide and start to fish the incoming tide and John calls saying he is on his way. I’m fishless and getting frustrated. I don’t know how Steve is doing. As John is coming around the corner I start getting into Lizard fish one after another. I get the skunk off, but end up moving to get away from these things. John and I move to an area between two large oyster bars and the bank. John hooks up with a nice one and fights it for 4 to 5 minutes I suspect it was a nice red, but it came unbuttoned just before getting it to the kayak. I stayed working the same stretch of bank Steve and John moved to the opposite side. I worked my bank for a while and then move over by Steve and John. Steve picked up a nice red in the 25” range on topwater, and missed another one just before that. I finally picked a 16” trout, and we headed back in fishing a couple docks before we called it quits. We hung out in the parking lot for about an hour then Steve left and John and I hung out for another hour or so.
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Tuesday I ended up taking a day off from fishing to relax, clean gear, and stop by the office where I used to work and see all the guys I used to work with. After cleaning all my gear and organizing for Panama City Beach trip, I took a nap. Sarah’s flight was coming in at 8:55pm. I went ahead and headed toward the airport around 5pm stopping at Gander Mountain pickup up a rod, flukes, Skitterwalks, and line. (Oyster Beds destroy flouro). I went to Bostons an eatery nearby and had a Sicilian Pizza, a couple beers, and watched some Hockey, and Baseball. On the way over to pick Sarah up I top off the tank (even the Accord gets bad fuel mileage with kayaks and gear loaded down). Sarah plane was a little late, but we were still on the road to Panama City Beach by 9:35pm. Now on the road finally we arrived at our Condo around 2:30am and planned to fish first thing in the morning.

Wednesday morning we ended up sleeping in a little due to not getting to sleep until after 3:30am. We ended up waking up around 7:30am, having breakfast and coffee. On the road around 9am. We got to Destin around 10am and it took forever to find Ben (Canonman), and Neil (BassFishingBassPlayer). When we met up with them they told us what to use and Ben was gracious enough to let us used his bait, and hooked us up with King Rigs. Ben and Neil were going to catch more bait and get ready for the evening. Sarah and I paddled out several hundred yards and trolled baits parallel with the shore at different distances from the shore. After several hours around 4pm and no action we called it a day.
On the way back to the condo we stopped by the grocery store and picked up some wine, cheese, beer, fruit and Cinnamon Rolls. We relaxed that evening hanging out with Ben and Neil at the condo and had an ok dinner at Sharkeys, and hung out at the condo until Sarah kept falling asleep on the couch.

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Thursday this would be our last day of fishing in Destin with Ben and Neil so we got up at 3:30am had our cinnamon rolls, and coffee, and then headed west for the 45min drive. It was really foggy, and I was just feet from hitting a large dog (that woke me up). We arrive before Ben and Neil and start getting everything ready in the parking lot, and use the C-Tug to cart both kayaks down to the water at the same time. We all launch safely, and start heading out. Ahead we see some nervous water so when we arrive on it it’s hundreds of thousands of baitfish all over so I start dropping the Sibiki rig down and catching 3 to 5 cigar minnows at a time until my Sibiki gets so tangled it renders it useless. We load up the bait buckets, and start looking for some game fish. We paddle all over but no bigger fish to be seen. Ben has his Coosa equipped with Lowrance electronics. So he plugs in coordinates of a wreck and we all follow. WE fish the wreck for about 2 hours with Sarah catching a Remora, me – 0, and I don’t know about Ben or Neil. Finally these big Spade fish show up 5-9lbs, and we cannot get a hookup. We are in 70’ of water and sight fishing off a wreck although you can’t physically see the wreck. I try a smaller hook with squid, and after the 3rd cast I’m hooked up. The initial run with these fish are amazing rod bending/drag screaming. I catch two more then Ben changes his set-up and starts catching them, and then Neil and Sarah change their approach. Everyone finally catches one and it’s getting late. You have to keep paddling to stay on top of the fish due to the current so it’s exhausting. About 2pm we call it a day, and head back to the beach. Sarah and I get the car loaded and stop in at the Crab Trap http://www.crabtrapdestin.com/ for a late lunch. The food was great and the service was ok. Afterward we head back to Panama City Beach to the Condo and get cleaned up. We drive around looking for the Outlet Malls and stop a souvenir shop to pick up some stuff. Afterward we head to the Boars Head http://boarsheadrestaurant.com/ for dinner. The Food and service was great the best I have had for a while. Afterward we head back to the condo and start packing, relax, and then take one last walk on the beach around 11pm.
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Friday we woke up again around 3:30am to head back to Jacksonville. Sarah had a business lunch arranged, and I need more sleep. We get Sarah to her lunch in time, and I head to Boris’s house to unload clothes, clean gear, prep all the gear for tomorrow’s tournament, and take a nap. I get everything ready and I lay down around 3pm and I get a text message (its Sarah saying to pick her up in 15minutes). Well so much for the nap. I get Sarah and come back to Boris’s so she can get ready for the Captain’s meeting that starts at 6:30pm. We head over to the Captain’s meeting with no doubt where it is. There are at least 100+ kayaks in the parking lot. We get in line to fill out the waivers, and get our Captain’s bag inside were all kinds of goodies like a hat, Columbia Blood N’ Guts shirt, Bomber Badonk-A-Donk, our measuring devices, tokens for pictures one of which was a real nice Hobie Bottle Opener, and tickets for raffles. While waiting in line we get a surprise Drew Gregory comes up and talks with us. We buy some more tickets, and take the bags to the car. Then we see Tommy Sammuels (Too Busy and chat with him briefly. We go back in and had some Sticky Fingers BBQ which was catered in and complementary. They had some great raffles Friday with 3 kayaks, Costa Delmar sunglasses, landing nets, rods, Navtronics cards and many other items. We were supposed to have dinner and beers with friends downtown, and it was getting to be around 8pm and we had to head. We went to the Burrito Gallery http://www.burritogallery.com/ a place we used to frequent. We hung out with our friends until 11pm or so and they wanted to go out but we had to decline due to the tournament the next morning. We got to sleep around 12a.
Saturday we woke up around 3:30a, and on the road by 4a stopped by a gas station for snacks, breakfast, and drinks. We got to the bait shop and there was a line of about 12 people and a parking lot with a lot of kayaks. We jumped in line, and by the time we had our bait the line was 25+ long. We headed to our spot which was empty the week before while I was pre-fishing. Now there were 6 vehicles in the parking area and 10-11 kayaks. I thought to myself oh crap. We’ll we are already committed so the only thing we can do is rub elbows and try to have fun. I started out with a Skiiterwalk, Fluke, and Lucky Craft SP110. Early I had two blow-up on the Skitterwalk, and then nothing. I tried throwing flies, and everything I could think of. The tide starts falling so we start heading back to the ramp, and decide to fish a bridge which produced no fish and then kept moving down stream to where we are alone around some docks. I threw the fly and Sarah opted for a shrimp fished off the bottom. Sarah ended up picking up a 14” Flounder her personal best, and I was so happy she caught something. Then shortly afterward she picks up a 16.5” Flounder. The skies are looking nasty, and at first I’m thinking it’s going north of us, and then I realize it’s not and decide to head back to the launch. Not 5 minutes later the storm hits heavy rain, lightening, and winds approaching 60+ MPH. We both get back to the ramp safely, and decide to wait it out in the car to load up everything. After 15minutes and finally catching our breath we decide it’s not going to let up, and we are already soaked, and the lightening has stopped, and wind has died down to around 15-20MPH, but still raining. We go ahead and load up, and decide we are not going directly to the awards ceremony. We go back to Boris’s house and shower and get into dry clothes and then head over to turn in Sarah’s pictures. On arrival she is in 6th place in the Flounder Division so that was cool. We get our beer and sit down and talk with some other people. During the meantime they are having raffles and serve Sticky Fingers again. The judges go back in the back to finalize the results, then come out and proceed with the awards. There were some really nice fish caught and Upthecreek’s son took 2nd in the Redfish Division which was really cool. Sarah finished 10th in the Flounder Division which I’m very proud of her. After the awards there were more raffles and auctions of 2 pieces of Guy Harvey artwork with all proceeds going to the Down Syndrome Foundation of Jacksonville. Sarah won the Snook busting baitfish in the Mangroves piece. It was very memorable for her being that she fished the Naples area earlier this year and had a nice Snook on. It was great seeing all the other fishing teams in their apparel my favorites were the Wilderness Systems, and Hobie Team Members they all looked very clean and represented their companies well. We left the awards ceremony around 7/7:30pm.
Boris cooked some steaks, and baked potato on the grill for us. We hung out that night with him and his son Chase which is the smartest 3 year old I have ever met.

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Sunday we loaded up and headed north where it was raining and cold.
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This was definitely a great trip with many memories and look forward to next year. We have been in competitive sports before, but what I saw this past weekend were true athletes.
I want to thank my wife (Sarah) for allowing all this to happen, Boris for the lodging, and great food, Ben and Neil for the bait, rigs, and taking us out in the big water, John Stewart, and Steve for Pre-Fishing with me one day, and all the people that have worked so hard to make the JKF event so successful.
The event raised 33,000 for the Down Syndrome Foundation of Jacksonville, and the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation.
Jeremy Meier

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[Travis C.]

Great posts and it sounds like you two had a great time.

We don't get much salt on here....thanks!

[RiverShoes]

Awesome report, so jealous!