Kayak Fly Fishing

[North Country Gal]

Bugs, for sure, that stealth thing is also evident with animals other than fish. Have gotten very close to otters, mink, muskrats and other wildlife, too. Have found otters to be especially curious.

[BrokenolMarine]

Bugs, for sure, that stealth thing is also evident with animals other than fish. Have gotten very close to otters, mink, muskrats and other wildlife, too. Have found otters to be especially curious.

Too close is a phrase we are familiar with.
Fishing far back in a large rural reservoir, Miss Tina had a huge Beaver try and climb IN her Commander. She finally had to whack it with the paddle to keep it out.

It was hairy there for a few minutes. It went away, but it went away mad. We left that cove, just in case.
She didn't injure it.... I could have done that easily with my SIG 45, but that's not who we are. She just got the Beaver's attention. The beaver probably had kits nearby. Or maybe we interrupted lunch.

Close was a pleasure with the Hobies in FL. While fishing around the bridge in Destin, two pods of Dolphins stopped in to play with us for over an hour. I shot about 200 pics with the digital slr and got some great shots. I captured tail walks, and Flipper style flips. They seemed to be fascinated by the Hobie mirage drive (pedal) system. They would swim under the kayaks and roll over and look up at the drives. They led us around in large loops in the area, charged at us at high speed and dove under at the last minute, and jumped over Tina and laughed at her. The folks on shored cheered at their antics. If we lost them, one of the dolphins would come back, pop up, as if to say, "Ah... over here?" Then the fun would start again. After about an hour... the largest of them... popped up and called. ALL TURNED and the headed out to deep water, then hit overdrive and were gone...

[North Country Gal]

Now that with the Dolphins is WAY cool. Hope I never have a Moose that tries that, though.

[daytime dave]

Your fishing talk has me hoping to get out in my canoe soon. I'm looking forward to getting some fishing time in.

[North Country Gal]

Me, too, but we've yet to have ice out. In fact, some friends report excellent ice fishing.

[daytime dave]

I was going to try ice fishing this winter, but the weather was too warm locally and our time at camp was too limited.

[Bugs]

Be careful with Dolphins. I used to free dive with them when I was a scuba instructor in Guam. For the most part they are highly entertaining but they can and do bite. Here in FL they can be a pest. We have had them hang around/under the flats boat waiting for us to release caught fish. Which they then kill and devour. Gets to be a real problem when you are trying to release an undersized snook for example. I have witnessed several tourists attempt to feed dolphins and then get bit. When I am fishing an area and the blow sharks show up I leave; they either scare off or kill any available fish anyway.

[BrokenolMarine]

Be careful with Dolphins. I used to free dive with them when I was a scuba instructor in Guam. For the most part they are highly entertaining but they can and do bite. Here in FL they can be a pest. We have had them hang around/under the flats boat waiting for us to release caught fish. Which they then kill and devour. Gets to be a real problem when you are trying to release an undersized snook for example. I have witnessed several tourists attempt to feed dolphins and then get bit. When I am fishing an area and the blow sharks show up I leave; they either scare off or kill any available fish anyway.

Thanks for the advice. Diving... I remember it fondly. I had a three year tour with a SAR squadron in Hawaii. Diving in Hawaii was amazing. When I got orders back to NC I sold all my gear to a newbie just starting with the club.

[BrokenolMarine]

I have been adding some pictures of late, thought I would throw this one up, folks often share stories, and fish stories are the worst... folks always thinking... "Yeah Right".... Here is the pic...



Here is the FLIPPER jump... the dang thing jumped right out of the water and looked right into the camera and grinned. The folks on the beach were clapping.



Here is one of the Tailwalk. He just danced along beside my kayak, laughing the whole time. The pod seemed to be having as much fun as we were.



As we'd paddle along, all the sudden a group from the pod would pop up beside the kayaks, pace along beside the Hobies for a few minutes and then put on a burst of speed and fly away, duck under the surface and disappear. "Showing off" their speed I assumed. They played for over an hour, as I said before... and seemed to really have a great time. We never felt threatened.

It was a great end to the day, A good time was had by all.

[Deadwood Dutch]

That is awesome! We always enjoy watching them off the coast in Maryland, but never as close as you could observe them.