Ladyfish – The poor man’s Tarpon
Elops Saurus
Family: Tarpon
Women kayak fishing for the first time couldn’t do better than starting
in the gulf waters of Florida. Let me introduce you to the Ladyfish: strictly carnivorous, feeding on small fish, including
members of its own species. Ruthless – and they swallow their prey whole. What this means to your catch? They slam it!
Run a bug that looks like a wooly-bugger with an eyeball through the darker water where the nutrients hang out and kayak fishing for women gets exciting really quickly - you’ll get your kayak pulled around when a Ladyfish hits. Ladyfish are fine scaled, soft fleshed, and oddly long. They’re shiny silver and don’t have teeth – bonus when you’re getting the hook out. Fun to catch but not great to eat.
My trip to Florida started out as business but ended with women kayak fishing. It just so happens that my hosts were avid, strike that… rabid anglers. The fly rod wasn’t their exclusive choice but they did have one on board - a nice 5 weight, and enough flies to offer the most finicky fish a diverse menu.
I liked the way they think even on a typical Monday morning, “We’ll fish first thing in the
morning and then we’ll spend a couple of hours on the business portion of this trip, and then back to fishing." Men with priorities
firmly in order. I had no idea what to expect, but decided fully immersible and quick drying would be a wise choice. Kayak fishing
for women was a first for me and the morning of our adventure I was greeted with big smiles, rigged rods – and sea kayaks!
New town,
new fish, new adventure. Shaping up to be a very good day! Launching the kayaks was the hardest part – steering them over the first
few breaking waves to find smoother water without losing your oar, your rod, or your camera securely sealed in a zip-lock bag, all
the while balancing your coffee.
Casting from sea level, (literally) with an oar across your lap and a latte between your knees proved challenging at first – my double-hall needs work and I didn’t think I was getting enough line out when suddenly my rod bent in half like a folding yard stick. Fish on! This action kept up for the next couple of hours until I decided my arms were tired and that business should probably find its way on to my radar.
But first we headed out into rougher seas and not a fish was to be found. Suddenly one
of the guys began whistling and waving and directing me to a path past the sand bar. I began rowing furiously straight towards a pod
of no less than 20 dolphin! Not dolphin-fish, but full on, Sea World caliber, jumping-diving dolphin! I paddled in fearlessly and
I’m not sure why – canoe fishing for women isn’t supposed to be life threatening.
You read stories of dolphin bonding with humans
but these were feeding and had never met me before and could just have easily knocked my kayak over and pummeled me with their exuberance.
I could see their eyeballs. They could see mine. This was an exhilarating moment and made me completely forget that the fish were
fleeing instead of biting.
My first kayak fishing for women experience will not be my last. All business trips should be this fun!