I made it out to the flatts in the north side of Howard park and couldn't find one fish. I was the at 7 am and was even there for the high tide to come in. I was using live bait and gulp baits. I paddle my kayak all over the place and not one bite. Can anyone tell me what I was doing wrong? Please help, I am new to saltwater fishing, I grew up on freshwater.

There could be a variety of reasons that you didn't catch anything...what were you using for tackle? Were you using a weight? Were you using flurocarbon leader? What size hook were you using? Were you casting your bait out far away from your kayak? What type of live bait were you using? Were you making noise on your kayak? Did you see any mullet activity? If so, were you fishing close to (or directly in) the mullet schools?

All those things could play a major factor in fishing, but the most important thing is: were you fishing where the fish were? Maybe not....or, they might just not have been eating...they could have just ate before you got there...

Nick81:
I too have been fishing the area you mentioned. Was out Sunday and the bite was very slow?? Mabey this moon we have right now?? Got one keeper Trout (17").
The best area I;ve found past 2 months is straight out from Sunset beach about 1 mile into 4-5 ft of water. The slowest bite has been more toward Fred Howard park??
Also got some Trout and Mackeral in 10 ft. out from Three Rooker island.Good luck.

I was using light tackle, 12 lb test and free lining white bait, also tried some new penny gulps and some nuclear chicken gulps. The funny thing is that I didn't see any fish swimming or anything. I was on my kayak equipped with my humminbird 170. I really like the area and refuse to give up on it. Maybe your right with the moon thing.

I did see lots of mullet. What does that mean?And the noise was at an absolute minimal. I was also using 1/0 owners hooks.

Yea, so chances are, there just might not have been that many fish in the area if you didn't see anything....but always try to fish mullet schools. Redfish tend to follow them as they kick up food that they don't eat, so redfish eat it. Also, you will find other species mixed in with them...snook and trout

Dave T. is right about the mullet schools. The reds tend to be down near the bottom under the mullet while the trout and snook are higher in the water column. Cut bait sometimes works great on the bottom of the schools.

That's great guys, I really appreciate the insight. Next time I will tear um up.

One other tip is making long casts.

That can be tough free-lining white bait and casting from a kayak, but IMO the farther you get it away from you the better. The reds and snook in a 30 yard radius around are almost always spooked.

Dan

That's good to know, I'm so use to bass fishing were I would be right on top of them flippin jigs. Lots to learn about saltwater.