Took a look at the local forecasts around Ft.Lauderdale to Miami area and decided I'll pick my tournament days later... headed on down to fish Flamingo for the next few days.. wind is easier to hide from behind the islands.

No bueno. I’ve lost track of time, but to make a long story short.. no more offshore kayak fishing for me. I tried but it was no longer fun and a lot more like work. Had a hard time finding out where and when you could legally launch a kayak in Dania Beach. The rules had changed from when I used to launch there, 20 years ago.

No signage anywhere on beach signifying kayak launch.. asked security guard that drove around the parking area.. he couldn’t tell me anything.. I decided I didn’t want to have to deal with any lifeguards so I changed to plan B, launch from what used to be John Lloyd state park.. until the woke crowd changed the name to something else.

Did a practice run one morning.. enter park, find out from lady at gate that I can launch from park boat ramp an hour before beach goers allowed into park… but have to use boat ramp (which is on Intracoastal Waterway) and about a mile paddle out inlet. That’s fine with me, at least I won’t be dealing with life guards.

Had seen there was a submarine off the third reef in 100 feet of water … back and forth along the best fishing grounds for kingfish, navy and other smaller craft patrolling the restricted area. Been there done that years ago and they are almost as bad as lifeguards.

Boat traffic was diverted and it was truly a cluster f for me.


Picture taken from the beach the previous day.


Headed out port Everglades inlet




Paddle out to whistle buoy in 120 ft is water… not a lot of current but still enough to drift north at almost 2 miles an hour. No future in paddling against the current all day, at least not for me… and I never troll… always rod in hand when fishing. Didn’t fish much as the boat traffic was unreal.. take some pictures, look around the weed lines and make my way back in.



It was flat seas except for boat wake.



Decide early on that I’m not fishing here.

The next day I drive north to Palm Beach, about an hour north, to where launching kayaks from beach is a lot more acceptable. Beautiful area, weird lifestyle with everyone carrying a dog with them..At small gas station I stop at the lady behind counter is offering free treats for everyone carrying their dog in store..wtf? Everyone has a dog with them.


I swear at gas station three people in a row come in carrying their dogs in their arms. Along beach there is a free toys for dogs to play with on the beach..


Guy with fishing rods.

I was too tired to fish and ended up going to pier and watching others fish..
Drove back to Hollywood and decided I wouldn’t be driving all the way to Palm Beach to fish… back to plan A.



Almost drove on up to Trump’s place but turned around. More later

Love the photos and your story!! Keep them coming!!

Last time I boated in S. Florida, there was no place to anchor, as the property owners had gotten the Fish & Wildlife to declare their waterfront areas "No Mooring" zones. The Marine Patrol was incorrigible in enforcing all sort of rules. Finally got a tie-up on New River in Ft. Liquordale. As soon as the Gulfstream laid down, I was off to the Bahamas. And that was 40 years ago! I can't imagine how bad it is now, and you're only wanting to launch a kayak! Cheez! And they call it "CIVILization". Good luck! IslandJim

Good stuff!

So Saturday I run up to weigh in station to let them know I will be fishing on Sunday, where I will be launching from (inside state park boat ramp) at 7:30 a.m. and will be out of water around 2:00 and then driving to weigh station an hour away... allowing an extra hour of time if I95 is jammed up in traffic and I have to take US1 all the way. I receive my identifier which has to be in picture of any fish I catch while on the water.

Back in the day I could launch 24 hours a day and be 2 miles off shore before the sun came up, or spend the whole night on kayak waiting for sun to come up. This was going to cause me a very late start. Get up at 5:30 a.m. Sunday, stop by bait store for rigged ballyhoo, get to park entrance at 6:45 to be first in line to get into park at 7:00 and head to boat ramp. I get there first, but guy working the entrance into park says.. nope, only boats with motors allowed in early, to launch. I explained that lady the day before when I entered gave me the rules and said as long as I dont go anywhere but ramp.. I can use it.. cant go into park and launch off the ocean side beach, let her know exactly what I was doing and was there for practice run the day before and to make sure there were no problems. Guy says, so the lady said it was ok for you to launch a kayak, I say, yes and I was there to make sure. He goes into some rant about him being there for 16 years ... blah, blah, blah, with attitude and he wasnt changing his mind. I was pissed off and let him know it.. he acts like he didnt hear what I said and I repeated it, the third time he said I cant hear you, I screamed for him to F off ... he heard it good.. told me the same and said he was going to do me a favor until I said that..yeah right... I shot him the finger and headed to the pier where I would now be in the right attitude to deal with lifeguards if they tried to stop me.

Luckily for the life guards I was out on the water before they arrived at 8:00 a.m. Im still mad as the sun is way up and any chance of catching anything shallow, are over. Paddle out two miles, stop a couple times on the way to fish weed lines, nothing, keep paddling out, to 200 feet, not seeing anything on graph, all the boats that were on the third reef in 120 range have packed up and gone... Ive got the whole fishless place to myself... Paddle back in throwing the ballyhoo out and letting it drift with current .. end up a mile north of where I started in no time.. say to hell with it and paddle in. looked around shallow for any signs of fish... you can see bottom in 20 feet... Gave up early, called and let tournament weigh station Im safely off the water.. No way in hell I would do that ever again.










Have to come back in 200 yards from pier as there are swimmers in the water.. have to make three trips to my car to unload everything in kayak.. walking through sand after paddling for hours was a beating.. couldn’t use my kayak cart as it doesn’t have beach tires, so I have to drag it to parking lot that was showing 102 degrees.. couldn’t wait to get the hell out of town… so drove back to motel in homestead so I could fish flamingo, which is more to my liking.

20 years ago it was bad and the reason I forgot about offshore fishing for the most part and started fishing Flamingo every chance I got. When the fishing is bad offshore, its the worst as there isnt much to see. The traffic now is unbelievable... my head was on a swivel the whole time, paddle always in lap. Boats flying straight at you and you dont know if they see you are not. Its not fun. Last time I went out before this trip was 15 or so years ago and I had paddled out to 300 feet and saw bait (flying fish) flying through the air and then saw sailfish busting on top. Paddle like a mad man for a quarter mile, get in the path they are traveling, have live bait ready when another boat pulls up between be and the fish, throws his bait out and hooks one immediately. I was pissed off about that and never went out again offshore.



Friday

So why is Florida so picky about where kayaks launch into the ocean?

I hope your adventures in the Everglades and Miami canals made your trip worth the drive. If you were not planning to fish offshore, would you have brought your canoe project instead of the fiberglass,kayak?

I think its just areas where there are lifeguards as they dont wont anyone getting knocked out by kayak pummeling through the surf on bad days.. or anyone bringing bloody fish onto the beach, through the designated areas. I dont blame them a bit, I just want there to be rules that all lifeguards follow so there are no misunderstandings. Years after one of the hurricanes, the pier was wiped out and closed for repairs.. the swimming area was marked off next to it and you couldnt fish the marked areas... Its raining, lightning, the lifeguard blows the whistle to get everyone off the water... I keep fishing outside the boundary in kayak... lifeguard with bullhorn tries to tell me I am fishing in swimming area, I ignore him and keep fishing just outside the markers... hell Im a golfer, Im good at knowing were out of bounds is. Lifeguard gets mad, and paddles out on rescue board to tell me in person... He was upset when I refused to leave and I showed him I was outside the marked area... Same kind of thing happened after 911 in Port Everglades... they were worried about sneak attack and security was everywhere. I kept fishing at night all along the sea walls inside the port where there were cameras everywhere... sign says you couldnt come within 10 feet of seawall... so I stayed just outside the area and fished the shadow lines all night... Got reamed out good one time when I kept fishing and told the guy to measure how far I was off seawall... there were at least 6 security people arriving in different vehicles lights flashing, sirens going off. When I explained I was following all the rules including how far I had to stay away from the seawall they werent happy but agreed. When I took out my camera and told them they were doing a great job and would be on KayakFishingStuff website the next day.. they left quick.

I always try to follow the rules but you better not try to make some up. Flamingo was just the place I never had to deal with anyone.

Fantastic

That cat best get out of your way

Not sure what I would have done.. but got scared about pulling a small trailer that many miles, the beating the canoe would have taken, and still havent gotten boat winch fitted and welded on.. when I got JPs Native Slayer, that became my new pride and joy but had all kinds of hangups with getting trolling motor set up... still need stuff to order to get it right.. was working on how to use the go pro and didnt like the head mount or body mount and couldnt figure out how to start/stop by voice command. Then I had new to me lowrance I still havent installed as I want to be able to change it out to several different kayaks and the canoe.. but didnt want to expose it to salt water.. then other things came up and I just wanted to do what was easiest and not have to deal with anything... including work, which was kicking my a$$. Came home early to rest..