Boatless Fishing Forum, Reports, Info

Here she is, a Pescador 12. I am hoping to make a trial run tomorrow morning from Dania Beach and start fishing soon!

very nice bud

Nice ride. Catch em' up

Enjoy it, I have the same yak and like it a lot.

I took my kayak to Dania Beach yesterday morning. I launch around 7.30 am from the south side of the pier. I was very pleased on how the yak was easily handled. I went pretty far out (well, for me was pretty far for the first time), but not as far as where the power boats were fishing. I was trolling a rapala all the time. The weather was magnificent. I run into a school of dolphins (the marine mammals) that swam under my yak and then I paddled to stay with the school. They were surfacing next to my yak and I could easily seem them swimming underwater (Where was my GoPro when I need it?!). But, besides the dolphins nothing else was happening. No activity on the surface, no birds, no nothing. When I moved closer inshore and I was trolling over the reef the triggerfish were going crazy attacking my rapala. I was surprised I was able to catch a few given how small their mouth is. At the end, I kept a big one for dinner. At around 11.30 I decided to go back and to my surprise (and mostly my ignorance) the life guards didn't allow me to land at the same place where I launched from. They made me go to the north side of the pier and, of course, I couldn't go under the pier so I have to paddle out, go to the north side and paddle back in. Of course, it was a long walk to get to my car, get the 'wheels', back to my kayak, and then pull on kayak on the 'wheels' back to my car. Even though I didn't catch anything that was memorable, it was a fun time and can't wait to get out there again. If anybody needs a buddy to go yak fishing don't hesitate to drop me a line

Yeah you should only ever launch from the North side of the pier It's easy to unload right there then go park.

Congrats on your maiden voyage! Dania is a good place to fish, although it took me a fair amount of times going out there to start catching anything. If you wanna go offshore be sure you have a great PFD, a VHF radio, a whistle, and a good knife that's attached to your vest.

When I first started I didn't realize how brutal some of the paddling could be. I ended up taking a few long paddles up and down the intracoastal in Ft Lauderdale to build up some stamina. With the windy conditions this time of year you should be prepared for several hours of extremely hard paddling to get back from an offshore trip.

I'm more than happy to go out with you and show you what I know so far. I'm still fairly new but I have had some success out there. Just waiting for some less windy days to show up.

CVSTRART and others
Any tips you can give me on how to catch fish will be more than welcome. I am new at this and I have no clue about what I am doing! I do have a very good pfd, whistle, and knife as you suggested. I will get a VHF soon. Is a depth/fish finder an essential tool for offshore kayak fishing? Next weekend I think I will try the Oletta river area and fish for some mangroves and trouts. But, I am still open to going out from Dania Beach anytime.

I don't have a depth finder so I guess you don't really need one. Could it help... yes.. but do you need one to catch fish.. not at all. Just get the navionics app for your smartphone at first so you can see how deep you are as that's probably the most important factor at least at Dania.

flsailor wrote: Is a depth/fish finder an essential tool for offshore kayak fishing?

NO! It depends on what kind of fish you're planning on targeting. If you're looking for dolphin, finding a weed line is more important than depth once you're out there. Sailfish, same thing, you're looking for current rips and color change.

I agree with cvstrat, you're better off with no FF and navionics than a FF and no navionics. I started off without a FF and caught dolphin, sails, kingfish etc. It helps to have a FF to zero in on a wreck or find a bait school, but it's by no means a necessity to catch fish.

Poseidon we gotta go fishing. I need to catch a poon on the yak!

Following the advice I downloaded the Navionics app. That is a great app! I didn't realize how shallow the area of Dania Beach is. You really need to go about 1.5 nautical miles from the pier to be where the depth drops to 100 feet. I don't think I was that far out on my first trip and therefore I was probably trolling in waters that were too shallow. Now I know next time I have to be farther out and reach deeper waters.