Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

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Datchew
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Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Datchew »

I'm long overdue on this and if Keith ever reads this.... sorry for taking so long man.

Last fall my family and I headed out to Orange Beach, AL for a little R&R.

As I was looking into the area the strangest thing happened - I realized it's close to Pensacola.
So I said to myself, "Self, we might just be able to sneak offshore if I take the kayaks and avoid spending too many days baking on the sand and digging up shells with the kids."
Self said back to me (after all, he makes a habit of talking to the smartest guy in the room) "You could find a guide to get you onto some Mahi and Red Snapper."
"Self," I said, "You're a bloody genius and I'll buy you a pint for that."

So fast forward out of that scene before I convince myself that I'm schizo and to the point where I reached out to Blake (Yakkity Yak) about a recent trip he'd taken to the area.
He was kind enough to put me in contact with a local guy named Keith Morrison.
I caught up with Keith by phone and agreed to meet him and off we went to .... um....

Psst - On a side note, I've learned from you Yakkers that fishing spots are guarded more secretly and jealously than your wives. I had less hassle with access to Secret information back in my military days. I find the zealousness of some of it to be downright hilarious. however, to follow suit for this story...

... we proceeded to an undisclosed location somewhere in North America that rhymes with "Vince I told ya Peach" and "right mouse" and Keith took me out into the beautiful green water that I remembered so well from years ago in search and rescue school nearby.

So a little about Keith.
Nice guy. He's finishing up college and is good enough at fishing to run a side guide service which probably helps him cover his gear.
He is certainly serious when on the water. There was a strong focus on the fishfinder to drop the sabiki and pull some baitfish up. He taught me how to use a bait tube which was a first for me.

Me? I was stoked.
I ended up learning how to identify about 2-3 types of baitfish, what's a preferred method to hook em, leaders and hooks, etc., for red snapper, Mahi, smacks, and the like.
I learned how to cut up certain ones that snapper prefer, how to chum them up from the bottom, how to avoid the pesky little devils that steal your bait before it gets down to the snapper, and loads more.
It was a very good overall learning experience for me.

I ended up pulling up some red snapper but had to put them back due to Florida laws but I got to keep some smacks which were very tasty.
Didn't get on any Mahi (maybe this year!) but had a few enjoyable battles with bonita as well which were a first for me.
We got caught in a terrific, beautiful, and refreshing thunderstorm but we had the GPS's with us and paddled back through it to shore. There's really nothing like being in a big rainstorm out on the water to make you appreciate how much you're just along for the ride.

All in all, a really fun time on the water and I'm grateful for the lessons.
I highly recommend catching up with Keith if you want a guide in that area.
Thanks to Keith and Thanks to Blake (Yakkety Yak) for the referral.

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Yakety_Yak
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Yakety_Yak »

Glad to help Matt! Keith is cool to fish with and a awesome guide at that! 8)
Datchew
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Datchew »

And taking a tip from the professor, I superimposed the backdrop to confuse anyone.

In fact, I put in a backdrop from an old 80's Dr. Who episode - the Tom Baker years - (come on... I know you're a closet Doctor Who fan) where he was in ancient Mesopotamia during a Dalek epidemic.

If you look closely and analyze certain points on the shoreline geometry, put them into a step function, and perform perfect quadratic spline interpolation by hand using a quill under a full moon whilst standing one leg, it will reveal the secret location of where I peed offshore.
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Cityfisher
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Cityfisher »

Great report!
Your best line ever was "There's really nothing like being in a big rainstorm out on the water to make you appreciate how much you're just along for the ride." !! Exactly!
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TX-Matador
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by TX-Matador »

That's awesome!

We've got a Pensacola Trip planned for the middle of June. I'll be bringing my Outback for some BTB. Do you have any recommendations or pointers you'd like to share? Unfortunately, I won't be able to afford the guide this time around.
Datchew
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Datchew »

I would recommend a couple things:

*take a kayak cart. It's sugar sand and sometimes a long way to the water.
*Fluorocarbon. Period. The water is very clear. All of my kingfish rigs with wire (a la Prof Salt style) were rudely ignored. Probably scoffed at too but I couldn't hear them underwater. Snobs man. Snobs.
*Regarding fluoro - you will lose some rigs. IIRC Keith advised that I use approx 30lb-45lb. They were cut off twice and I didn't feel a thing.
*Watch the radar. I lived in central FL for 7 years. It can change on a dime and Florida is known as the lightning capital of the US. Several people die in Florida from lightning each year. If you hear thunder, get out of there.
*Pay attention to laws and permits that change depending on which side of the Florida/Alabama border you're on if you happen to get close to the border.
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Punchingclowns
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Punchingclowns »

TX-Matador wrote:That's awesome!

We've got a Pensacola Trip planned for the middle of June. I'll be bringing my Outback for some BTB. Do you have any recommendations or pointers you'd like to share? Unfortunately, I won't be able to afford the guide this time around.

The entire area is a kayak paradise. Gulf Shores to Navarre. Making my second trip there next week and can't....
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earthshipman
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by earthshipman »

Great report, thanks Datchew. That really wets my appetite. Makes me realize I have been BTB kayak fishing for 4 years now and have barely touched the tip of the iceberg.
Bo-Keifus
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Bo-Keifus »

Matt!! I just happened to stumble across your review while snooping around here on the TKF Forum. Thank you for the review, i really appreciate it. I remember battling one hell of a squall that popped up on us that day which was certainly one to remember. Hope all is well,

Tight Lines,
Keith Morrison
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rattlesnake68
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by rattlesnake68 »

I could read those kind of posts all day.
jnd1959
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Re: RE: Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by jnd1959 »

Datchew wrote:And taking a tip from the professor, I superimposed the backdrop to confuse anyone.

In fact, I put in a backdrop from an old 80's Dr. Who episode - the Tom Baker years - (come on... I know you're a closet Doctor Who fan) where he was in ancient Mesopotamia during a Dalek epidemic.

If you look closely and analyze certain points on the shoreline geometry, put them into a step function, and perform perfect quadratic spline interpolation by hand using a quill under a full moon whilst standing one leg, it will reveal the secret location of where I peed offshore.
Glad you had a good trip. The gold coast is my old stomping grounds. Can't wait to get a kayak down there. I didn't have any quills so I just took the the binary data stream from your picture, assigned a weight to each data point, calculated the standard deviation. Did the same calculation to the 300 billion pictures posted on this interweb thingy and did a reverse regression analysis to get those pictures within a 95% probability of being your location. After further analysis, I have determined that the you were on the Rio Negro river in Manaus Brazil. There, mystery solved.

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Prof. Salt
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by Prof. Salt »

Lol, when I do spline interpolation and Dr. Who backdrops on photos it's because the person who invited me asked me not to share the location. It might be silly, and I sure tend to have fun with it, but I also want to maintain the trust that I had when they decided to share that resource with me. :D
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lahai1dj
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by lahai1dj »

Nice fish! I've done four guided trips this year and have three more booked for next month. There is so much value to seeing the system that a professional uses to catch fish and it does so much to shorten the learning curve for a newbie like me. Thanks for the review on Keith, I've been planning to take the family out to Destin (maybe this fall) and I'll look him up!
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WoodsWaterSky
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Re: Pensacola BTB - a review of a good offshore guide

Post by WoodsWaterSky »

A trip like that is definitely on my bucket list...

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