KJTV:: Kayak Fishing with Jimbo Meador
The Kayak Journal crew headed down to Mobile, Alabama to meet up with Jimbo Meador to do some kayak fishing and poling through the flats.
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After arriving in Spanish Fort, we made our way right below I-10, where there is actually some good redfish to be caught in the shallow waters. The weather was perfect, but unfortunately a storm had come through a few days back, blowing out the water and making the tide much lower than normal.
Jimbo has fished his whole life, but over the last decade has found his love for kayak fishing. He got hooked on kayak fishing because of the simplicity of it and the ability to go to some many locations where motor boats are either not allowed or the waters are too shallow-which are great places for redfish. Over the last few years Jimbo has been a major part in helping design Native Watercraft's new Ultimate series, which are kayak fishing boats that are designed with stability in mind for sight fishing. Currently he is helping design a kayak fishing pole that allows one to use it as a paddle, a pole, and an anchor, which makes kayaking in the flats so much fun as so easy. It is these two designs that make kayak fishing with Jimbo so unique.
After arriving at a small state park, just on the side of I-10, we unloaded our boats and got ready for a beautiful day of fishing and poling. Our first lesson of the day was about what flies to use in what environment for redfish. Today it would be a day for the pumpkin fly, an orange and black fly. It brought him luck in Halloween, so why wouldn’t it bring luck near Thanksgiving? Since Jimbo practices mostly catch a release fishing, he made sure the hook was sharp and smashed down the barb to ensure an easy release from the fish’s mouth, or at least cause a little damage as possible.
After getting our rods ready, we headed out to the other side of I-10. As we made our way across the flats, Jimbo explained to how important it was to make sure your kayak is trimmed properly so it makes as little noise as possible while paddling or poling. The bow and stern of the kayak should be even levels from the water. If they are not, you can adjust your seat to be more forwards or backwards and even it out. It is so imperative to be quiet while kayak fishing in the shallow waters because fish become very skittish in such shallow water and react to every little noise. That is what is so great about kayak fishing; you can sneak up on them.
Once we made it to our destination, Jimbo put away his paddle, stood up and switch to his pole. It was amazing how much more Jimbo could see from standing up, than us sitting down in our kayaks with his pole and stable kayak, Jimbo was able to quietly and effectively maneuver his way around while looking for redfish.
Once he saw a fish, he could easily switch his pole for his fly rod, which was lying right by his feet, and begin casting. With the simplicity of the boat and the open space, Jimbo was able to strip his fly rod right at his feet and continue casting, not worrying about it getting caught on anything. Jimbo loves sight fishing because of the challenge to watch where a fish is going and landing the fly right in front of it and pulling it away. Pulling a fly towards a fish scares it, so it takes practice and technique to catch a fish from fly sight fishing. To him, it is not about quantity, but instead the hunt.
We continued to pole and fish around the flats for the rest of the day and were fortunate enough to see the white pelicans that had landed there for the winter.
The highlight of the day was definitely catching a tailless redfish. It was not just a redfish that a shark had bitten off its tail, but actually had grown up that way and had survived for years without a tail. It even had scales that had grown over where a tail normally is.
After a great day on the water, we headed back to Fairhope, Alabama for a gorgeous sunset and a delicious dinner.
The next day we woke up bright and early to head down to the white sandy beaches in the Gulf National Seashores in Florida. As we made our way down the coast, it was so depressing to see how many giant condominium buildings have gone up around Orange Beach. As Jimbo puts it, it is either rooftop or blacktop, which is why it is so nice to arrive in the Gulf National Seashores.
After arriving in the National Seashores, we went to the boat ramp to unload the boat with the kayaks strapped on top. We definitely turned some heads and we cruised to our destination with 2 kayaks strapped to the boat and us sitting in them.
Once we reached our final destination, a protected no motor zone inlet, we unload the kayaks and paddled our way near the shore where we could hunt for redfish. It is places like these that make fishing from a kayak so much better than from a boat. Because of the no motor zone, there were still plenty of sea grasses that help keep the water crystal clear. It was such a beautiful place to fish, with it being protected from the wind, white beaches, no boats, and clear water. There was so much to see underneath us.
It is places like these that Jimbo comes to pole not caring about weather or not he catches fish. Some people go for a paddle; he goes for a pole, which after watching him, I can see why. With his pole being so versatile, he could pole in the shallow water, paddle in the deep water, steer his kayak, and push himself upwind with hardly any effort at all. When he was going downwind it was easy for him to stop by just placing his pole slightly in front of him and being able to see weather he saw a fish or not. When he wanted to get somewhere in the shallow waters, he could get there so much quicker than we could paddling and all the while standing up searching for fish the entire time. Basically he could go and do whatever he wanted.
After paddling and poling around the entire inlet we made our way back to the boat to make our way to the mainland. It was time to make our long journey back to North Carolina.
After an amazing 2 days, we are excited to meet back up with Jimbo in February for some more sight fishing and poling.
Until then…
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