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A Ride in the IPB 14 skiff, $1800 14′ skiff photos
First let me get this out of the way. The fishing stunk so don’t expect any fish photos. Well we did catch a few small fish but nothing of note.
I had fished out of the IPB 16 in the past and heard they had a 14′ version out.
Since anyone can post press release information, I like to hold judgment until I have actually ridden in one or at least seen one in person. I mean what good is write up on a product the person has never even seen. Pretty useless in my opinion.
It was not until this Saturday that I had set foot in the IPB 14. It was also my first time seeing it in person.
My buddy Dan had bought one and he seem to love it. Dan is an avid fisherman. He a long time fisherman, fishing tournaments and currently works in the industry as well. The guy knows how to fish and has been in a bunch of boats. So when he said he loved it, it had a me a bit curious. At $1800 for the hull it’s a heck of a price as well.
We took it out in the afternoon and fished from 4pm until sunset. The boat had a 20hp Yamaha, jackplate and a 45lb thrust trolling motor. I’m 195 and Dan is probably 180 lbs. He told me, with him alone he can get 30mph. For a 14′ boat that is quite adequate IMHO. Though not stable like the 16′, it was not too bad and very fish able with out being too careful. Two anglers can definitely fish the bow via trolling motor.
The boat did not have a poling platform so I couldn’t tell you how it poled. Fit and finish is similar to a Carolina skiff but at $1800 I really did not expect a fully get coated boat. The middle of the boat had some flex as we were running. It got on plane easy with 2 people and draft was respectable (though I did not get out to measure it).
Though I’m not 100%, I am thinking the finished fish able package will run about 5500-6,000.00 boat, motor trailer.
Here are a few photos along with specs.
Also here is their website if you have more interest.
http://www.inshorepowerboats.com/default.aspx
Specs:
Length 14-6″
beam 56″
Rated 25 hp
3 people
Hull weight appx: 200 lbs
100% composit (no wood)
10 year hull warranty
Includes:
Bulkhead hatch
4 rod holders
Choice of any color you want.
Catching Redfish on shoe strings, Blast from the past
Today I posted a photo of fish with a doc’s goofy pompano jig. The conversion shifted to, what you can catch with that jig. I mention I’ve caught nice redfish on shoe strings, the post has long been purged from the forum. I googled it and it showed up on some archives. I wanted to share with you guys the pre “photographer” days, just a fisherman.
This was first posted in Feb 1st 2007, yest quite a blast from the past. It’s been 6 years wow!
Well before I started Saltyshores.com
Enjoy the blast from the past post by me on various forums.
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I thought about the days before plastics.. before Gulps.. before Mirrourdines.. before spoons. What did people use when they just couldn’t go to a tackle shop, Sports Authority, Walmart and pick up the latest and greatest.
I figured they use whatever they could find… I picked my shoe laces…. and it works.. I just tied it to a jig head. The 1st time I tried it I hooked on to an over slot redfish and she ripped out lots drag and got to a wind knot I didn’t know I had and the line popped. .. bummer. I tried it again and got some smaller reds and a needle fish. I only had a chance to use the yellow shoe laces but next time I”ll use the white one.
Remember when you guys are complaining about the prices of tackle .. just use your shoelaces to do the catching and save some $. 
This was Part 2 of the Catching Redfish using shoe string that got posted a few days later:
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Just for fun and entertainment I used my shoe laces to catch red fish a couple weeks ago. I had forgotten about it, until the gathering at Hooters when a few people brought it up and said it was quite entertaining. I’ld told them I had a couple tied up in my tackle box and would try it again. Besides that, I can hear the doubters saying…”it was at night… anything works at night..” “..those are small reds… those things will hit anything..”.
I had been somewhat boatless for a couple days so I was itching to get out for a couple hour. I didn’t plan on getting out but I move some things around so I could get out for a couple hours.
I looked at the forecast today:
“SOUTH WINDS 20 TO 25 KNOTS. SEAS 5 TO 7 FEET. BAY AND INLAND WATERS ROUGH. SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.”
ouch.. but the wind started off from the east then eventually to the south so I know as long as I hug the shore I should be ok in my small boat. (My Gladesmen is waiting for the tiller to be fix so I was using the Gheenoe today.) I started off fishing canals and getting blown all over the place. A dink trout was my only reward. Started fishing some depressions caught 1 rat red on a gulp. With the wind gusting so darn hard, it was impossible to control the drift. I decided to get out and walk up wind and cast with the wind. This was a good move as I pulled out a couple of slot reds.
After loosing a gulp I picked up my new toy a 7′ St. Croix SC5 custom rod by Dudley Rod. While I was at it I tied on one of my shoe lace lure. 3rd cast fish on… a mid slot red. Brimming with confidence I continue to the use the shoe lace to catch 5 more redfish ranging from rats to 1 over slot until I broke the jig head and was forced to go back to the gulp. I forgot about the wind that was howling and how I was gonna get soaking wet on the ride back. I started to hear an airboats flying across the flats, this noise destroy the mood so I decided to packed it in at about 10:30am… Ahhh… the big reds do like shoe laces after all. 
Chilled Everglades
Cold front…these two words are especially troubling as you are packing for your South Florida fishing trip. However, we remained optimistic that the wind wouldn’t blow 25mph, and that the temperature wouldn’t take a dive, and some straggler tarpon would ultimately hang around. Yeah right…I think it was the coldest week in the glades since the big freeze a couple years ago. Sure it made fishing tough…and prompted the tarpon evacuation…but we made the best of it. My friends Honson and Shafter put us on some fish and gave us an awesome introduction to the park. Caught my first snook on a DOA airhead, jumped a big tarpon, and covered some ground in one of the prettiest places on earth. Totally satisfied and grateful for the experience.
My first snook ever…not a monster by any means…but a snook! We used the new DOA airheads quite a bit this weekend. I like how they suspend in the water column and hang out right in the fish’s face. I’m thinking these will be great in the Lowcountry marsh.
We were fortunate enough that Honson still had the new 2014 Maverick HPX-V 17 in tow. Honson, Perry, and I put the boat through its paces this weekend and I’m impressed with the improvements and modifications Maverick has made to this boat. There’s more bow space, a circular live well centered on the back deck, immaculate wiring, and other improvements. Due to the weather, we were forced to cross some nasty chop in open water and the boat handled extremely well. As a Maverick owner, I’ve been dreading the day my yamaha 2-stroke 90 kicks the bucket, largely due to the lack of replacement options. After seeing the way the F70 performed, my fears have subsided…I think Honson got 42mph out one point this weekend.
Hats off to the Blue Moon Expeditions crew…they really put on a first class experience. They cooked three SOLID meals per day and provided us a unique opportunity to remain in a remote location for multiple days of fishing.
New for 2013 the DOA Airhead
Had the recent privilege of test driving the new DOA Airhead.
The fine Folks at Lehrs Economy tackle ( 239-995-2280 ) in North Ft. Myers provided me with several hook models to test.
The Airhead comes with an uncut tail. You can fish it as a jerk worm or if you pre cut with scissors; it creates a twisty tail effect; as seen below.
Here the Airhead is uncut and also rigged with a DOA factory hook, where a DOA pinch weight ( cut to size ) could be added.
For all species but specially for Tarpon and Cobia; I opted to this Owner Beast 4/0 - it comes 3 to a pack
Here are Owner hooks that worked well for me. Beast being the bottom hook below.
Other hook options are out there.
DOA pinch weight is a versatile weight in that you can tailor the lure sink rate by pinching the desired size.
These Owner Beads in sizes 3 or 4 or 5 help slow down the body movement of airhead onto hook belly; after a few strikes / plastic wear
In closing Mark Nichols has yet again created a versatile lure into an already productive saltwater soft plastics line.
In the fresh water market, the BASS also ought to go crazy over this swim lure.
It can be buzzed on top, jigged like a big jig, darted like a jerk bait; but best reeled like a spinnerbait.
The lead on hook shank keels the lure and the tail; cut or un cut; tantalizes the HECK out of the fish I hooked.
Rick De Paiva
www.pbase.com/hdp
Cameras used :
Iphone4s ( the crappy images )
Nikon D800e / Nikon 24-70 mm F / 2.8
Schools in Session
Now is the time to target schools of fish in all three lagoons, Mosquito, Indian, and Banana. With lower water levels, the fish will leave the shallow backwaters and all be concentrated around flats with deeper water nearby. Redfish, Black Drum, and even schools of Sea Trout can be found on healthy grass flats that hold bait fish and crustaceans.
With Spring around the corner, Redfish and Trout will be concentrated on bait fish so it’ll soon be time to break out the surface flies and topwater lures to see some explosive action.
John Kelly from Palm Beach, FL. comes up frequently to take advantage of Mosquito Lagoons excellent sight fishing opportunities. He proudly holds up a nice Redfish that he caught out of a pod of tailers using his 7wt fly rod.
Brett Reed from Chicago came down to target Redfish on fly but the winds were blowing pretty good that day so we decided to change plans and hit the backcountry creeks for Snook and Tarpon. Even though the tarpon were rolling all around us, Brett only managed a few to eat but none came to the boat…that’s tarpon fishing for ya. He did get a few small snook on fly.
Kershel Barfield from Stuart, FL. came up to fish the Mosquito Lagoon for his first time. We got into some large schools of Redfish this day which Kershel has never seen so many grouped up like that before. Well placed D.O.A. Shadtails did the trick on these fish.
BJ and Scott joined me on the Mosquito Lagoon for their annual fishing outing. Wind was cranking a bit but that didn’t keep them from catching fish. Golden Bream D.O.A. Shadtail was the hot lure this day.
John Kelly came back up for more action. I always enjoy having John aboard, fun guy to hang around and a great caster!
A great day for Kevney Dugan from Bend, Oregon. He got his first Redfish on fly this day and witnessed Mosquito lagoon at it’s finest. The water was slick calm and we saw schools of Redfish pushing and tailing from a mile away. Kevney’s good casting ability landed him some nice fish.
I recently had a free day to get out and do some fishing for myself. I called up fellow Mosquito Lagoon guide Capt. Billy Rotne to do some exploring for bigger fish. We did some running around and found some good schools of fish ranging from 12-30lbs. Although I love watching other people catch fish while I’m on the poling platform, sometimes I gotta feel the tug for myself.
Capt. Willy Le
www.NativFlyCharters.com
A Seasonal Shift… Clarity
I hear a strong winter storm approaches our buddies in the NE this weekend and I reflect on how fortunate we are here in South Florida this time of year.
The classic sight fishing scenario in my home waters on the clearer side of the Everglades has been nothing short of epic this year. From fat redfish floating on the surface like a laid up poon to hoards of sheepshead tailing like a school of small permit (just as skittish and at times even tougher to catch on fly). Of coarse, all this fishing helps pass the time between poon season but is lots of fun nonetheless. It makes for a great opportunity to sharpen your skills using clear fly lines, turning over longer leaders, sneaking heavier flies into zones with skittish fish, and of coarse helping to calm your nerves before the day you are confronted with a more difficult or rewarding challenge.
So to my buddies in the NE, I leave you all with some fish porn and wish you all safe passage through this nasty winter storm. Stay tuned… there is far more to come shortly.
The old school Bucktail jig
Who can forget the productiveness of the venerable white bucktail jig? Somehow towards the end of last year, I got into the mood of tying bucktail jigs so nights after fishing trips were spent clipping hair that smells of deer ass and tying it onto a jighead. I had almost forgotten how versatile they can be… for deeper water, plane jane fast sinking bucktails and for shallower water, you can adjust sink rate by tying on bushier bucktail, or even sweeten the jig with a curly grub tail or shad tail from DOA Lures.
During some of the cooler days this winter, we traded a pushpole for a trolling motor remote and took to the backcountry of the glades looking for snook and redfish taking refuge from the cold. Cooler AMs had the redfish and snook stacked up in some of the deeper holes and as the sun came up, we spent our time atop a Yeti cooler on some of the shallower mud banks sight fishing redfish and snook that would cruise along jumping from pothole to pothole.
The backcountry of the Everglades can be summed up by this lethal beauty…
A little bow time and my Super Bowl Sunday fishing
iday, I got a text from my friend Brain asking if I wanted get out on the water for few hours. As you guys know Salty Fly is only a 20 days away and things are coming down to wire so I have not had much time to fish. The allure of not having to take a boat or all the camera gear with me was tempting. All I had to do was show up at the boat ramp with my fly rod.
One of the reason I do not fly fish more often is that I often fly fish is the lack of being on the bow and having some one pole me. This was a great opportunity to get me some bow time.
Being the winter tides we wanted to float skinny. Brian 14′ Shipoke which did the job just fine. The tiller configured boat floated skinny, was stable and had good room for 2 people.
Now to the next problem, finding the fish. I poled and poled and poled and for the first 3 hours saw only a couple fish spook off and minimal mullet to zero in on. It was quite a long first few hours I must admit.
We kept moving as we planned on fishing til about 1pm. Regardless of not seeing any fish, it felt good to be on the bow sight fishing, it’s been a while.
We 2 hours left until we had to call it day but out next last flat we wanted to check we started to see some fish. This was a good and bad thing.
It was great to find a few fish but these guys were crazy spooky. As soon as you get out line they would spook after the first false case and many times not even that.
Brian got quite frustrated and then it was my turn to get frustrated. We changed flies, we gave them crazy about of lead, we even went to the spoon fly. We contemplated getting out wading but we lack and anchor so that was a no go.
As we thought about giving up, the action picked up with birds showering some glass baits around us. I didn’t noticed this at first but in hind sight this was when they started to chew. In the next 30 minute we I caught 2 and Brian caught 2.
After this the action died and they disappeared as quickly as it began. It was good to finally get out and get some bow time and it’s better being lucky than good. Thanks Brian!
Above is a photo of my Hobie ProAngler 14 Carbon texture prototype.
I posted that on Facebook and way too many people believed me. Before it got carried away, I had to tell them it was just Photoshopped done in fun.
I did however get a Pro Anlger and Super Bowl Sunday (today as I type this) is my maiden voyage on it. I fished the local waters and mange 3 redfish in my local waters.
I also experimented with the New GoProHero 3 Black edition camera. The above photos is actually shot from the GoPro3. It actually looks pretty good.
I have to say, so far the image and interface on this unit is the best I have every used on any POV camera. I will go into more details as I feel more comfortable using it.
Fitting some fishing this morning
Salty Fly is less than 40 days away and there are lots to deal with.
So I haven’t updated much on here lately. There is lots going on lately and just have not had the time to get out much on the water.
So this morning I threw the kayak into the canal and brought one rod with me. There were lots of mullet around this morning which is always away good sign.
On my 6th cast into a mullet school, about 7:20am, I got a really nice 27″ or so red fish on the plug I was using.
It’s always tough to take photos of yourself and it’s even more difficult when you’re kayak fishing. I took a few photos of fish using a suction cup camera mount and it came out 1/2 way decent.
The conditions were great, slick calm, outgoing tide, lots of bait but I had to pack it in. An appointment in Plant City today then have to be in St. Pete later.
I have a few useful things planned to post but have not gotten around to it just yet.
Whats in my tackle box this time of year
How to take self portraits
More cool apps for fisherman
Instagrams
