Having Fun With Hobie

 

The day started off a little later than I'm used to, especially for getting out on the water in the 'yak. But it was totally fine by me (more sleep!). As I walked down near the tiki hut to meet up with the Hobie team at River Palm Cottages in Jensen Beach, the sun started to rise over the calm morning. Baitfish were getting nervous along the shore as predator fish started to wake up, and there was a fun day planned ahead for everyone.

We headed up to Ft. Pierce and waited for everyone to get to the boat launch, thirteen total. It was pretty sweet to see nothing but Hobies dropping in the water. Splitting up into groups we started to pick apart the flats, hitting the mangrove lines, working the potholes, and finding the bait.

There were plenty of trout to be found among the groups, and the occasional redfish and snook. I personally saw many nice fish, including a pair of 35-inch snook that let me drift over them. A 4-foot shark worked on some mullet nearby. The bite was moderately slow, even though the size of the fish were decent.

I teamed up with Morgan Promnitz for most of the morning, a really cool guy from Southern California who has been with Hobie for several years. One of his highlights of the day was catching one of his biggest seatrout to date, a 25.5-inch beauty. I was busy following around bait busts, trying to hook a big jack or snook, when I heard "Saaaaaaammmm!" Morgan was yelling for Sam Root, an outdoor photographer, letting everone know within earshot that he had a good fish on. Sam peddled out to Morgan and got some killer shots of his trout.

 

It couldn't have been better timing, because after all the excitement of watching Morgan hold up the fish, it was time to head to a nearby island and chow down on some tasty food that Jerry McBride had cooked up. Pulling into what seemed an exotic island paradise, everyone parked their Hobies in a single file orchestra--it was a beautiful sight.

After having some laughs and getting our energy back, we started to head back to the boat launch. For me, it ended up being one of the best parts of the day. Morgan and I were the only two kayaks that didn't have the Mirage peddle drive system. So instead of getting worn out from the trip back, Morgan thought of a great way to kick back and relax. Pulling out a grappling hook anchor, he quietly made his way up to Sam Root who was peddling the big Pro Angler. With ninja-like skills he latched on his grapple to the back of Sam's boat and quietly slipped back in formation to enjoy his paddle free ride. It didn't take long for the bright idea to take hold. Within seconds, four others gravitated to Morgan to hold on to his and enjoy the free ride. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in a while. I'm sure Sam got his workout pulling a half dozen kayaks along.

 

I had a great time meeting a lot of folks from Hobie kayaks. They really know how to have a good time and catch some fish.