It is no hidden fact, that more and more people are buying fishing kayaks every day. Now, especially in this recession, a lot more people are resorting to kayaks as a way to get on the water. They finally seem to realize that the big rig 60 mph boats are not needed to catch more fish. More often than not, you catch a lot more fish out of kayaks than you do the big rig boats.

You can sneak into 2ft deep water, back into areas where you would never find a big boat. When was the last time you seen a big rig down in the lumber yard at the south end of the lake? I get down there all the time. We used to have to anchor our big rig back there, and get out to wade fish up and down the shore.

This worked, for the most part. During spawning season, these fish don’t typically abandon their bed, so walking through the water won’t spook them. Any other time, good luck, or get a fly rod. But with fishing kayaks, you can see the bed from a farther reach, and are able to sneak up onto it. Fishing kayaks are incredibly stealthy, and this is helping their sales more than hurting it.

One other reason more and more people are buying fishing kayaks lately, is for the storage part of it. You can’t store a big rig easily, or any other trailered boat for that point. You can store 4-5 kayaks easily on a wall mounted rack, to be able to take your entire family out on the water. Or you can have an excuse to fill up the extra room with more fishing setups.

Owning more than a few boats, my fiance believes that people just don’t need this many. Fishing kayaks do teach people how to know which lures or fishing setups to bring along for the day, as you can’t bring everything with you, it is a quick lesson.

The gas bills always come into play when owning a big boat. Some weekends, I have blown through $1000 worth of gas, just taking the family out for the weekend. Now that I have sold my boat, it almost upsets me to think about the money we had invested in it.

In other words, it is super expensive to run these big rigs these days. When gas got up to $4 per gallon and higher, more and more boats were sitting in the garage, just collecting finance payments. You couldn’t use the trolling motor, because the battery died so soon, and charging it was getting more expensive as well.

Times are getting tougher now a days, and more are starting to see that you can enjoy fishing kayaks for a very little investment. Fishing kayaks hold their value as well, especially if you purchase used, you can usually get what you paid for it when it comes time to sell.

Jozhua is an avid kayak fisherman who has been using fishing kayaks instead of bass boats for over 5 years now. After spending this much time in the sport, he has finally started up the site over at: http://fishingkayaksnow.blogspot.com

You are here because you are more than likely looking for information on saltwater fishing in the sunshine state of Florida. You are in good luck as I have been fishing in Florida for over 20 years – specifically in the Tampa Bay area – as there are some great places that you can catch a good amount of fish at, even if you do not have access to a boat. Of course though there are plenty of spots that are onshore to fishing in the Tampa Bay area.

One of my favorites is the SkyWay fishing pier – and yes there are too sides to the pier, the Saint Petersburg side and the Bradenton side, and from my experience and the stories that I have heard the Saint Pete side is a lot better when it comes to pier fishing. Now if you have a boat there are many good spots on the skyway bridge that you can go too – but you will have to find them for yourself as they remain a captains secret – if not then the pillars will be overfished and then noone will be able to fish. Another thing about fishing under the skyway bridge is just because the fish are there does not mean that  you are going to catch them. Some of the common types of fish that you can expect to catch under the skyway bridge are King Mackerel, which mainly stay fairly close to the surface, along with grouper, snapper and sheepshead. You may need to have some tough terminal tackle though to ensure that the tackle sinks all the way down to the bottom.

Also if you are not an inexperienced boater and want to fish under the skyway bridge, do not due it as the currents there can get extremely deadly very fast. I do not recommend fishing there on a pontoon boat unless it is dead calm seas, which it usually is not there due to the Tampa Bay current.

From what I know the sky way fishing pier I think that they may charge a fee. There are also some piers in the Tampa Bay area, Fort Desoto Park, where you can fish for free. In all honesty though you will have a better chance of catching fish if you have a boat, simply due to the fact that you have access to cover more ground.