Welcome to my RU-vid channel. My name is Robert Mealey. I am an avid inshore fisherman with over a decade of experience fishing coastal estuaries from Key West FL to Louisiana. I almost always fish using artificial baits and target species like tarpon, snook, trout, bonefish and especially my favorite - redfish. I have a home in New Smyrna Beach that is nestled right between the Atlantic Ocean and the nearly world famous redfish habitat the Mosquito Lagoon. That's where you will find me most days searching for hungry fish. I started the "LynxAngler" social media accounts when I was fishing primarily out of my Hobie Lynx Kayak, but now you will almost always find me fishing from one of my Hell's Bay Boatworks skiffs. My all time favorite is my 16' Eldora - the boat not-ironically named after the place I fish the most.
I am very excited to share my experience with as many other avid anglers as possible, so come fish with me.
Thank you Mike. You know ... maybe it's because I'm getting older and my eyesight isn't very good but I would say the majority of sight-fishing shots I get in the lagoon are within 50 feet. So I think that method would work because it can be a very soft and quite accurate presentation (I think better / easier with a bait caster btw). However, for me I am often driving the trolling motor with my left hand so I can't just hold the bait like that. Maybe I could learn to do it with one hand. But for sure if you are going to throw that stiff of a rod it's about the only way to make delicate shots.
This is a horrible story but I have a friend in Texas who just went on a guided trip with 3 friends to Lafitite? area. They kept 4 reds each per day. I’ve givin him a hard time about it, and of course I wouldn’t let him keep the ones I put him on when he visited here. He’s one of these guys who only fishes for meat.
I respect keeping fish, but I think it needs to be in moderation. If everybody kept the max everyday I think it would really effect the population and the fishing wouldn't be as good. In the lagoon I think it would devastate the fishing, so I'm glad they closed it.
That was fun! At the start, all those failed presentations reminded me of here these past couple months. Glad it turned around for you though. Got to watch that heatstroke for sure. I've nearly blacked out a time or two during the height of summers past.
Thank you Jeff. I wanted to put the misses in because It was amazing to see so many fish in one place at one time. I wasn't making the best cast, but Louisiana fish don't normally require great cast. But for the rest of the trip they were much less picky. Once it clouded up a little and we got a little wind, everything was much better. I hated being the one to ask to move from that great pond, but I was getting nervous about a heatstroke.
That's a great question. I went with the shortest possible (45") because my skiff is small and I fish in very shallow water. It would be too shot if my boat was a little taller out of the water and I needed it to hold me in any kind of waves or serious chop. As is I have never needed to lower it all the way. I've been recently testing a Motor Guide Xi3 with a 54" shaft and if I am standing flat on the deck of the skiff I sometimes hit the motor with my fishing pole - especially on hook sets. If I am on a platform or cooler then I clear over the top. The other consideration is how far it sticks outside of the boat when stowed - depending on the mounted angle. So when you are coming into a dock you may end up bouncing the head off the dock if it is sticking out too far.
Great snook, had the same thing happen couple weeks ago, 32” snook, I also had to chase him with the trolling motor, he took a while to recover and so did I, 😆.. so are you still sold on the Move? I’m thinking of getting one.
I’m not sold on the Move for my application. I don’t think I’ll be putting it back on the Eldora. The slight edge it has in quietness over the motor guide is not worth the extra 30 lbs of weight. So I’m going to try the Motor Guide for a while and see.
I don't believe it does ... There are no buttons on the remote for the deployment of an anchor so i'm not sure how it could. Having those buttons on the Power Pole remote is a great feature.
@@mikemcgovern8719 Yes, in fact it may still be. I no longer see it for sale on their website so you would have to call and see. It was a super, super clean boat for a 2021.
Well that was fun! Congratulations on the personal best snook. That was a beast! And you just have to love when fish get right up close like that, especially when most of the time they spook before you can get close enough to even lay eyes on them. I also have an Xi3 trolling motor, but I won't use it in the lagoon. It just doesn't get shallow enough for my needs.
Thanks Jeff. I’m still thinking about how to get the really small tiller on my skiff. Because I agree with you 100%, the smaller the better. I had access to this xi3 from a used boat at my store so I grabbed it to test.
Funny, I'm sure like me you have forgotten everything you have, or have not said, on camera that made it into a video. I always feel like I have shared so much more than I actually have because I have filmed and said so many things that I never used. I am obviously not a professional fisherman or RU-vidr, I am in fact a Subaru dealer and I also own a Powersports and Marine dealership - both in Orlando. In this case the motor came in on a Bass Tracker into my Marine dealership.
@@LynxAngler Nice! Now I know who to ask next time I need boat parts, LOL! Don't own a Subaru though. I make a point of not talking much about my businesses in my videos either. About the only time I do is when I do a giveaway.
@@JeffHammerFishing I'd be happy to try and save you some $$ Jeff. The best chance to do so would be on a repower. I can get pretty good deals on outboards. I am also a Power Pole dealer and get decent discounts there. Most of the rest of the marine electronics game is super cutthroat.
That’s a nice snook. Pound for pound a beast of a fight. My biggest snook is 39” and I thought I had a stingray on until he jumped head out of the water and like you said in you video I thought it was a dinosaur
Great catch! Awesome. But I learned that when big reds quit breeding ( spawning) and get so big they resort to the bridge at the canal and hang around the grouper and jew fish because they know when there lives are cut short. My grand father told me this and he was right those fish know the grouper can take them out with a single crunch. Figure great video
That’s really interesting. I’ve heard there are very large drum at haulover and I’ve caught some big ones under the Smyrna bridge. I didn’t know they stopped spawning once they got too old / big.
@@LynxAngler we all get cut short in our time,... but I'll never retreat under the porch, not this ole dog! .. I believe its the draw bridge when you cross on co.4 road, it's been so long ago. I hope you try it love to see you catch one of those huge reds,
Funny enough I had the chance recently, on another boat build, to make the decision again and I still put it on the right. After almost a year of use now I am very adept at deploying and stowing using only my right hand and right foot. In some of my videos you will see me stowing the motor this way while fighting bigger fish so I don't break them off on the motor. I don't think I would have the coordination to do that with my left hand since it does involve aligning the motor with the cradle while pulling up. In addition as someone who also likes to fly fish I strip with my left hand so I like knowing the motor is on the opposite side of the bow so the fly line doesn't tangle on it. This video was shot during my first time ever using the motor and I was figuring things out. Stowing and deploying is an absolute piece of cake now, it might be the Move's best feature actually.
Robert I hope you don’t mind me getting off the subject, but I do have a question you may be able to help me out with. I know the motor on the move is very quiet, but does the unit (not the motor) make a noise when changing steering direction?
That's a great question Mike. The best thing about the move is that the steering is the one thing that is truly silent. However, after a little salt gets built up on the shaft it will get a little sticky or creaky when you first engage the steering. But a little light oil seems to take that away. The motor itself is the thing that is not silent. Is it better than all the others ... maybe. It is definitely better than my old MK trolling motors. But I've learned you have to take my experience with a grain of salt because the open design of the Eldora means that the whole boat is a speaker. It amplifies any sound in the water, even fish drumming resonate through the hull. When I am on CAs boat with the Move I can't hear it to save my life.
@@LynxAngler thanks appreciate the comments. I currently have a MK I pilot and am always aggravated with the electronic noise exchange with the steering.change from the remote.., I’m thinking about the Move, but debating the gains vs cost. Thanks again. Good luck out there.
A trailer would make launching easy, but adds a whole new dimension to the experience that I don't want. I normally fish in the salt out of my skiff, which has a trailer. So I want the kayak to be simple. I'm getting the simple part figured out. I just loaded it into the truck for another trip and it took only a few minutes, which is almost exactly how long it takes to hook up my boat.
Thank you Mike. That's a good observation and I have plenty of PWC trailers that would work over at my Sea Doo / Yamaha store. But I have a policy, if I am pulling a trailer and taking on all of the extra responsibilities entailed with the trailer it should be a boat, like my Eldora, back there. I want the kayak to be all about simplicity, and ease, event though the ease isn't apparent in this video, haha. I am figuring the ease part out and it's getting really good. No trailer means easy in rush hour traffic, easy to park, no extra maintenance and no flat tires (like what happened in my pompano video).
Congrats on the PB red for the year and success in the kayak. I laughed at your trying to load the kayak with the cart and was thinking, why not back down to the water? Then you figured it out day two! LOL One of these days wasn't Juneteenth, was it? Clouds and wind look right. If so, we could have literally seen each other potentially.
I'm glad I filmed some of the cart debacle because that was frustrating. I messed with it so long that I actually got locked in the park and had to call the police to let me out! What a day ... Anyway I was out there Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning in the Kayak. I fished from the skiff Friday and Saturday but only caught a couple of smaller fish. I plan on heading back tomorrow afternoon and probably Saturday morning.
Congratulations Robert on the “Blue Whale”. I’m a new subscriber and wanted to say that I really appreciate your videos. You can tell you make a real effort of making high quality content that’s real.
Not really, it's almost 40" wide and pretty stable. There is an initial dip in the direction when you shift your weight, but it really doesn't go any further.
Awesome video. Quick tip. If you forget a measuring board the iPhone has an app called “measure” where you can use the camera to measure anything. Works wonders. I fish the same area I love the lagoon
You had a good day, congrats! Have to admit, made me a little jealous since I was out there the day after this and found the reds to be a lot less cooperative. Every fish I caught had absolutely stuffed, bulging stomachs, so I think you hit them at just the right time. I rode by your usual ramp at one point and slowed to see if you happened to be launching or loading, but obviously at day too late. By the way, that 360 camera is growing on me. You get some pretty good shots with that.
What 360 camera? I hired a cameraman obviously! Actually I've been playing with the insta360 X4 and the DJI Pocket 3. The Pocket 3 is not 360, it's tracking me. The image quality from the P3 is vastly superior to the insta360 camera, which is not very good. The image on the P3 almost rivals the big camera (A7S3). The tracking on the P3 can be finicky, however. So I was out on Saturday, which is rare for me, but actually it wasn't that busy. You were out on Sunday? That's a very interesting observation about the stomachs. I am obsessed with why and when they eat. Now that I know where they live and get to observe them so often, I see there is absolutely a time when they want to eat and when they don't want to eat, just like us.
@@LynxAngler Boy you sure have a lot of fun gadgets! Those are some nice cameras and like I said, you're getting some pretty cool shots with them. I have probably 20 to 25 gopros, but I tear them up, so I avoid the latest most expensive stuff. Fishing every week in the heat, cold, moisture and salt is hard on electronics so they just don't last for me. So...Saturday was June 8th, which is the day I was out. You titled this video June 7th, so I assumed you were out Friday. If you were out Saturday, then I bet we were less than a 1/4 mile apart, because I was just a little south of where I believe you were fishing. If we were out the same day in almost the same area, then you had vastly different results than I did. Although I may have caught more "fish", I would have rather had your day, LOL. I finished editing my video this morning, so it should be up before lunch.
@@JeffHammerFishing I am a gadget fanatic, always have been. I swear I fish just so I can play with the gadgets! Because we had low tide in the morning I went south, around slippery, and had no luck. I made a small move further south around Gaines and found them in there. The trout and 2nd red were caught in the afternoon up north of JBs. I edited the video out of order to try and get my thumbnail fish in a little sooner than it naturally happened. But my morning was terrible. First fish in the video was probably 11am and I started at 6. I normally watch all of my favorite fishing RU-vid channels in my gym while I workout. So yesterday I watched you on the windy day catch a boatload of fish! I was jealous.
Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of an into or wrap up in this video, I didn't like the into I recorded and I did the wrap up with a dead microphone. Either way it was a surprisingly good trip and I very nearly completed an inshore slam - trout, red and a snook that got off at the boat. Two of the fish were caught with the Bugg's Fishing Curly Tail Redfish jig, and 1 trout and 1 red with the ZMan Diesel MinnowZ in Purple Demon color. The last red with a 5" ZMan jerk shad in Beer Run. I lost the snook on the same purple minnowZ and I broke off on something else on a Bloody Marry Sunday Deisel MinnowZ. Thank you for all of your support! -Robert
Typically I only fish during the week to avoid the crowds but in this video I went on Saturday. I was surprised that it wasn't very busy. It could have been the 100 degree temps keeping everyone away.
Wow, you've got more on this kayak than most have on a full size flats skiff! Super nice setup. I agree that the impeller you've got right now is going to be a pain getting clogged up and not being able to clear it from within the kayak, but I suspect you'll get that figured out too.
Thank you Jeff. The burning question I have (and I know you will have insight on this) is: how will this ultimately compare work-wise on a full day of fishing to the skiff? You and I have quite simplified boats, but they still have plenty of mechanical parts & trailers to maintain and things to clean. My kayaks are lucky to get a hose splashed over them as the entirety of their maintenance program. This thing is heavy to hoist into the truck bed, but once inside I am just driving a longer truck - not a truck and trailer. The electric motors on the back take a lot of the work away, but they are quite slow. I really don't know for sure, however, I strongly suspect that I am so spoiled by the skiff that I might want to kill myself doing a full day on this.
@@LynxAngler You may see in some of my videos I do some freshwater trips in a bare bones kayak. Just a paddle, life jacket, couple rods and basic lures/tools. It’s a fair amount of work, especially with any significant wind. I generally stay under 3-4 hours, and my shoulders ache a bit afterward. I’m sure with the electric motor it’ll be better but it’s going to be hard to sight fish from that low. Over the years I’ve portaged heavier John boats and canoes over land to get into tough spots, and 200 lbs will be a lot of work by yourself unless you get one of those 2 wheel beach carts to help get down to the water. But you may have good, easy access to the places you want to go.
Hello Lynx Angler fans. I don't want anyone to think this is replacing either of the Hell's Bay skiffs, it certainly isn't. I built this primarily for bass fishing at my home in Orlando where I refuse to let my boats get destroyed with mildew, dirt and spiders. I am much happier to leave a kayak down there. I also enjoy the intimacy and simplicity of kayak fishing quite a bit. However, I do want to take this to the salt on occasion, I especially want to explore the No Motor Zone in the Banana river. Thank you for watching!
That’s a sick kayak. A lot of gadgets and A very nice set up you have there. I have an autopilot and I do think is the best out there due to the spotlock feature and the fact is the only kayak that allows you to stand up and control with a remote so you can sight cast and troll slowly while casting the shoreline. Still very nice set up you have there!
Using the TM remote is a very good point I didn't consider. That would be more like the way I fish from my skiff when I am not polling it. I've always favored the Hobie kayaks with the idea that you can use the pedals in shallow water by adjusting your kicks. But like you said I can't do that while standing ... well you sort of can actually but it is sort of clunky to push the pedals with your hand.
Man, that flounder would have been in the oven if I'd caught it! Definitely a legal fish, but still good on you on the release. I had a similar-sized snook come off near the boat yesterday, so thanks for rubbing that in by landing yours, lol! Enjoyed the video. You had a better weather day than I did, but I landed a few more I think, despite pulling the hooks on a bunch.
LOL that's funny. It's even worse I lost one at the boat but he was the little one! The flounder was a surprise. I'd really like to keep some fish but I'm afraid of running afoul of the regulations and I don't really know them off hand. My cooler is also full of gear and no ice sadly. But maybe if I can get into a good trout bite I can get better prepared. Funny enough I haven't caught a trout in a while.
A note to my regular viewers: I'm experimenting with videos that get to the fishing action quicker and have less talking. But I realize that there might be some questions about time and tides, tackle and gear so on. Ask me here. I'm super happy to answer anything except for how I pay for all this stuff, fish so much and still have a wife.
@@flatsclasscharters Thank you CA. You might not have recognized the top water but it was my Flats Class University bait of the month. Actually Carlos lost my original one on a giant fish last week, so I bought a new one. FCU has helped me catch so many more fish!!
I hear you guys always taking about your rocks landscape in fish pond why don't you buy the sea foam so the rocks will not fall down just a suggestion Love you guys.
User-oo3tb1qu5u is a really unique name, I am assuming you are a bot. If I am correct I really wonder why a bot would comment, completely off topic, on my video. What's in it for whomever is running the bot farm?
@@njsurfrider Just when you think you have it figured out a major variable changes and you are back to square one. But I am learning that consistency is the key. Since getting my place over there and going so much that you start to develop their patterns. That is why guides can always put you on fish, they know.
Great job. Thanks for the video. Interesting how you mention medium heavy rod. Ive missed hooksets a lot lately using med light.and got very frustrated. I fish exclusively weedless and caught a video of CA saying with weedless use a med heavy, I switched and have been having much better hookup ratio.
That's a good point Mike. It's also important, maybe even more important, to know how your drag is set for those hook sets. Too loose and the rod action won't matter, too tight and you will break off big fish. I had both scenarios play out yesterday and the day before.
I do not normally catch mangrove snappers because I use too large of a lure. But I have caught a few in that exact bay when using smaller winter time lures. They were not very large though.
I fish in the Canaveral National Seashore National Park, but not really at the cape itself. Cape Canaveral is a long way south of where I am normally at. I fish in the islands to the East of a town called Oak Hill. If you wanted to fish right at the cape you would either be offshore, inside the port, or in the Banana River. All three can be great fishing spots.
Nice drum! Highly recommend you try eating one sometime, but smaller sized. Under 20" is perfect and tasty. Much better than redfish. I'll have a video up later and you'll see my day was about like yours. Also, FYi, your right channel audio drops out around the 4:50 mark.
Yes, I've had the smaller ones from a trip years ago to clearwater - very good. I'm never in a position to keep anything on the boat - my Yeti is a storage locker! But from the beach I will definitely keep some drum. You have awesome hearing and are correct. As always I messed with things one too many times and messed it up. As someone with a lot more experience will I ever stop making these dumb mistakes?
@@LynxAngler 🤣No, probably not. Sometimes I get so sick of rewatching my own edits multiple times trying to catch all the problems, but it does get easier eventually.
My dad was an avid fisherman! He had a group of buddies that all went together to Chokoloskee to fish for Snook every year! Loved this video! Where were you with CA?
Hi Pam. We launched at the Monkey Bar in Homosassa River and ran down south to the Chasowitzka River in the gulf. We fish around the outer islands there. CA lives and guides out of there so he knows his way around the countless rivers and tributaries over there. I have been to Chokoloskee yet but ti is on my list!
