A Day of Kayaking at Fort DeSoto

The splash sounded like a large hand slapping the water. I looked over and expected to see a brown pelican, but to my surprise a dark black shape leaped again and I could actually see its waving wings. They seemed to ripple as the manta ray slammed back into the water’s surface.

We had picked up Jenny at her place on Treasure Island and the days plan was to explore the kayaking opportunities at Fort Desoto County Park. Armed with the toll money, pretty unusual for Wyomingites, we entered the park and turned right arriving at the kayak concession. We were going to use ours but Jenny needed to rent one for the day.

The person in charge asked if we were going to brave the cold, it was about sixty five degrees, and he recommended a two hour tour of Soldiers Bayou. Providing us with maps we headed out to the usual jumping mullets and dashing schools of baitfish.

Larger fish were working the schools and so I stopped to cast my chartreuse bodied jig but was again stymied by no takers. It might seem like I am destined to go fishless here but I am an eternal optimist, (I do go jade hunting in Wyoming after all.) Continuing on past osprey nests it seemed unusual to see the large birds sitting on nests in December.

Passing a brown pelican roost we were surprised to see them perched in the black mangroves, but I guess it’s not unexpected to see them taking advantage of any place to rest. A little further and we had come to the end of Soldier Bayou and only half a hour had passed.

Gliding between the small islands we headed out into Mullet Bay, trying to find the pass between Fort Desoto and Shell Key. Turning several large corners we fought the north wind and while it was somewhat strenuous it felt good to get a bit of a workout. Each corner turned out to be another cove and we finally stopped for a bit of a breather.

It was time to turn around and the wind pushed us back in a gentle quarterly direction. Giant mullet continued to leap around us and it is no wonder that they smoke mullet here and make the very popular mullet spread. If I get some large mullet with my net I may actually try to smoke some myself as the one we ate at the smokehouse was really quite tasty.

Returning to Soldier Bayou we stopped and tied up for a relaxing lunch. An immature brown pelican starred at us hoping for a free handout but we all know better than to encourage such behavior,( I leaned this in Texas when I had a brown pelican take the fish off my line and I ended up having a hooked bird. It was scary to land and release such a large billed bird).

We passed several other fishermen casting jigs toward the mangroves but they didn’t seem to be having any more luck them me. At one place a Green Heron flew and landed right in front of me and didn’t seem frightened. It was probably looking for a handout and so Renita and I both snapped images.

Latter we drove around the park and looked for more places to launch our boats. One place that offered promise was very near the Shell Key pass. Jenny warned us however to watch the tides and not paddle with a strong outgoing tide as people are washed out to the Gulf. She has taken the local Coast Guard small craft and seamanship course and it always pays to listen to the locals.

We had a good day at Fort Desoto. Later we walked a bit of the beach and saw lots of washed up horseshoe crabs and Renita filled up a bag with more shells, (one can never have enough). I cast a silver spoon at the mouth of the pass and actually caught another strange ocean fish, (My score is five different species of which I can identify one, a whiting). We enjoyed the beach but Jenny, like a Floridian, complained about the cold. Laughing we headed back to the warmth of her house to decorate Christmas cookies. Clear skies