There's a lot going on in this week's Nuts & Bolts TV show.  Tony Narcisse, who runs the Kayak Fish Lanier guide service, and I fish in some extremely skinny water from sit-on-top kayaks.   We hooked up with Capt. Ray Golden and Chris Chappell of Coffee Bluff Marina and had an unbelievable adventure fishing the marshlands of coastal Georgia. 

 

Coffee Bluff is a great little marina on the Forest River with full load/launch facilities, transient docking, fuel, live bait, tackle, and a friendly face to greet you when you show up.  They run a variety of charters out of there, and because of their proximity to the back country they do a lot of inshore fishing trips for redfish, trout, flounder, and the like.  Kayakers really like Coffee Bluff for a couple reasons.  First, they are kayakers themselves, so they can relate to us folks who fish from these crazy plastic boats.  And secondly, they know where the fish are. 

 

Now on this particular trip, Capt. Ray had a very special place in mind.  He said this spot was perfect for kayak fishing, and in fact, that's about the only way it could be fished.   On the charts, this was a rather insignificant looking place.  In fact, most anglers would never even expend the time or the fuel to explore such a small creek. 

Here's the exact location: 

 

Latitude - Middle,  Longitude - Of Nowhere.   

 

But in this case, this small creek had the magical combination... The Big Three.   Food, Comfort & Safety.  At low tide this large mud flat becomes a pond.  As the water recedes, a sand bar creates a 'land bridge' making it virtually impossible for anything to get in or get out of this small body of water.  That means all the baitfish, shrimp and crabs are hemmed up in this 3 or 4 acre pool, and the redfish have a smorgasbord to feast upon.  That takes care of the Food part of the equation.   Although this area is close to deeper water, the flat literally becomes mere inches deep at low tide.  The sun can warm the shallow water quickly and both the bait and the redfish like to bask in the wamer water temps.  Check off number Two - Comfort.    Next, besides keeping the baitfish contained, the sand bar also keeps larger predators out of the pond, namely dolphin who like to eat the reds, for at least a few hours.   Add the Third element - Safety.    When you can find a place with all three of the Big Three, odds are you've found a honey hole.  I called it The Red Zone.

 

At least half the fun of this trip was the 'getting there' part.   Now the Red Zone is about 10 or 12 miles back in the marsh.   And paddling there, although picturesque, was not something Tony or I relished.   Capt. Ray had already devised the solution.  We would load the kayaks onto a Mother Ship (a 27 foot Parker) to haul the them for part of the trip.  Ray would take the anglers in his bay boat, and once the water got too shallow for the Mother Ship, we would stack the kayaks on the bay boat for the last mile or so.  When it got to shallow for the bay boat, off came the kayaks and we only had to paddle a few hundred yards to get to the Red Zone.  Now that's what I call service. 

 

Fishing in this area was like taking a trip back in time.  Unspoiled, pristine coastal marshland.  Abundant wildlife.  And the redfish were thick.  So thick, they were continually running into our kayaks, and literally lifting up the bow or stern as they would plow under the hull in 4 or 5 inches of water. 

 

This was one of the most awesome kayak trips I've ever been on, and quite frankly it was one of the easiest kayak trips as well.  The way Capt. Ray handles the logistics, almost anyone could enjoy a day like this, whether they have spent any time on a kayak or not.

 

Watch the Red Zone adventure this Sunday morning at 7:15am on Fox Sports Network-South in the Southern Outdoors program block.

 

And if you want to spend some time in the Red Zone, or the Flounder, Sheepshead, Trout or Tarpon Zones; Capt. Ray can definitely hook you up.  Check them out at CoffeeBluffMarina.net