Kernon Bast takes StarTrib writer fishing

Talk about it

Star Tribune outdoor writer Dennis Anderson had Kernon Bast of the town of Hudson for a guide during his introduction to kayak fishing for redfish in the mangrove backwaters of Florida.

Anderson wrote about the experience in an article titled “Florida, by kayak” that was posted on the Star Tribune’s website,www.startribune.comon Feb. 25.

“Fishing in three feet of water from a kayak on what broadly could be considered an ocean isn’t a thought I had previously entertained,” Anderson wrote in the introduction to the piece. “Kernon Bast was similarly a stranger to the idea until he bought a winter place down here a few years back. Then he learned to fool redfish in mangrove backwaters with small spoons and 30-pound braid that stiffened against the pull of these powerful fish.”

Anderson goes on to recount his outing at Matlacha, Fla. — near the Minnesota Twins spring training facility in Fort Myers — in a 1,200-word story.

Following an afternoon of casting spinning rigs for redfish in shallow waters, Bast and Anderson went night-fishing for snook.

“Wherever Joe Mauer and the other Twins pitchers and catchers were at that moment in southwest Florida, they couldn’t have been having this much fun,” Anderson wrote.

Bast and his wife, Donna, are Hudson real estate agents. He also is a member of the Hudson Town Board.

Tags: sports, outdoors, travel