My First Remote Skiff Camping Trip For Inshore Slams [Scary Adventure]
- By: Luke Simonds
- on
This remote camping trip was the scariest fishing adventure I’ve been on.
I was dumb enough to pick a dangerous area (The Chaz) for my first remote skiff camping trip.
The Chaz is a remote area on Florida’s Nature Coast that consists of shallow grass flats with many limestone rocks hiding just under the surface in random spots.
Even the locals blow out their lower units on occasion by hitting rocks, so someone like me, who has zero experience navigating a boat in those waters, is not a good idea.
The reason I chose this area is that it’s known for being a top-tier fishery for redfish and seatrout while also having good numbers of snook.
I got a taste of this fun fishery a few years back when I was a guest on the boat with some fellow Insider Club members, Bill DeWeese and Jimmy Tintle.
So the idea of spending a full 24 hours straight in a great fishing area like this was just too appealing to resist in spite of the risks.
Here were my goals for this trip:
- Get in and out of the backwaters without hitting any rocks
- Catch slam in the afternoon day 1
- Find spot to camp (good fishing zone with minimal risk of bugs)
- Catch dinner and cook on the skiff
- Catch slam at night
- Avoid getting stuck in backwaters with the falling tides
- Catch slam in the morning on day 2
I captured the trip on film (including the night fishing adventure). And I put together the key moments, including some hard lessons learned, in the video below.
FEATURED GEAR
Power Fishing Setup
- Rod: Slot Machine 7’6″ Medium
- Reel: Otis 2500
- Line: 10lb Daiwa J-Braid 8 Grand
- Leader: 15 Ib Ande Mono
- Bite Tippet: 30 Ib Ande Mono
- Lure 1: Skinny Lipper
- Lure 2: Wake Mullet
- Lure 3: Prawn USA Jr rigged on 3/0 Hoss Weedless Round Eye 1/4oz
Finesse Setup
- Rod: Slot Machine 7’6″ Medium
- Reel: Otis 2500
- Line: 8 lb Daiwa J-Braid 8 Grand
- Leader: 12 Ib Ande Mono
- Bite Tippets: 20 & 30 Ib Ande Mono
- Lure 1: Tweaker (Black) rigged on 3/0 Helix Hook 1/8oz
- Lure 2: Tweaker (Slam Shady) rigged on 3/0 Helix Hook 1/8oz
- Lure 3: Prawn USA Jr rigged on 3/0 Helix Hook 1/8oz
Featured Software:
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although this was a nerve-wracking trip with some hard lessons learned, I’m definitely going to try this remote skiff camping trip again once the weather cools down to lower the bug risk.
I am very thankful for the high-res satellite mapping imagery within the Smart Fishing Spots platform because I relied heavily on it for knowing which zones to avoid and which ones were likely safe.
As usual, it was cool to see that the same trends and lures work in this very different environment compared to where I normally target redfish, seatrout, and snook.
Please do not hesitate to use the comments section below if you have any questions about this trip or suggestions on how to improve skiff camping comfort.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
The 2 core benefits we promise to Insider Club members is to be able to find and catch fish easier than ever before while saving money on fishing equipment.
So I am including links to the quickest ways to achieve each:
1) Finding Fish System
2) Insider Club’s Group Discounts
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Great video, Luke! I really enjoyed the whole thing! Do you have a video showing your skiff details bow to stern? I would like to see it! Thanks and tight lines!
Really enjoyed the whole video and the details of the process. Now that you worked the bugs out ( no pun intended ) the next one will hopefully be even better. Thank you
Enjoyed your trip too bad about the lighter !
Great adventure. I’ve always wanted to do a trip like that in the Ten thousand islands area.
Thanks John! That is another area that I have on my list to do this type of trip. Back in Lostman’s River to be precise… I’ve always wanted to fish there after reading about it in the Florida Sportsman magazine as a teenager. Now I finally have an easy way to get back there for a night without worrying about having to find a good shoreline to camp on.
Luke what air mattress do you use? Being able to sleep comfortably is the one thing that keeps me from island camping.
It was just an inexpensive one I found on Amazon when searching for a 1 person air mattress for remote camping (comes with an internal manual pump that’s easy to inflate).
Awesome video Luke, what an adventure! I lived in that area for 10 years and had some of the best fishing ever. Rocks everywhere, I think that’s what keeps the inexperienced from venturing into the back country
Thanks for making time to post the nice comment Matthew! Yes, the rocks are surely what will keep this area from getting crowded with boats. I typically see more boats in 1 hour while fishing backcountry in Charlotte Harbor as I did in 2 days in the Chaz.
What kind of skiff do you have and did you look at others before deciding on this. What were the factors you considered to select this skiff?
I got this 22ft Micro Draft Skiff late last year after I fished from one earlier in 2025 and was shocked at how well is performed in shallow water. I’ve had a 17ft Maverick HPX-V for the past 15 years, and this 22ft boat goes shallower and is much more stable so I simply had to get it.
I have been very impressed with this boat so far. Being able to pitch a tent on the front is just an added bonus that I’ll definitely be taking advantage of frequently next winter.
Good job
Thanks Philip!
Awesome Video, Have fished with a guide up there…Great fishing and information for our area.
Thanks so much!!!
I bet that a guided trip in that area was a blast! I’m definitely going to be making more trips up that way given how good that fishery is.
Very nice, glad no lower problems. I have not been using plugs and focusing mainly on plastics. Thanks for the update. Great watching.
The plug fishing has been surprisingly effective. I was 100% soft plastics for many years. And now I start almost every trip with plugs given how much extra water that allow me to cover… I’ll switch back to soft plastics when the bite is tough though similar to what I did on day 2 of this trip.