Surf Report CNS #3 - 1st Flounder 13"

Saturday afternoon me and Cody headed out to the beach at CNS. Stopped by 38 Live Bait first to get three dozen shrimp for bait, then a nasty storm popped up in the New Smyrna area. With strong rain and gusty wind, we decided to wait it out before we continued. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes for the storm to pass then all was clear. To the beach!

Arrived at CNS and parked in lot #3. Walked out and noticed the surf was very rough. Tall waves crashing several yards out and some moderate beach erosion caused by Hurricane Irene. Two days ago the Florida coast was edged by Hurricane Irene more than 200 miles away. Even though the hurricane was so far away, the effects can be seen along the coast. I tried fishing the best I could but nothing was really biting and the current was very strong. As soon as I casted, my lines were drifting to my right, and before long they were drifted up along the shoreline. So I had to keep casting out and letting it drift. We were there for about 3 hours and I only managed to catch one fish, my first flounder that was 13" long. Cody collected some pretty seashells and we played with the ghost crabs on the beach. We fed them some leftover bait and watched them pop in and out of their burrows. Even with the rough surf, we still had fun and hopefully next weekend the surf conditions will be better for fishing.

CS Lee Park - 6lb & 9lb Channel Catfish

Grabbed some fresh frozen mullet out of the freezer and headed down to CS Lee Park last night. Probably arrived there around 10pm and casted out to my usual spot. Got a few bites early on cut mullet. Then I got a solid bite that kept tapping at my rod, I picked up my pole and saw the fish swimming left with my line in his mouth. Reeled in the slack and it was fish on! It was a nice catfish about 6 lb. Not bad! Switched rods and casted out to the same spot with another gut chunk of mullet. Maybe 15 minutes later and it was another good bite, again swimming left with the current. Another fish on and this one felt bigger. This one was over 9 lb with more power and I was working with a 20# test leader. So after a little game of tug o' war, got it on the bank and saw it was gut hooked. Normally I wouldn't keep a catfish this big, but since it was gut hooked I didn't think it would survive a release. Now I had two big catfish in the cooler and I needed ice so I had to leave. In only two hours of fishing too!

Caught the first 6 lb catfish on the Okuma Classic Pro XP conventional reel and then got the bigger 9lb+ catfish on my old reliable Okuma ABF-65 spinning reel.

Location: C.S. Lee Park
Tackle: Owners Light Mutu 5/0 hook on carolina rig - 3 oz sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 9 LB 6 OZ
Bait: cut frozen mullet

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 5 LB 11 OZ
Bait: cut frozen mullet

Baby Sail Catfish & Lady Fish - Dunlawton Bridge

Night fished the Dunlawton bridge again last night, this time with Kyle and Tara. I arrived around 10:30pm and was looking for finger mullet to castnet. Spotted a few small schools early and grabbed a couple, but not very many at first. Though as the night went on the schools of mullet were more abundant so it worked out. First I used small pieces of shrimp and caught alot of baby Sail Catfish one after another. In fact, thats all we caught on shrimp. I also had two lines out with live finger mullet and we were getting pretty good bites on them. I think a majority of the bites were catfish and lady fish. With the live mullet I hooked a small hardhead catfish and a nice size Lady Fish. Kyle caught a bigger Lady Fish and a HUGE Stone Crab. Unfortunately right now Stone Crab season is closed in Florida so I couldn't harvest this delicious crabs' claw. We released it back in the water unharmed. For the record, Stone Crab season is October 15 - May 15

Dunlawton (Port Orange) - Lady Fish & 15" Sand Trout

My friend Kyle and I were seeking out some night fishing at the New Smyrna causeways Wednesday evening. We arrived at the South bridge first and netted some finger mullet. But with too many other lines in the water there, we didn't even bother getting our rods out. At least we had some bait so we loaded up and took a short drive to the North causeway. After scouting the situation there, it was a nightmare waiting to happen with lines crossing and no room to cast or even retrieve your line. So it was then we decided to try a new spot that we haven't seen before, the Port Orange Causeway. It was only a 15 minute drive from our location so we headed to Port Orange.

More commonly known as the Dunlawton Bridge, it spans the Halifax river and the Intracoastal Waterway. We got there around 2am and it was fishing time, yay! I started with pieces of frozen shrimp on a pompano rig and caught a couple Lady Fish. One of them I used as cut bait since I've heard it's suppose to be really oily and bloody. With that in mind I casted out a chunk of lady fish and waited. I got a nice hit on it for a second, but that was it. Next I setup another rod with a live finger mullet, this is actually my new reel that I haven't used much. It's my first conventional reel and it's definitly a learning experience. I can't really cast that far with it yet, but it works really well for fishing off of causeway piers. Using live mullet on a 3/0 owners light mutu hook, I caught another Lady Fish and then I hooked a nice 15" Sand trout. I capped off the night with a tiny little 5" sailfin catfish using a pieces of shrimp.

Total tally for me was 3 lady fish, 1 sand trout and a baby sailfin catfish.

CNS #3 - Personal Best 15" Whiting

Headed out to the Canaveral Seashore this morning, my buddy Kyle was about to see first hand what surf fishing was all about. We arrived around 11am and found a good spot on the beach to setup shop. I set him up with one of my homemade double hook pompano rigs and we both were catching whiting. With every cast getting a good hit or two, it was fun trying to hook up some whiting. We were using small pieces of Fishbites E-Z Shrimp with a small piece of fresh dead shrimp. The Fishbites seems to really help and it has a slow release scent so it lasts a really long time in the water. Plus it stays on the hook extremely well. Even when a fish steals your shrimp, you still have the fishbites on your hook and the whiting don't seem to care.

It was around noon when I hooked a really nice Gulf Kingfish (Whiting) that was 15" long. It's the biggest whiting I've caught so far. Kyle and I both caught alot of good keeper sized whiting too. All together we must have caught about 12 whiting in about 2 hours. I took home 8 in the cooler and cleaned them for dinner. I think we're planning on another trip on Thursday so I'll have another report soon. Hopefully we can catch some shark or pompano but as long as we're catching, I'm not complaining.

Surf Report CNS #3 - Lady fish & Whiting

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, me and Cody headed out to CNS for a little surf action. This time I made my own pompano rigs using 25# clear mono. These rigs are super easy to make with a dropper loop knot. My pompano rigs have two #2 owners mutu circle hooks with orange beads. Pictured below is the pompano rig.



First pitstop was Gander Mountain in Lake Mary, FL. I was there to get Fishbites and a couple sand spikes. When I asked a store employee if they had any fishbites, he said yes but it's about 3 years old and hard as a rock. They were selling it 50% off, which is still a ripoff for a product so old and unusable. Jokingly I said if I wanted a bag of rocks I would've gone to HomeDepot. I thanked the guy for at least being honest with me and left Gander with a couple sand spikes.

Second stop was 38 Live Bait co in New Smyrna, near the North Causeway. I got my 2 dozen medium shrimp and noticed they sell Fishbites. Their stock was much softer and fresh. I grabbed a bag of EZ Shrimp pink to go along with my live shrimp.

We finially arrived at Canaveral Seashore around 3pm and parked in lot 3. I started with just pieces of shrimp on my pompano rigs. The surf bite began immediately, my first cast I caught a lady fish. Next we caught a couple small whitings that we let go. Then after a few casts, I started adding a small piece of fishbites on the hook with the shrimp. Now I was hooking whiting in almost every cast. The last hour I was so busy rebaiting my hooks and reeling in fish that my son had to help me. He had a blast seeing all the fish and being my little helper. There were alot of birds around and seemed to be alot of baitfish. Noticed a few nice schools of finger mullet swimming on the beach as the waves washed up but I didn't have my castnet with me.

We were there for about three hours, during which I caught 7 whiting and 2 lady fish. The lady fish will be used for cut bait since they are too boney to eat.

Surf Fishing @ CNS #3 - Whiting

I decided to try my luck at surf fishing for the first time. My son and I went to Canaveral National Seashore (CNS) for a couple hours before they closed at 8PM. On the way there, I stopped by 38 Live Bait and grabbed some live medium shrimp. With 2 dozen shrimps we headed out to the beach. We parked in Lot #3 at CNS and hauled the gear out to the beach. With two rods, I loaded live shrimp on #2 size Owners Mutu hooks. I noticed the bite seemed to be pretty consistant but whatever it was, it was stealing the bait off my hook. So I downsized the size of bait by using pieces of shrimp instead of the whole shrimp. Once I tried that, I was pulling in whiting pretty good. The whiting I caught were small, but I did see a large whiting swimming right up on the beach as the waves came up. I walked up to see what it was and it's eyes looked up at me, then swooosh it quickly darted back into the ocean.

All together I took home 3 whiting and I even had some leftover shrimp to freeze for bait next time. Cody had a blast playing on the beach, and he wants to go back again. It really makes it nice that I can watch him play and fish at the same time. We had the whole beach to ourselves and it was a beautiful day. Next time I'll bring some pre-tied double hook rigs and perhaps some Fishbites for whiting bait. I'd also like to try some cut bait out there next time.

New Smyrna Morning Bite - Bluefish / Butterfly Ray

Me and Kyle planned to fish the morning bite at New Smyrna so we arrived a few hours before first light. Our 1st priority was to get some baitfish so we spotted some schools of finger mullet. Most of the mullet we caught were about 3" long, perfect finger size. Kyle caught a few bigger mullet and I netted 2 live shrimp when the current slowed down. We fished our usual spot at the end of the pier and waited for morning. When morning came, we waited some more. The bites were not coming as we had hoped. No crevalle jacks, no redfish, no drag singing bites. I did get a Bluefish up on the dock and Kyle caught a Butterfly Ray, but that was it. Well, another day another outcome hopefully. Thats the way fishing is, one day your on top of a feeding frenzy and the next day your wondering if there's any fish at all.

Personal Best - Big Catch Longnose Gar 20 lb 8 oz

Last night I was at CS Lee Park with a full arsenal. I brought with me some frozen cut bait and nightcrawlers to get started fishing. Once I had lines in the water, it was time to chum up some baitfish. With oatmeal and small pieces of bread, I threw the mix out in the shallow water by the shore. After 15-20 minutes, I grabbed my castnet to see if I can catch some live bait. It only took a few good casts and I had plenty of mud minnows. I used my light action rod to catch a few live bluegills too. Towards the end of the night I switched over to live bait and nightcrawlers. After the switch, I seemed to get alot more bites on live bait. I missed a few big ones too. One almost dragged my rod in the water because my drag wasn't set right.

Well anyways, it was the end of my night and I had another bite. After I made sure the hook was set, this guy was really pulling. I thought my drag was too loose or something, but no, it was just a big fish trying to get away. This one I fought a good couple minutes. I thought it was a big catfish the way it splashed around in the middle of the river but once I got a good look at it, it was a big Longnose Gar. Still a pretty cool catch since I haven't seen one of these in awhile. It's been a long time since I've caught a Longnose Gar, my previous one was about 9 LB almost a year ago. I can catch Florida Gar any given night, but they don't get any bigger than 4-5 LB. The Longnose Gar, though, can be common in the 5-15 lb range and the Florida record is 41 LB.

This Longnose Gar was 54" long and 20 LB 8 Oz, which qualifies for another Big Catch certificate from the FWC. The minimum requirements for the longnose is 20 lb and/or 50" long. Looks like I'll be sending in another application soon. =)

Location: C.S. Lee Park
Tackle: Owners Light Mutu 5/0 hook on carolina rig - 3 oz sinker

Species: Longnose Gar
Weight: 20 LB 8 OZ
Bait: live bluegill

Big Catch Program & Perseid Meteor Shower

Every year in late July and early August you can observe the Perseid Meteor Shower, a fascinating show displayed by rock and dust fragments left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle. As the fragments enter the Earth's atmosphere, they burn up creating a streak of light across the sky. This year, the peak activity is expected on August 13, 2011. A few nights ago while fishing at CS lee park I witnessed several meteors streaking across the sky. The skies were clear and it was a new moon so I could see everything. When there's a full moon, however, it will make meteor observing difficult.

On another topic, a few months ago on May 15th I caught a monster Channel Catfish that weighed about 15 LB. This size qualified for a "Big Catch" recognition by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. So I mailed in my free application and about 2 months later I received this beautiful full-color certificate, personalized with my name and details about the catch. 15 LB is actually the minimum qualifying size for a Channel Catfish and I think the Largemouth Bass minimum size is 8 LB, so earning these certificates isn't easy.

More FWC Big Catch Program details:
http://myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/fishing-tips/angler-recognition