Sunday, August 7, 2011
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.
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Brad, first of all congrats on the gar, very nice fish, did you take it home or set it free. We went to Cocoa this past weekend and spent the night, I went surf fishing,sunday evening and monday sunrise and it was non stop. Monday I finally and to call the wife in the hotel room to come and help, I couldnt handle all three poles.
ReplyDeleteI definitly want to try surf fishing sometime, I want to catch some whiting or pompano. When you say the bite was non stop, what were you guys catching? Also how far would you cast if your just targeting whiting, I hear they are closer to shore than other species.
ReplyDeleteWe caught whiting all day but in the last month and a half only thing that was biting was catfish and sharks, kinda sucked. It doesnt matter how far you cast out, you can catch sharks in knee deep water. My 10 ft rod I throw out about 200 yrds, the 7ft around 100. Pomps are gone but should be showing up at the end of this month
ReplyDeleteawesome man, me and my friend want to catch a shark! what kind of sharks do you commonly catch on the surf? anything worth keeping? saltwater cats I don't really eat, but whiting and shark I will. I'm probably going to try some fresh dead shrimp and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteoh yeah to answer your original question about the gar, I set it free. I wanted to take the skull and keep it but I had no way to store a 54" gar in my car. it was a pretty fun catch. those bigger channel cats must be spawning because I haven't caught any in awhile.
ReplyDeleteThe sharks Ive been catching is either Bonnet heads or Blacktips. I keep reading that shark steak are very tasty but I have never tasted shark before. Check out this website I have learned alot about surf fishing and the forums are great,http://www.surfishingflorida.com/. So far the best place is either CNS, #3-5, or Ive been hearing alot about Pounce Inlet, Ive never been there yet but its in the plans for a future trip.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah those bonnetheads are said to be great, people say you'd think you were eating red snapper. Me and my 7 year old son went to CNS #3 today for a couple hours before they closed. Hell yeah that was fun and had the whole beach to ourselves. First time surf fishing lol. I got 3 whiting and alot more hits. Since I have three 7' rods, I'm looking to get a bigger 10' for surf fishing. you know any bargains or recommendations?
ReplyDeleteI told you surf fishing was fun, its addictive, I fish with both 7ft and 10 ft rods, the 10 ft I throw out and leave in the pole holders the 7 ft i hold. What rig were you using, carolina or pompano, I use Pompano with 3 hooks. I just bought a 10 ft. at gander for $39, the reel is not the best but the rod is nice, I ended up putting one of my better reels on. CNS is great, you usually have the beach to yourselves,
ReplyDeleteCool I was thinking about going to Gander anyway to get some Fishbites and I might checkout their rods. I just got a nice Okuma Classic Pro conventional reel and I need practice casting. I've only used spinning reels so far. I was using the standard carolina rig. It was a spur of the moment trip and had limited time on the beach before they closed. I just wanted to get some lines in the water LOL. Now I made my own double hook rigs and will use those next time.
ReplyDeleteGander discontinued Fishbites, only place I found them was the baitshop by the N.causeway in Smyrna. I also make my own rigs, I use 40# line with #2 Mustard Circles. It is great where you can watch the kids play and fish at the same time, they love it and I love it, everytime I catch a fish, even a shark, my 3 and 5 yr old want to either take it to the cooler or let it go. Sports Auth, also has surf rod and reels combos.
ReplyDeleteGander still has some fishbites but it's like 3 years old. The guy working there said so himself. The stuff they got is as hard as a rock but it's 50% off. I said no thanks LOL. So yeah, I stopped by 38 Live Bait and grabbed some fishbites there that was brand new. It's crazy, Fishbites is based in St Augustine FL and you can't even find the stuff around here.
ReplyDelete