4 FT 36 LB Redfish caught at NSB North Causeway!!

Last night I drove out to the North Causeway with Kyle for some night fishing. We arrived after midnight and baitfish were everywhere. We had live mullet in no time and were ready to fish. Nothing caught on live bait the whole night though. Fresh cut mullet was the ticket, my first catch was a nice 1-2lb Sail Catfish. Then it was after 2:00AM when I hooked into something big. At first it felt like it was a stingray. It made long drag racing runs and a couple times it felt like it was suctioned to the bottom similar to what a stingray does. You think your snagged but it's really the suction the stingray creates as it can hug the bottom. Anyway, I was watching this fish spool line off my reel like it was nothing. I was trying to get a good drag set tight but not too tight that it would snag my line. At first I was thinking I had 40 lb test leader so I was being careful with tension but then I remembered Kyle hooked me up with 60 lb test leader, so I thought lets try to muscle this bad mama jama in. Set my drag a little tighter, and started gaining ground on it.

The fish was about 30 feet from the pier when it barely surfaced the water for a second and I saw the first image of what's on the hook. I couldn't see much, all I could see was a long fish-like shape so it definitly wasn't a stingray. The visual only lasted a second too. As soon as I saw it, it went back down dragging several yards of line with it. All I could do was hang on to the pole and wait for it to stop.

So I'm muscling it back up to the surface and we got a visual again as it almost surfaced again next to the pier. Then my buddy Kyle calls out, "It's a shark!". I started to get all excited because I've never caught a shark before, it's been one of my missions this year. The fish gave a last effort to swim away again but by this time it was worn down and tired. It stayed close, but we still didn't know for sure what kind of fish it was. I maneuvered it closer to the pier and finially got a good look at it's head. This is when I realized it wasn't a shark, it was an oversized MONSTER Redfish! Never have I seen a fish this size before, and I didn't even know Redfish get that big. It took both of us to get it up and dehooked for a quick release. I did my best to get good pictures but I was full of adrenaline and excitement. So I apologize if my pictures seem somewhat blurry.

The fight was intense and lasted for about 10-15 minutes. And best of all, I caught the bull on my new 10' Okuma Tundra surf rod paired with a new Okuma ABF-65 reel. I have 300 yards of power pro on this reel too, so I wasn't worried about being spooled during the long runs. I can also thank Kyle for lending me the 60 LB test leader line. Kyle actually tried this rod earlier but accidently lost the rig on a snag. Being the good guy he is, he wanted to fix the mistake by rigging up my pole with some of his tackle to make up for it. He had some stronger 60 LB test leader compared to my 40 LB, which probably was the difference in catching the bull red. It's the biggest fish I've caught so far, and probably the biggest redfish I'll ever catch. Have you ever caught a 4 foot Redfish before? It's totally exhilerating!! =)

Location: North Causeway, New Smyrna Beach
Tackle: 5/0 circle hook on carolina rig - 4 oz pyramid sinker
40 LB test Hi-Viz Yellow Power Pro braided mainline
60 LB test Berkley Big Game mono leader

Species: Redfish
Weight: 36 LB - 48" long
Bait: fresh cut mullet







I understand it's hard to see the actual size of my redfish with the pictures above so here's an example of what a 35 LB Redfish looks like being held by a fisherman. So the following picture is not my fish nor my picture, it's just an example to show size and girth.

MAN HOLDING 35 LB REDFISH

CS Lee Park - 3lb Channel Catfish

A Tuesday night with a new moon. Every star in the sky was visible. It was almost 1:00am when I was about to packup to go. Then I noticed a large gator swimming in the river, which I have to admit I was a little intimidated. It was a big gator. I watched it swim slowly towards my honey hole, and I figured nothing would be biting after this gator passes by. The gator was about 20-30 feet from my line when my rod was getting some bite taps. Reeled in the slack and felt a fish on, this one I could feel the head shaking and it was trying to shake loose the whole time I was reeling him in. I was worried the big gator would notice the disturbance in the water and try to eat my catch but fortunately it didn't phase him. The catch was a 3 lb Channel Catfish.

Location: C.S. Lee Park
Tackle: Owners Light Mutu 5/0 hook on carolina rig - 3 oz no roll sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 3 LB
Bait: cut frozen mullet

Surf Report CNS #3

I made a quick trip to Canaveral National Seashore this late morning from about 10:00am to noon. Arrived at low tide with sunny/partly cloudy skies and the surf was about 2 feet. There was a strong current to the north. Using two rods I just used the pompano rig today with fresh dead shrimp, and caught nothing. I fished for 2 hours and all I was catching was seaweed. Not sure why the whiting aren't biting right now. Read some reports about yesterday morning, and between two guys all they caught was 1 ladyfish. Surf fishing is really slow at CNS right now, hopefully it'll pickup.

CS Lee Park - 4lb 13oz Channel Catfish

Sunday night I saw a break in the weather to do some catfishing over at CS Lee Park. The rain looked like it was coming after midnight so I only had a couple hours to fish. Using cut mullet, I caught a nice 4 lb 13 oz channel catfish. I had another bite later on but when I reeled in the slack, the hook popped out. The sprinkles started around midnight and as soon as I got in my car to leave, it was pouring rain.

Surf Report CNS #3 - Whiting / Ladyfish / Catfish

Thursday I ordered a 10' Okuma Tundra surf rod on Amazon.com and paired it with another Okuma Avenger 65 reel. My other Okuma ABF-65 is still in the shop getting cleaned. Both the new rod and reel arrived Friday and today I got to try them out for the first time. The 10' rod definitly increases casting distance a little bit, but I need something to protect my index finger when I cast with braided line. Braid line can leave a nasty cut, especially if your hands are wet. I had to use a leather glove to really launch my bait out. There's a rod addon called the Breakaway Cannon, but it's a little expensive at $29.99 and I can only get it at Cabelas.com. When I get some extra money, I may purchase this later on down the road but for now, I just bought some Johnson & Johnson waterproof medical tape. I'll get a chance to use the tape next time and see how well it stays on my finger.

Today at CNS the waves were about 2.5 ft and I was able to get away with 3oz pyramid sinker. I arrived right at the peak of high tide. First fish I caught was a big whiting. I was actually going to keep this one but when I tried washing the sand off it, it flipped it's body out of my hands and swished back into the ocean. Lucky for him. lol
I was catching average size whiting the rest of the time and some small ladyfish which I keep for cutbait. Also caught a couple hardhead catfish on cutbait too. The last fish I caught was a much bigger ladyfish caught on a piece of dead shrimp.

Total Tally:

5 whiting
4 ladyfish
2 catfish

Surf Report CNS #3 - Reel Service

Went to the Canaveral Seashore yesterday for a late afternoon trip. We went to lot #3 at 4:30pm. The waves were about 3-4 ft and the current was very strong to the north. Fishing conditions were poor basically. Our lines were quickly drifting, even with 4 oz pyramid sinkers. I didn't catch anything. But, Kyle still caught a small pompano and a small whiting. Headed home after a couple of hours.

So yesterday as the tide was coming up, one of my PVC rod holders tipped over with my rod & reel on it. The reel was my Okuma ABF-65. So there it was laying on the sand as waves were washing saltwater sand all over it. The result is sand and saltwater exposed to my reel in places it shouldn't be. Now the reel isn't working properly, for instance the spin isn't as smooth as it once was. It just feels gritty. So fortunately I have a free reel cleaning certificate for Kel's Rod & Reel Service in Casselberry, FL. I dropped off my reel today and they said it should be a couple of weeks. I'm hoping there wasn't any permanent damage and maybe it just needs a good cleaning. By the way, I won these reel cleaning certificates by attending a Shad Rally earlier this year, which was part of the Central Florida Shad & Crappie Derby I participated in. This was in January and February when I was fishing for American Shad, good times!

Check out the Shad Rally post here to see what else I won :)
http://average-fisherman.blogspot.com/2011/02/shad-rally-cs-lee-park.html

Surf Report CNS #4 - Bluefish and Whiting

Went to CNS with Kyle today and parked in lot #4 around 11am. A nice day at the beach with clear skies. Though the current was strong, 4 oz weights were still getting moved around. The waves were about 2-3 feet.

I used cut ladyfish on a 4/0 circle hook and caught a couple nice bluefish, about 16" and 12" to the fork. My other rods had frozen dead shrimp and caught some whiting, one of which was a keeper.

Total Tally:
Brad-
2 bluefish
4 whiting

Surf Report CNS - Kyle's 18" Redfish - Banded Tulip shell

There was a nice overcast this morning that made it feel like Fall but by noon, the sky was clear and sun was beaming. It was an outgoing tide when we arrived about 10:30am with waves estimated about 2.5ft. I caught a lady fish on cut mullet and then a whiting on a piece of dead shrimp (pompano rig). Kyle went with the pompano rig too and he caught some whiting, but then the bite stopped for both of us. So we moved further down the beach, and thats where he hooked into his first redfish that was 18".

Total Tally:
Brad-
1 ladyfish
1 whiting

Kyle-
1 redfish
4 whiting



Found some large seashells washing up on the beach today. Here's a couple of whelks and a large conch shell that looks very old. The one on the lower leftside is a Banded Tulip.

N.S. South Causeway Report - Shrimpin'

Setup with Kyle at the South Causeway pier in NSB around 11:30pm. It was the tail end of the outgoing tide with just a few hours before slack tide. Started by jigging a Gulp! Shrimp on a 1/8oz jighead but didn't get any bites. Kyle almost had one but it popped off. I brought some frozen shrimp and started catching small stingrays and catfish in every cast. Thats all that was biting though. Also as it turns out I didn't see any baitfish at all the whole night, however, it was low tide so it's not that surprising.

Was getting bored with the stingrays and catfish so I threw my castnet out in the shallow area and caught alot of small shrimp. Then waited until slack tide and noticed the shrimp running under the pier lights now. Caught about a dozen medium sized shrimp by blind casting where the lights shine the brightest on the water. Actually came home with quite a few shrimp to freeze. I didn't count them but I'd guess about 30-35 shrimp all together. Mostly small size shrimp, then about a dozen medium shrimp. Might head out to Canaveral Seashore later this week, depending on the surf. There's 6 ft swells today due to Hurricane Katia out in the Atlantic.

Surf Report CNS - Codys 1st Redfish!

On a beautiful Saturday, me and my son Cody headed to CNS for some beach/surf fishing fun. It's a Labor Day weekend so I was expecting the beaches to be packed, but fortunately CNS #3 wasn't that bad. We arrived around 2:30pm, right before the low tide turnaround. For tackle, I used my homemade 2-hook pompano rigs. For bait we used fishbites tipped with pieces of fresh dead shrimp. Lets get straight to fishing now...

After pulling in a few small whiting, Cody surprised me when he dragged in a nice 18" Redfish. I haven't even caught a redfish yet! LOL
This is the biggest fish he's ever caught. I was very proud of him and this catch made our day. After a few casts, I finially caught my first Redfish, 15.5" long. With 1 keeper Red in the cooler already, we had to release it anyways so size didn't matter. Here's Cody's keeper Redfish and below that is my first Redfish. We both caught our first Red today! woo!







Thats not all, I also caught my first Pompano too. In fact, I caught 2 of them at the same time, TWICE! All together I caught 4 small pompano. Florida Pompano have to be a minimum 11" fork to keep, and these were only about 8" to the fork. Here's a pic of the last double I caught. The one on the bottom was actually hooked in the belly, I'm not sure what he was thinking LOL. All 4 Pomps were released back in the ocean.



To end the day, I caught a nice 14" Gulf Kingfish (whiting) and added that to the cooler. I love to eat Whiting, especially fried with breadcrumbs. After loading everything back in the car, Cody wanted to go look for seashells. This time found some really nice shells that were in great shape.



Between me and Cody today, the total tally we caught:

6 Gulf Kingfish (whiting)
2 Redfish
4 Pompano