Happy New Years! NSB South Causeway

Found a break in the chilly weather so Cody and I geared up for a little sunrise fishing. Woke up early around 5:30am and headed east. First pitstop at 38 Live Bait to find they were out of live shrimp, kind of strange. Didn't matter, thats not what I was after anyway. I got a couple dozen small finger mullet, really nice size too. Biggest were about 4" long. I wanted some fiddler crabs but they were out of those too. So with the finger mullet we headed to our spot. Today I picked South Causeway as our first destination. Some guys were at the spot I originally wanted so me and Cody setup on the deadend of the pier. We had the whole spot to ourselves which was nice. Saw a beautiful clear sunrise so I took a photo.



We were getting bites but it was those pesky small blues eating the tails off our mullet. Everytime I'd see our rod bounce and go check the bait, only to find a half consumed mullet on the hook. Finially hooked one and I let Cody reel it in. Only fish of the day too. My son was bragging how he caught 1 and I didn't of course. LOL



We tried a few other spots, the one boat dock across the road from bowling alley and then we tried Sleepy Hollow. No luck at either spot. Found another tick on my pants after walking through Sleepy Hollow again. No bueno.

CNS #3 - Whiting, Croaker, Spot

Yesterday was an early release day at my son's school, so after picking him up we loaded up the car for a trip to the beach. Can't go to the beach without a couple of fishing poles right! All together I took 3 poles so I can experiment with a variety of baits. We stopped by our favorite baitshop in New Smyrna, 38 Live Bait. There I bought 3 dozen medium shrimp and a pack of frozen clams. I've never used clams before until today. For cutbait I brought some frozen ladyfish from home. The cut ladyfish was going on my 10' rod with an 8/0 circle hook. The shrimp and clams were going on 2-hook pompano rigs with #2 hooks. We arrived at lot 3 and picked a spot away from swimmers. There was no seaweed and the current was manageable. I normally cast from the beach without getting too wet, but today I had to walk through the waistdeep trough to get to the sandbar where it was only ankle deep. From there, I was able to cast where the fishies were. It was a bit of a pain walking back and forth, especially with 3 rods. So I ended up fishing with only 2 rods. With no hits on shrimp or cut ladyfish, I just switched over to clams for the rest of the day. The first fish was a nice big whiting. I hooked it and gave the rod to Cody so he could reel it in. The only other fish we caught were 2 really small whiting, a nice size croaker, and a spot. All on pieces of clam. Overall the fishing was slow but it was still a nice day at the beach. Also took home some leftover shrimp and clam that I'm freezing for another day.

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.

1st Bluefish @ South Causeway

Another night at the South Causeway, but first I made it out to 38 Live Bait before they closed to get some live shrimp. I picked up 2 dozen medium shrimp for $5 and headed to the pier. The first corner of the pier was crowded this time so I walked to the backend. Started out using shrimp but eventually caught some live spots and pinfish with my castnet. I've had better luck using a live spot hooked through the tail on a 4/0 circle hook. Around 2:00am I had a runner, my baitfeeder was going off but when I grabbed the rod it was gone. Then again 2:30 in the morning my baitfeeder went off again, this time I caught a bluefish that was about 16" long. All this action came from the live spots. Spots must be a favorite of bluefish because another guy caught a bluefish after I did.

Rockin' the Guitarfish @ South Causeway NSB

Thirty Eight Live Bait shop, or 38 Live, is a highly recommended bait shop if your going to fish New Smyrna Beach. I know they close at 9 PM on Friday nights too. They are located less than a mile from the North Causeway and South Causeway fishing piers. They offer live shrimp in small, medium, large sizes, mullet, pinfish, & mud minnows. They didn't have any live mullet when I was there, but they did have a good deal on live shrimp. It was 50 small shrimp for $5.00

38 Live Bait Co.
147 Middle Way
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
Phone: (386) 423-6819

After the bait shop, me and Cody took the short drive to South Causeway fishing pier. I hooked up a live shrimp on each Wild Cat rod and waited. It wasn't long when we got a fish. I reeled in this half shark half stingray looking creature. Seriously it has the rear body of a shark and front body of a stingray. It's called an Atlantic Guitarfish. Cody's taking credit for this catch even though I did all the work. LOL

Species: Atlantic Guitarfish
Tackle: Gamakatsu 6/0 octopus circle hook on a Carolina rig
Bait: small live shrimp