Midday Monday Surf Report! CNS 6/16/14

Took my 10 yr old boy for another beach trip to CNS. Arrived at the gates around 3pm and parked in lot #4. Not crowded at all at this point, I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. Got down to the beach and saw 1 ft surf if that. Outgoing tide. Sand fleas all over. Used my sons plastic shovel and was getting 2 or 3 decent sized fleas each scoop. But no hits on sand fleas today.

Setup the shark rod first with a chunk of lady fish that came from the flat bridge last year =) The other two rods were tied with a pompano rig using pieces of fresh dead shrimp. After getting all three rods in the water, one of the shrimp rods gets a bite and my son pulls in a ladyfish. Gave it a safe release. I was actually happy to see the ladyfish caught because that's what I'm using for shark bait, match the hatch you know.

So no more hits on shrimp. I mean zip nada none for 2 hours. The surf is dead when it comes to whiting and pomps...but check this out.... after about 30 minutes of soaking the chunk of ladyfish for shark I got a hit. I watched it hit...didn't take off like you would expect. Knowing something was messing with the bait I grabbed the rod, reeled in the slack, then felt pressure, followed by another shake. Set the hook and thats when the fish knew something wasn't right haha. It zipped out several yards like it was nothing. I'm just sitting there holding it as I'm adjusted my drag for fighting pressure. Only took 10 minutes to bring it on shore but I had just caught my first 4.5 ft shark! As soon as it was landed my priority was dehook, picture and then release as fast as possible without getting hurt. My son took several photos for me during the process so he gets credit too. It's my first Sandbar shark and also my largest shark landed to date.

CNS Lot 4 Early AM - 5/10

Woke up early and headed to the east coast for some early morning beach fishing. Stopped by my favorite bait shop, End of the Line, and picked up couple dozen shrimp and live sand fleas. Continued to CNS and parked at Lot 4. I had lines wet by 8am which was perfect. Current was moving fast though, only a 4oz sputnik was holding bottom. First cast I get a double, or something like it. I reeled in 1 and a 1/2 croakers. First picture below shows the fish head that was reeled in along with a croaker. Next cast I get a whiting. The whiting were chewing both sand fleas and shrimp all day.
There was one other fishermen at lot 4 when I arrived and he was further away. Silly me I decided to setup right in front of the walkway. At first it was okay because it was still early. But then it was time for the dumbasses to come out. Next fishermen comes out of the wood work and lets keep in mind there's still plenty of beach left and right of me. What does he do...oh he just camps within feet of me. What a douchebag. And the current is rolling fast too, so I was careful to avoid his drifting lines.
I had three doubles on the day with either croakers or whiting. Ended the day with 9 whiting and 3 croakers. I released a few more croakers. Later in the morning the bonnethead sharks started to show up. I caught 3 of their little pups.

Bonnethead Sharks at CNS #3 - 4/28

After dropping off my son to school on Monday and having the day off work, I took the drive to CNS for some surf fishing. Arrived at Lot 3 and there were a few others already fishing. For bait today I used fresh dead shrimp tipped with shrimp fishbites. Ended up catching 3 small bonnethead sharks. Also had a double with two pigfish. Not sure where all the good fish went. Usually when you get into a mess of small sharks it's not looking good for anything else.

CNS Saturday late morning 4/26

I was going to do a sunrise report but it was foggy and kinda chilly outside. And since my son was coming along, decided to wait a few more hours. Slept in a little bit more and finially arrived at CNS 10:00am with nice sunny skies. Drove all the way down to lot #4 and saw it was FULL. Drove down to Lot #3 and it was FULL. Checked lot #2 to find open parking. Tide was outgoing with little to no current. Using fresh dead shrimp and some frozen sand fleas, I baited the water with two rods. Sand fleas were not effective today. However, fresh shrimp was working great. Caught 11 crevalle jacks in all different sizes. Some the size of my hand, and some the size of my forearm. Nice fight for these fish! I kept a few for shark bait. =)
Also caught a nice pompano on shrimp that was 13" to the fork. It gave me the best fight of the day. Was hoping for more but I guess he was the lone ranger. Then I caught a small whiting and threw it back. I only keep whiting if I can get into a good mess of them to have a fish fry. Stayed until about 1:30pm so about 3.5 hours of fishing. Loving this warm weather!

13" Pompano at CNS

Pompano Season is Here! CNS Surf Report 12/8

Went to one of my favorite surf fishing spots Sunday afternoon with my son, Cody. Arrived at CNS Lot 3 about 12:30pm and stayed until about 4pm. Weather was actually really nice on the beach with some clouds and a nice breeze to cool off. Temperatures were near 80 degrees most of the day and it's December? Beach conditions were good with 1-2 ft surf and occasional large wave hitting the shoreline. It was near the peak of high tide when I arrived. There was a slight current, but a 3 oz held most of the day. Weeds were not a problem, however, I do recall once where a mass of weeds got tangled on my line and it felt like I was reeling in a cinderblock. The water was pretty cold but not too bad, we only got our feet wet anyway.

So I fished with two rods and live sand fleas I purchased from the baitshop. At first the bite was slow after I got setup on the beach, only got a medium sized whiting and a big stingray in about an hour. After that the bite turned on for awhile. I caught another nice whiting for the cooler and then a couple just legal pompanos that were right at 11" to the fork. So 2 whiting and 2 pompano so far in the cooler. Not bad!

Then the bite slowed for awhile again, only caught about 3 small whiting that were thrown back and another big stingray. Starting to run out of bait and I get a good hit on the 10' rod. Landed a nice 13" fork pompano. And then as soon as I put it in the cooler my other rod starts to sing. This one was a personal best 15" fork pompano! (my previous personal best was 14.5" fork). Woo Hoo!! Great day on the water. It sure was nice to be back on the beach again after a washout November. All month long in November the winds were strong and weeds were a nuisance on the surf. All together I caught 6 whiting (kept the biggest three), 4 pompano, and 2 big stingrays. Everything caught on live sand fleas.

Slow Morning @ CNS LOT 4

Invited my buddy Zack and neighbor Dave to join me Saturday morning at CNS. Woke up early before 5am and called up Dave to see if he was about ready. On the way I scooped up Zack and headed to the coast. Quick pitstop to the baitshop to load up on shrimp and ice. We finially parked at Lot 4 around 6:45am and hauled our gear to the beach. It's not so bad with my foldable beach cart that has balloon tires. It really floats on sand while hauling my cooler and tackle bag.
Upon arrival it was almost low tide and the waves were not big at all. We started with 4 rods with a mix of frozen sand flea and fresh dead shrimp. We quickly noticed the current was very strong which made it hard to fan out. The only weight that held were my 4oz spider weights, but I really don't like them. They hold good, but they make retrieval very difficult. Several times I picked up my rod after a bite and I felt the weight literally STUCK in the sand. I had to hold the drag and pull the weight out of the sand before reeling in. I kept switching back from pyramid to spider weights and back to pyramid, trying to find something that would work for us. I thought the current would slow down as the tide slacked, but I don't that even happened. Seemed like the current kept rolling the whole time. I think we only caught a couple croakers and catfish the whole day. It was pretty bad.
Towards the end of the trip after 9am, Zacks rod goes bizerk. The fight would continue to take line, just a constant drag singing. The drag was tightened down to try to turn the fish back towards us, because it was headed straight towards where several other surf fishermen were posted up. The fish was still really far out and I'm still not sure what the hell it was. But after several minutes, the rig popped. My pompano rigs are only 25lb test and the whole rig was gone. All that was left was the top barrel swivel of the rig. One of those fish you can't stop I guess. I don't think we would've had enough drag on my reel to pull it in anyway. Could've been a big stingray pulling away, but we like to presume otherwise. LOL
My friends said they had fun, even with the slow fishing day. I had fun too but definitly disappointed in the fishing. It could've been worse I guess, we could've got skunked completely. With no fish in the cooler after a long morning, we packed up and left after 10am.

CNS #4 - 3 Pompano, Small Sharks and a BENT HOOK!

Monday morning I woke up and headed out to the usual spot at CNS. First stopped by End of the Line baitshop for the shrimp and ice. Arrived at Lot 4 around 6:00am and found nobody else in the parking lot. In fact, I was the only one fishing lot 4 for a good 4 hours! So I setup my two rods and immediately noticed a strong North current which made my day that much longer. I basically fished my longest 12' pole for most of the time until the tide had moved all the way up. At least the 12' was holding better than the 10'. Once the current slowed, I was able to hold with 4oz pyramid weights on both rods.
The morning started off slow because of the current troubles, I managed a small whiting and some catfish. Then I got my first pompano at 11" to the fork using a piece of shrimp.
I brought my sand flea rake and found 6 usable sand fleas the entire time. I caught another 11" pompano on shrimp and then baited with sand fleas, next cast got another 11" pompano. I had to find a couple more sand fleas so I used shrimp in the meantime, thats when I caught some baby sharks and other small fish. I caught 2 baby sharpnose and a croaker. Found a couple more sand fleas and caught another small bonnethead. Finished the morning with shrimp and had a massive run. I picked up my rod and the drag was rolling off really fast. It made a few stops and I thought I was gaining ground but it continued to take line at will. So I tightened the drag a little and this mistake cost me the fish. I noticed the fish pop off shortly after the drag adjustment, and I reeled in a BENT HOOK! My first bent hook actually, this has never happened to me before. The hook was an Owners Light Mutu #2. I'm not sure if I would've landed it anyway since I had small light hooks with 25lb test leader line. Ended the day at about 10:00am after catching a small bonnethead on shrimp.

Another good day on the water considering the variety of fish and numbers. I caught about 15 fish and only took home the 3 pompano which are now one of my favorite surf fish to eat.
3 Pompano (all 11" to the fork)
3 small Whiting
2 small Bonnethead sharks
2 small Sharpnose sharks
4 Catfish
Croaker

CNS 4 GRAND SLAM - Pompano, Personal Best 17" Whiting, more!

Planned an early morning to CNS on Saturday since I had the day off work and it paid off in a big way. I arrived about 6:15am and fished for about 3 hours. The tide was high and the waves were calm, no more than 1.5' surf. Only one other fisherman until about 7:30 then people started filing in. I saw a couple of guys fishing with 6 rods between the two of them. I was like, whoa, bit of an overkill!
I only fished two rods with fresh dead shrimp and I caught fish after fish for the first 2 hours between 6am and 8am. With several dolphin out in the distance, I knew there were fish around. Rule of thumb: where there's dolphin, there's fish.

For starters, I caught 2 Pompano (13" and 11"). Good to see the pompano still hanging around! The whiting also showed up today and I'm glad they did. I caught 5 whiting all together and kept 3 of the bigger ones. In fact, I caught my personal best whiting today that measured 17.25" long!

Hooked a small Bonnethead that I released back. Also hooked into a stingray that gave me a rush, the fight on that was pretty fun. I caught a few small Crevalle Jacks that I'm keeping for shark bait. Also caught a few Blue Runners which is rare for me. I kept them for bait too. I just put each one into quart size freezer bags. I freeze them whole to keep in all the blood and guts.

Today was an EPIC day on the surf, probably one of the best mornings I've experienced at CNS. I caught 15 fish of 7 different species! You can't beat that.

1 Bonnethead Shark
1 Stingray
2 Pompano (13" and 11")
2 small Crevalle Jacks
2 Blue Runners
2 Sail Catfish
5 Whiting

Saturday Morning CNS - Personal Best Pompano!

I didn't have to be in at work until 11am so I seized the opportunity to fish the early morning at the beach. I left my house about 5:15am and picked up some dozen shrimp and a bag of ice from End of the Line baitshop in New Smyrna. Arrived to CNS about 6:30 and parked in lot 4. For a Saturday, I was surprised to find I was the only person fishing, but it was still early. I set my gear and immediately started fishing. Whole shrimp wasn't getting any hits so I pretty much used clams. I caught about 8 whiting, 4 of which I kept in the cooler. The bite slowed and I couldn't even get a hit on clam. I decided to switch it up and instead of using a whole shrimp on each hook, I took 1 shrimp and ripped the head off. Baited the top hook with a shrimp head and the bottom hook with a shrimp body, this idea seemed to work!
I caught a small Bonnethead shark and then I caught my personal best Pompano. It measured 14.5" to the fork, my previous best was only 13" to the fork. That was it for the day, I took home the big pompano and the 4 whiting for dinner. Very good!

Sunrise CNS lot #4 - Small Sharks and Pompano

Decided to try surf fishing at sunrise this morning. I've never fished the beach this early in the morning before so I was curious to see how the fish bite at first light. Arrived at Lot 4 around 6:30am and found nobody at lot 4. Good sign! The surf was 1-2 ft with a moderate current to the north. Winds were not an issue today at all. I'm thinking so far everything is adding up to a good day fishing. Even though nobody was in the parking lot, I still rushed to get out on the beach, almost running with my beach cart. I claimed my spot right in front of the boardwalk and proceeded to anchor my two sand spikes. My two rods are the 10' Okuma ABF-65 and my newest addition a 12' beefstick with an Okuma Trio-BF-65 reel. I had an arsenal of bait this morning with frozen sandfleas I bought earlier this year and fresh dead shrimp from End of the Line baitshop.

The first hit didn't take long and it came on the 12' with shrimp. I reeled in a double actually, a croaker and a small pompano. Both got a release back in the water. Next hit came on the 12' again this time with sandfleas. It was a small bonnethead shark, another safe release. Switched back to shrimp because I wasn't getting anything else on sandfleas. The shrimp worked much better. I ended up catching 4 small Atlantic Sharpnose sharks, 2 small catfish, 1 sail catfish, a just legal pompano, and another small croaker.

Everything got a release except for the slot pompano which went home on ice. The fishing was steady early then died off as 9:00am rolled around. Very happy with the results and variety of fish. Overall I caught 12 fish of 6 different species! It was also cool to catch 5 little baby sharks, thats a first for me.

CNS Surf Report 1/14

Hit the beach again today, found a crowded Lot#4 with alot of fishermen. Today I only fished my 10' pole with live sand fleas. The surf was 1-2 ft with a drifting north current. Waves were breaking pretty far out so it was hard to find the deep pockets. High tide was at 10am so when I arrived at 11am, it had already starting going out. In the first hour I caught a barely legal 11" pompano and then 2 whiting. After that, the bite stopped so I left around 1pm. At least everything caught today was keeper size.

11" pompano
2 whiting

CNS Surf Report Lot #4

Hit the surf with Zack today while my son was at school. Went down to lot 4 with our cup of live sand fleas, couple dozen shrimp and live mullet. Zack bought all the bait today so I wasn't complaining. Zack used live mullet for awhile but didn't get any hits. Shrimp didn't even catch anything today. In fact for the first hour the fishing was really slow, not much going on. Then I tried casting a little further, out where the waves were first breaking on the sandbar. I was using live sandfleas and hooked into my first fish, but lost it close to shore. Threw out my line again and hooked the first fish of the day, a nice 11" pompano. Next cast I got a double, small pompano and small bluefish. Eventually we just used live sand fleas and were nailing the pompano and whiting. I had a really good fight from a 13" pompano. Zack got in on the action with a couple whiting, and finially he finished the day with his first 12" pompano.

Tally today for me was 2 whiting, 3 pompano, 1 bluefish. Zack caught 2 whiting and a pompano.

CNS Surf Fishing Lot #4

Lately I've been reading a few surf reports coming out of CNS and liking what I see. Pomps are still hitting, along with the usual whiting and blues. Skates, stingrays, occassional jack and shark in the mix...sounds pretty exciting right! So instead of hitting the usual inshore spots, I switched it up to surf rigs and surf gear.
I still had some leftover frozen clam so I set that aside. Also grabbed a bag of frozen shrimp. Remember 38 Live was out of live shrimp yesterday? Well today they were out of medium shrimp, so I had to buy the small shrimp. Most of the small shrimp were pretty worthless. It didn't look like 3 dozen either. I checked to see if they had any frozen sandfleas, of course not. Bah, not happy with 38 Live Bait lately.
I remembered there was a baitshop not far from the entrance to CNS. I've never been there so decided to check it out for sandfleas. This place is called End of the Line, they sell LIVE sandfleas $4 a dozen. Expensive yes, but worth it. It definitly looked like the guy hooked me up with more than 2 dozen too. The fleas were big and very active. I will definitly be back to this shop in the future.

Parked at lot 4 to find alot of fishermen. I did find one spot away from everyone else. Some bites here and there, but only on the shrimp. First fish was a small blue that hit my shrimp on the surface right after casting. Back in the water little guy.



Fished for awhile, checking baits here and there. Nothing really going on. I was walking to my leftside pole and just about to grab it to check the bait, then it starts peeling out. Right place at the right time, quickly got the rod in my hands and knew it was fish on. Pulled in my first keeper Pompano 13" to the fork of tail. This one was caught on clam pretty close to the beach.



Some more time passed, few nibbles here and there. Ending up losing one 2oz weight when my line snapped during a cast...so I downsized to just two rods. One was working sand fleas and the other with shrimp. Shrimp wasn't getting very many bites at this point, but all of a sudden the sandfleas were getting chewed by whiting. I caught 6 whiting all on sandfleas, kept 3 of the bigger ones for the cooler. Biggest whiting was 15.5" long caught by Cody!

CNS #3 - First Shark! Surf Grand Slam

Today was Cody's 8th birthday and I had the day off work so I thought it would be nice to take him to the beach. Decided to visit lot #3 at CNS again. Arrived around 11am and caught the incoming tide for a couple hours. The surf was very calm, I think they said 1 ft swells for today. I used 2-hook pompano rigs on 2 poles, baited with fresh dead shrimp.
The first catch of the day was my first shark!! I think I identified it as a juvenile Altantic Sharpnose shark. It was about 16-18" long, never measured it. Doh! Got on a few whiting and croakers after that. Tide was moving up fast so I had to keep pushing my sand spikes back. The last few casts I was getting nothing but small catfish so decided to head home. Everything was released except for the ladyfish which I'm going to freeze for cutbait. Total tally today was 13 fish! Everything caught on shrimp.

1 Atlantic Sharpnose Shark
1 Ladyfish
2 Whiting
2 Pinfish
2 Croakers
2 Sailfin Catfish
2 Hardhead Catfish
1 Spot

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 - Playalinda Fishing Report - Rain & Cold Front This Week

Yesterday me and Cody arrived at CNS lot 3 around 4:30pm. The waves were about 1-2 feet and the current was light. The only problem was the massive amounts of seaweed washing in and getting tangled on the fishing lines. I fished for about 2 hours using fresh dead shrimp and didn't catch anything. I had one hookup and as soon as I started reeling in the fish jumped out of the water and spit the hook, typical ladyfish behavior.

Reports coming out of Playalinda beach have been better, some guys catching nice whiting and undersized pompano, along with schools of spanish macks and bluefish when the whiting bites turns off. Also reports of sand fleas coming back to the beaches, this could be the reason why the fishing has been better in that area compared to northern CNS. Playalinda is on the south side of CNS.

The forecast this week calls for high winds and heavy rain on Tuesday from a tropical disturbance. This is not good for the St Johns River which is already near flooded stage. In my opinion, it's already flooded but it's not official yet. According to Channel 13 news, the river is at 8.2 feet now and it's considered flooded at 8.5 feet. Also immediately following the rain on Tuesday, a cold front will pass through Wednesday dropping temperatures about 20 degrees at night. Forecast says it will be in the low 50's Wednesday and Thursday nights.



I really want to fish before the cold front, hopefully tonight (monday night). Fish activity usually increases before the cold front approaches, then slows down alot afterwards. I'll probably try somewhere along the river tonight, even though it's probably not ideal conditions with the high water and strong current. But as I say, the best time to fish is anytime you can!

CNS and North Causeway Report for Saturday

Tried fishing at CNS during the early afternoon but the waves were rough and current was moving. I couldn't keep lines in the water for more than a minute without it drifting to my right. So, I didn't fish much on the surf today. Cody and I just played in the water and had some fun. Cody was having a blast on a boogie board that a couple of locals let him borrow. I met these guys before and they're really nice. Angela and Keith are their names, and they come out on Saturdays often like I do. We're probably going to meet out there next weekend as well, they said they have a smaller boogie board that they're going to give Cody. Very nice!

So Saturday night I went to Kyle and Tara's house, and we went to Walmart to get them a bigger rod. They ended up buying a new 8' rod and reel combo for $30, not bad! Except the reel may end up getting replaced with something else one day. Here's why....
We went to the North Causeway together and Tara hooked into something big and strong. She was using live finger mullet and as soon as the fish hit it, it didn't stop. Her drag was racing and started to head towards the bridge. If it wraps around the bridge, the fish is gone along with several yards of her line. So we had to do something, but the reel's drag wouldn't stop the fish. Her drag was set as tight as it would go, and the fish was still spooling line off. Kyle tried to turn the fish around away from the bridge, but I saw a splash on topwater then snap the line broke. We don't know what it was but it broke 65 lb test Power Pro. Unfortunately, I think the reel may have been the weak link in the fight. If it had a better drag system, the outcome could've turned out differently. These days, you get what you pay for and on a $30 rod & reel combo, thats exactly what happened.

During our stay at the North bridge I caught a couple catfish on fresh cut mullet. My first one was a 2 lb 12 oz Gafftopsail Catfish. Thats the biggest sail cat I've caught so far btw. I ended the night with a small Hardhead Catfish. Schools of mullet are everywhere now that the Fall migration is underway. I think as the month progresses we'll see even more schools of baitfish, especially mullet.

Location: North Causeway, New Smyrna Beach
Tackle: 5/0 circle hook on carolina rig - 4 oz pyramid sinker

Species: Gafftopsail Catfish
Weight: 2 LB 12 OZ
Bait: fresh cut 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.

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