More River Bank Fishing @ Mullet Lake Park

Since my last post I've gone out to the river bank a few more times. Most recently last night when it was just me and Zack. The full moon has already passed this month but it was still about 80% full. I only caught one catfish that was about 2-3 lb. It was a slow night but it was fun to be out again. We also fished out there last week with better luck. Zack caught 2 catfish and a gar, while I just caught a single gar. The bait we're using is still the frozen cut shad that I collected from this years shad run. One of these nights I'd like to try some cut mullet again. We've caught some big channel cats on cut mullet, which leaves a better blood trail if it's freshly cut before you put it on the hook. Plus it stays on the hook better without gar stripping the meat off. I prefer the gut section if I'm using mullet too. Just cut off the head and toss it in the water, I rarely use the head for bait.

Night fishing Mullet Lake again

Fished the river bank at Mullet Lake Park at night for the first time this year. It was a clear night with some breezy winds at first but eventually the wind died down as the night progressed. Zack joined me tonight and he was the only one to catch anything too. He first caught a 4 lb 2 oz catfish, then later caught a smaller catfish about 1 lb. We both used the same bait which was cut shad. At some point something must have stole my bait because I reeled in and saw a bare hook. Who knows how long my pole was sitting in the water with no bait LOL. No wonder I didn't catch anything. We had fun anyways, and it was really nice being back on the river edge.

2 LB 9 OZ Channel Catfish @ Mullet Lake Park

With my new job it's been hard to find time to fish during the day, so I figured I'd try a little catfishing at night. Last night was very foggy though, almost zero visibility in some areas on SR44 in Geneva. I headed out anyway, I never had too much sense! I wasn't planning on staying very long and only fished for maybe an hour. Also I just stayed at the boat launch ramp and casted out far into the river. I was able to cast out pretty far actually.
I got a good bite on my first cast and it was a fighting catfish. Had some fun reeling it in, though it was only 2 lb 9 oz. I'm not complaining at least it's a fish that made the trip worthwhile. The fog was setting in thicker so I figured I'd better head home before there's any road closures. No pictures tonight, I didn't bring my headlamp and the lighting wasn't very bright at the parking lot.

Location: Mullet Lake Park boat ramp, Geneva FL
Tackle: 3/0 Owners Light Mutu hook on carolina rig - 3 oz no-roll sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 2 LB 9 OZ
Bait: frozen cut shad

17" American Shad, Crappie & Catfish

With the shad run nearing it's end, I wanted to see how they were biting today and possibly catch a few crappie. Alot of clouds in the sky with a chance of rain in the forecast, but all we got was a slight sprinkle for a few minutes. When I arrived I noticed some vultures next to the river bank so I knew something dead was laying there. When I looked it was a BIG fat catfish, it to have been about 20lb. It was really fat and I don't know what happened to it. It's likely someone caught it and didn't release it properly. Such a shame to see a big fish like that fall victim to careless fishermen.

I used 1/8th oz jigheads today for casting distance and to stay near the bottom. A couple boats were trolling back and forth, but only catching small crappie. The bite was slow, which kinda surprises me with the upcoming cold front this weekend. My friend David came out for a little while but didn't have any luck. All my fish today came between 10am-noon, but after noon the bite stopped with no fish.

First fish I hooked into was a small shad but it got off close to the bank so it doesn't count towards my season total. My next fish was a small crappie on a black/chartreuse tail Strike King Slab Hammer grub. It was too small to keep so it was released. Next was a 17" American Shad caught on a pink/chartreuse tail Strike King Slab Hammer grub. This is one of the longer shad I've caught this year but it looked skinny so maybe she already laid her eggs. I already have enough frozen shad in the freezer anyway so this one was released after measuring the length. Next and final fish for the day was a 1-2 lb catfish that I had accidently snagged on the tail. When I first felt the fish on my line I really thought it was a big shad. It pulled hard but I did notice the vigorous "shaking" of the line that catfish normally do when they know they're hooked. I removed the hook from it's tail and let it go. The wound wasn't too bad so the fish should be okay. Catfish are pretty resilient anyway.

Sorry no pictures today. I wasn't trying to keep anymore fish since I already have that flounder from yesterday. But with the 17" shad I caught today, my season total is now 27! I don't know if I'll break the 30-mark since this is usually when the shad fishing really slows down at Mullet Lake. Can't complain though, last year I only caught 10 shad and this year I almost tripled that amount.

3 Crappie and 2 Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Hit the banks today from 9:45am to around 12:30pm. I noticed alot of boats on the river this morning, they were trolling back and forth catching small shad and crappie. Yesterday morning my buddy David reported he fished for 90 mins and caught 12 crappie and 5 shad all on chartreuse. Once a steady line of boats started moving through the bite suddenly stopped for him.

Today my first catch was a 13.75" american shad on chartreuse metalflake. Next fish was a 10.75" crappie on chartreuse also. Then the bite stopped for awhile. I changed colors but couldn't buy a bite for the longest time. I switched to 1/8th oz jigheads so I could cast further and then caught a small hickory shad around 11" on a white grub tail. My next two fish were crappies, both caught on chartreuse metalflake. Noticed some darker clouds moving into the area so called it a day.

2 Shad (1 american on chartreuse and 1 hickory on white)
3 Crappie (all on chartreuse)

With the two shad I caught today, my season total is now 26!

3 Crappie and 1 Catfish @ Mullet Lake Park

Stepped out to the river bank again this morning at the usual time around 10am. Normally I'm fishing for shad but today I was going for crappie instead. With a slow retrieve and random twitch, I caught a nice 11" crappie. Shortly after I caught another smaller crappie. The last crappie I caught today was the biggest of them all almost 12" long. All crappies were caught on the new Strike King Rage Tail Slab Hammer Crappie Grub in black/chartreuse tail. The tails on these grubs really move! They are so impressive that I plan on buying more color combinations. Each pack contains 10 grubs but the only problem is they are pretty expensive. Fortunately I can order them from Amazon.com where I use gift cards I've earned from online surveys.

Here's the Strike King Rage Tail Slab Hammer Crappie Grub
Black / Chartreuse Tail



And here's the 3 crappies I caught today using the above grub on a chartreuse jighead 1/16th. The two big ones were about 11-12" long! Slab Hammer!



I also fished with live minnows on a crappie rig and caught a catfish. It hit hard and took alot of drag before I could even get to my rod. The fight was fun on my light rod, and for awhile I thought it was a shad the way it raced and didn't stop. I haven't weighed the catfish yet but my guess it's around 1.5 lb

One shad / Two Catfish

Another day another report. The winds today were better but still gusty at times. My morning started with a small shad caught on a black/chartreuse grub tail. So thats number 24 for the year. I also fished with live minnows on a crappie rig and caught a couple catfish. As far as jigging, no luck except for the one shad early in the day. It sure was a slow day fishing so I left around 12:30. I'll probably try again in a few days and hope the bite picks up. I'm predicting this weekend will be good for crappie since Feb 7th is the full moon spawn.

3 More Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Hit the river knowing it would be windy today. The north winds were very strong around 15mph and probably higher gusts. I started with chartreuse grub tails and didn't get any hits. I was having trouble getting distance with the wind so I decided to focus on crappie that should be in closer. I switched to pink grub tails on white 1/16th oz roadrunner jigheads and caught 3 shad using this setup. The last one hit so hard it busted the spin blade off the roadrunner jighead! I finished around 12:30pm because the winds were just too much. And with the 3 shad caught today, my season total is now 23! I'm still looking for my first 18-incher though. :)

Hickory Shad 11"
Hickory Shad 14.5"
American Shad 14.5"

20th Shad of the Season! with a few small Crappie

Today I received my order from Bass Pro Shop. With some gift cards I earned from online surveys, I was able to purchase some items for shad and crappie fishing.
1/16th oz pink jigheads
1/16th oz white jigheads
Bass Pro Heavy Glitter Squirmin' Grubs - white / chartreuse tail
Strike King Rage Tail Crappie Grubs - black / chartreuse tail

So this late afternoon I took Cody to the river bank at Mullet Lake. We probably got there around 3:30pm so it was a later trip than usual. Cody's setup was live minnows on a bottom rig with two hooks. Unfortunately he didn't get very many bites. He ended up catching 1 small catfish. My setup was the same double jig rig for shad fishing. The bite was slow though, I had a few small nibbles but nothing to play with. I jigged the crap outta that river and couldn't find the fish to bite. It wasn't until after 5pm when I finially caught a couple small crappie on the new white/chartreuse heavy glitter grub. Only one was big enough to keep though. I did hook into 1 shad before it was time to go and this makes my 20th shad of the season!

A Windy Tangled Day / Large Yellow Rat Snake

My day started with a little excitement early on as I was about to walk through the thick tall grass. What I noticed was a very long snake just laying in the grass next to the parking lot. This thing must have been 4-5 ft long no kidding! Just like Indiana Jones, I hate snakes. Can't stand them and to be honest, I don't really know how to identify them. So I took this picture and sent a text msg to my friend David who knows more about this stuff than I do. He said it's a Yellow Rat snake and it won't bother me. Once I knew it wasn't poisonious I was relieved for sure.



Today the weather started out good, nice and sunny with very few clouds. I caught a small shad early on and released it right away without measuring. I hooked up with another small one but it got off the hook before I could land it. As the day went on though the winds picked up and clouds blocked the sun. On top of that, my double rig kept tangling on my mainline in almost every cast making my morning very frustrating. I did catch some fish but I feel my day could've been more productive if I wasn't spending so much time untangling lines. All together I caught 2 shad about 12-13" each, 1 crappie and a catfish using cut shad.

So with the two shad I caught today my running season total is 19 shad this year! Tomorrow the forecast calls for early morning rain then winds 14-15mph, so it's highly doubtful I'll do any shad fishing tomorrow.

Big Mama Jama Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

I just can't get enough shad action, it's very addictive. Went out again today and fished the same spot. First tried a pink grubtail to see if I could get any crappie and only got a few bites. Nothing stayed on the hook though. So I switched over to my tried and true chartreuse with pink jighead. I stuck with this color for the rest of the day. I wasn't getting anything so I moved down to where the boats enter the river and caught two shad pretty much one after another. Moved back to my original spot and David arrived around 11:30. Sure enough the shad were biting again. I caught a small 11" male that was released. Then I caught a big girl was 17.50" to the fork and very fat. She's my biggest of the year so far. After that the bite stopped for awhile and then I caught another small 11" male that was released too.

As soon as I was packing to leave, David hooked into another shad. It didn't put up much of a fight so we didn't think it was as big as the others. However, when we put it on the measuring device, it was 18" to the fork! It surprised both of us. At this time David is in the lead for our division. Pretty cool! He always seems to 1-up me LOL

Today I landed 5 shad all together, only kept 3 of them since the others were pretty small. Plus my freezer is getting full. The goto lure was the same chartreuse grubtail with pink jighead (1/16 oz). I have now caught 17 shad this season!

Here's todays catch measurements and pictures:
17.50" (ties my all time personal best)
16.25"
13.75"
11"
11"

Shad Slam at Mullet Lake Park!

Today was my most productive day fishing at Mullet Lake. I hooked 2 smaller crappies early on pink grub tails. All of the crappies were up close so I tried to catch a few more. I noticed a trail of bubbles in the water up close again and thought it was some more crappie, so I jigged in front of the bubbles and got another bite. It wasn't a crappie though, it my first shad of the day on a pink grub tail on chartreuse jighead.
David showed up shortly after my first shad and this is when the fun began. The shad were biting like crazy in the middle of the river where we were casting our lines. I was in a zone when I caught one, then another, then another. Some bites were soft, and then some bites striked aggressively. David would get a fish on and at the same time I would get a bite. Twice we came really close to reeling in a shad at the same time. The hot lure for me was chartreuse grub tail on a pink jighead (1/16 oz). Soon the bite stopped and that was it for us today.

During the visit David caught 2 nice crappie which he was kind enough to give to me (thank you!). He also landed a big female shad that measured 17.5" to the fork! He is now tied with the leader in the shad derby for our division. Woot Woot!

Today I caught 4 shad and 2 crappie. The big female shad are definitly in the area now and this should be a fun upcoming week. So far this year I've caught 12 shad!

Crappie 10.5"
Crappie 9"
American Shad 14.25"
American Shad 13.75"
American Shad 11.50"
American Shad 11.50"

Here's a picture of the fish I caught today, it doesn't include the 2 crappie that David gave me.

Cody's First Shad of the Derby!

Took another late morning trip with Cody and today the fishing was rather slow. We first tried a slip bobber with a minnow to catch some crappie but nothing took the bait. After awhile I just decided to jig for some shad and see what happens. It wasn't until later in the day when I hooked into the first shad. Then I hooked another one, this time I gave the rod to Cody to reel it in. This is his first time reeling in a shad and it gave him the full experience. It made leaps out of the water and fast runs. Cody sure loved it when landed it and now he's entered into the derby with a 15.5" shad, which ties him with the leader. I hooked another one for him and gave him the rod, but as he was reeling it in the hook popped out. I told him thats what happens when you try to muscle them in LOL.

So today we caught a 15.5" and a 13.5" shad. Here's a picture of Cody holding his first.

Father and Son Fishing - Catfish and Shad

On a beautiful Saturday, I wanted to take my son out for some father and son fishing. Figured Mullet Lake would be a good spot to catch a nice variety. Cody is also registered in the shad and crappie derby as a junior, but shad are just so hard to find these days. So why not try for some crappie on live minnows I said. I made Cody a homemade live minnow rig with two hooks. It has a bank sinker on the bottom, above that is a 3way swivel, another 3way swivel above that, and then a regular barrel swivel to attach to the mainline. The 3way swivels allow the minnows to swim freely without tangling the rig line. On the way to Mullet Lake we stopped by Johnson's Live Bait in Sanford. The live minnows are decently priced, 2 dozen minnows for about $3.75. Well in fact he gave us alot more than 2 dozen, and all of them stayed alive the whole time. We even brought the leftovers home and still looks like at least 20 minnows swimming in there.

So today I was getting several bites on my catfish rod but nothing set on the hook. I was using a 3/0 circle hook, so maybe I needed to downside the hook and bait size. Cody on the other hand did very well with the minnow rig. He caught 3 small channel catfish about 10" long each. He had alot of fun. I also jigged for shad today and only caught 1 small 11" male on a chartreuse grub w/ pink jighead (1/16 oz). It was actually quite fun to catch as it made a couple leaps out of the water. I saw some shad busting to the leftside of us but someone else was already fishing there. I probably could've hooked up with a few more if we moved down a little bit, but that spot was already taken. So Cody wins todays fishing tally, 3 to 1. I did catch my 6th shad of the season though. Here's some pics!

13 LB 14 OZ Catfish and 15.25" Shad @ Mullet Lake Park

Today I decided to bring my catfish rod since yesterday was so slow, at least it would give me something to do incase the shad weren't biting. For bait I used cut shad on a 3/0 Owners Light Mutu hook. Right off the bat I had a small catfish maybe 12-14" long, and it was released without a picture. Then I caught a beast from the river. It felt big and it wasn't coming in easy. As I reeled in I noticed it suddenly came to a dead stop. The fish wasn't moving and the line felt like it was stuck. I think the fish found some underwater cover briefly, like a large log maybe. I waited a few seconds for it to come out and it did, so I reeled it in the rest of the way. It was close enough now to get a good look at it and saw it was a huge catfish. How exciting! Landed and unhooked it so I could put it on the scale. This big catfish weighed almost 14 LB! (13lb 14oz to be exact). This is my second biggest catfish of all time woo hoo! After taking a few pictures I let it go.

So now for the shad update. Today I only used 1/16th oz jigheads, hoping the smaller lures would increase strikes. I also respooled my light spinning reel with 8lb Spiderwire Stealth braided line and this has increased my casting distance alot. I started with chartreuse grubtails and didn't have any hits. I then switched over to smoke silver flake and still no luck. It wasn't until later in the day when I switched over to white w/ pink jighead and finially got my first shad. This one actually made an acrobatic leap out of the water right in front of me, so awesome! Thankfully the hook was still on and pulled it up onto the bank. Measured it at 15.25" long to the fork, which makes this my longest shad of the season. This is also my 5th shad of the derby run. I tossed the white grub out some more and got another brief strike. It felt like the shad bit the tail without the hook. Unfortunately by now it was time for me to go, figures right when the shad start biting. Well the fishing was good today, even though it was slow at times I still came out with good fish.

Location: Mullet Lake Park river bank, Geneva FL
Tackle: 3/0 Owners Light Mutu hook on carolina rig - 3 oz no-roll sinker

Species: Channel Catfish
Weight: 13 LB 14 OZ
Bait: frozen shad

12" Crappie at Mullet Lake Park

Another late morning at the bank today, usual time between 10am and 1pm. Very very slow fishing today though. Unfortunately I wasn't able to catch any shad today, in fact, I didn't even have any bites besides a 12" crappie caught with a pink grub tail on a white 1/8th oz jighead. The crappie was caught at the far leftside where the boats enter the river.

2 Shad @ Mullet Lake - 11.25" & 14.5"

Headed out to Mullet Lake park today for more shad fishing. Arrived at 9:45am and stayed until about 1:30pm. My first shad today came close to 10:30am and it was another small male at 11.25" to the fork. My second shad came right at 1:30pm when I was about to leave, and it was a female that measured 14.5" to the fork. This is the longest shad I've caught so far this year. Both were caught on a pink grubtail with a white 1/8th oz jighead. Chartreuse just wasn't working today for some reason.

Also David and his wife showed up this morning after I caught my first shad. I watched him hook up with several fish but kept losing them right after the bite. The shad seemed to be just scaling his hook and not really biting down. He did catch a nice 14" shad and a couple small crappies, all on pink too. He also showed me a more effective double jig rig that's super easy to make. In fact, when I switched over to the new rig thats when I caught the bigger shad at the end of the day.

So after today, this brings my 2012 derby catch total at 4 shad. Right now the longest shad in my division is about 16" to the fork. However, we should see some bigger ones as the derby progresses.

2nd American Shad - Another Small Male

Yesterday morning my friend reported a massive shad explosion at Mullet Lake, he said he caught 9 shad up to 15" long and lost several more. All were males on pink grubtails. I'm so jealous!

So this morning I made an attempt at Mullet Lake park. I arrived around 10am and David was already out there. He reported that he caught 3 shad and some crappie when he first arrived around 8am, but the bite slowed by the time I arrived. We fished all up and down the bank, no shad and no crappie. To prevent the skunk, I caught 1 little 11" male shad around 10:30am on a chartreuse grubtail. That was it for us. David left after 11am and I stayed until about 12:30pm.

So the male shad are definitly in the area, and the females should follow. I think sometime next week we'll start seeing the females. If not, it may just be a slow year. I'll try again sometime next week and post an update!

1st Shad of 2012 - 3rd Annual Shad & Crappie Derby

American and Hickory shad are an anadromous species, meaning it spends most of its life in the sea and returns to fresh water to spawn. Shad enter the St. Johns River in late December and January to spawn, and the spawning will last until early April sometimes.
With that said, the 3rd Annual Shad & Crappie Derby is open. This year the derby has been extended an extra month too. It opened on December 17, 2011 and lasts through March 17, 2012. My friend David and I have already got in on the shad action. He's the only guy I know who targets shad as much as I do, and he is more experienced so I've learned alot from him. Shad aren't good to eat, we just love catching them. Plus the added chance of winning some prizes in the derby is cool too.

This morning was my first visit to Mullet Lake Park river bank since May 2011. I brought 3 poles with me (two catfishing rods and a jigging rod for shad). The hike was a little wet and the grass is still really tall. The old pathway to the bank has grown in so it was more difficult to find my way out there. When I finially made it out I immediately started jigging. About 20 minutes later I caught a decent 11" Crappie. And not long after that my friend David showed up. It was cool to hangout with him again. The shad were hard to find but probably because it's still early in the season. It will be another couple weeks before they are thick in our area. David caught the first shad of the day that was about 11". Then about noon I caught my first shad of the year that was approx 11.75". David says those are the males, but the females get bigger. Those are the ones we're after. The females usually average 16-18" long.

During the day I had good bites on my catfishing rod too. I used old shrimp and chunks of shad, with a piece of cut mullet mixed in there. The shrimp was getting good bites but it was hard to stay on the hook. So I switched over to cut shad and caught a big 6 LB 3 OZ Channel Catfish. I didn't bring very much shad with me so switched over to a piece of cut mullet. After some soaking I got another Channel Catfish that was about 1 LB that was let go to grow some more.

All together I caught 2 catfish, a crappie and a shad. Good day on the water!

Severe Flooding on St Johns River

Wednesday night on a full moon I headed out to do some catfishing on the river. First stop was CS Lee Park, and when I got there I was stunned. Like most boating dock/ramps, there's a floating metal dock at the end of the ramp. This section is now a floating island in the middle of the river at CS Lee Park. The water levels were so high, the entire wooden dock was completely submerged under water. I fished there for about an hour or so but didn't catch anything. The current was very strong too, even my 3oz no roll sinkers were cruising down current.

I left CS Lee to checkout the damage at Mullet Lake Park. I love Mullet Lake Park, it's pretty much where I started catfishing. Out on the bank, a friend caught the biggest Channel Catfish we've seen so far (17 LB). It's also where I battled with my first American Shad. Just alot of cool memories there. The water levels at Mullet Lake Park were right up to the top of the dock with alot of floating vegetation washed in. At least you could still see the dock here. I've never seen this before, and it's very strange to see. I don't think those wooden docks were built to withstand being submerged under water either. Really sucks for boaters since the river is pretty dangerious for them right now. There could be anything underneath you and you probably won't even recognize your favorite fishing spots LOL. Here's a couple pictures of Mullet Lake Park.