14 oz Sunshine Bass @ Mullet Lake Park

I was targeting the Sunshine Bass this afternoon and ended up taking home a single 14oz Sunshine Bass. There were several bites but thats all I caught. I was fishing the river bank at Mullet Lake Park using cut shad on barbless 4/0 circle hooks. I don't like the barbless style since it doesn't hold the bait on very well. Also while walking out to the fishing spot, I saw a snake quickly slither away and a very small gator out in the water. I was a bit on edge you could say, but both critters left shortly after being spotted.

Location: Mullet Lake Park, St Johns river bank
Tackle: barbless 4/0 circle hook on a Carolina rig

Species: Sunshine Bass
Weight: 14 oz
Bait: cut shad

Two 3 LB+ Sunshine Bass @ Mullet Lake Park

I was fishing for catfish and american shad today at Mullet Lake Park. No shad again, which could mean our shad run is coming to an end soon. For catfish bait, I was using small 1" squares of frozen cut shad on a 2/0 circle hook. No catfish today either but I ended up with 2 nice hybrid bass. These are Sunshine Bass, a hybrid cross between Striped Bass and White Bass. Sunshines can often be distinguished from Striped Bass by broken or irregular stripes on the front half of body and straight lines on the rear half of body. A mid-body break in line pattern occasionally occurs.

The two Sunshines I caught today were both 3 lb, with the biggest one weighing 3 lb 3 oz and 17 1/2" long.

Species: Sunshine 'Hybrid' Bass
Bait: frozen cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig