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.

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.

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!

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!

Daytime NSB and Night Flat Bridge Report 12/19

Knowing there's a major cold front coming this weekend, we probably won't be fishing on Saturday. In fact it's the first Saturday in 6-7 weeks that I won't fish, wow! I want to go but forecast says the daytime high is only 60, with nighttime lows in the 30's. Plus I really don't want to get sick right before Christmas.
Wednesday was one of the last warm days before the cold front hits central Florida. I decided it would be cool to spend the whole day fishing while it's still warm. Thankfully it was an especially early release day at my sons' school too, which is getting ready for their 2-week winter break. So at 1 o'clock I picked him up and went home to get everything loaded up. After a short errand to UPS Store and backtrack to the house because my son forgot his DS....lol....we finially made it out to 38 Live Bait around 3:30. I got some fiddlers and shrimp then headed to the north causeway. I started with fiddlers, no bites. Used some live shrimp, then Cody and I caught a stingray back to back. That was it. A good hour passed with no bites, even on live shrimp. While out there I snagged a seahorse while checking my bait. It was tangled in some seaweed on my hook. Don't worry the seahorse wasn't harmed or poked. Cody was especially excited to see his first seahorse. I let him use the net to put it back in the water.







With the slow bite during the daytime trip, I still had alot of live shrimp and fiddlers leftover. Invited my friend Zack to fish the Flat Bridge after I got Cody to bed. The action out there was a little better. Immediately jigged with gulp swimming mullet and caught small blues like crazy. I had 3 on the bridge in no time. After the third one, my live shrimp rod gets a bite and it's a nice sized whiting. In the cooler it went. Waiting awhile for another bite. Zack jigged with his gulp swimming mullet, and caught a small 12" flounder, barely legal! In the cooler. LOL
Bite slowed again after that, couldn't even get the small blues to bite. Left there with 2 fish in the cooler. Hey I'll take what I can get at this point.

Flat Bridge Friday Night - 1st Black Drum!

Started fishing around 5:30pm and stayed until almost 10:00pm today at the Flat Bridge. I stopped by Donald's Bait and got their 3 dz shrimp. This batch had alot of jumbo sized shrimp which is a plus. I setup in my usual spot and immediately started getting bites but most of the action was coming from those pesky pinfish. They are really thick in the water there, and they will steal your bait very quickly. Live shrimp don't stand a chance no matter how you hook them. Because of this I really didn't catch anything other then a few pinfish for awhile.

I was getting some really strong hits right as I was running out of bait. I was using the jumbo sized shrimp but the hook just wasn't setting. It's probably the 3/0 circle hook so perhaps I need to try a bigger 5/0 on the jumbo shrimp. Finially around 7:30 I used all of the 3 dz shrimp. Back to the bait shop across the street and bought another 3 dz shrimp. Not as many jumbo shrimp in this mix but it did look like alot of medium shrimp which is good.

When I returned the big bites were gone for the time being. A father and son fishing down from me caught a nice 17" (fork length) Bluefish using cut pinfish. He asked if I wanted it, I said sure. I'm going to cut and freeze it for cutbait. Right now I have plenty of ladyfish in the freezer but I want to add some bluefish and jack. Then I'll be ready for shark fishing LOL.



Anyway back to my report. Eventually I caught a nice 13" whiting, Southern Kingfish. Figured there would be more whiting since they usually travel in schools but didn't see anymore. Several more casts later I hook into a nice Black Drum straight down under the bridge. I was using the 2 hook pompano rig which I think has size 2 circle hooks. This is my first Black Drum I've ever caught so I had to check FWC regulations on size limits. (I keep a reference card in my tackle bag). Black Drum have to be at least 14" and no more than 24" total length, maximum 5 per day. You may possess one over 24". With my catch at 14.5", it qualifies as legal slot so in the cooler.





Overall I'm very happy with the drum and whiting, and I finially get to take home something that's edible for once. I also get to add some bluefish to my cutbait stock.

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.

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 #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.

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

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.

South Causeway NSB - Whiting, Bluefish, Jacks, Tarpon

Last night at NSB was full of surprises throughout the night. I arrived at 9:00PM and Kyle/Tara came about 10:30 in the evening. I purchased 50 small shrimp from the bait shop and started out with 2/0 Kahle hooks. Not long after Kyle and Tara came out is when I caught my first Whiting! It was small but still a keeper. While I left to get some ice and drinks, Tara caught a small stingray and another kid caught a bigger whiting. Understanding that whiting usually travel in schools, I switched to a dual hook dropper loop rig and downsized my hooks. Now I was using two #2 Owners Mutu Light circle hooks with small pieces of fresh dead shrimp. I caught croaker, pinfish, and finially another whiting that was similar size to the other one I caught. Here's the two Whiting I caught...



Then around 1 AM we were there to witness someone catch a Tarpon very close to the pier. It put on a display of splashing jumps and vigorous head shaking as they grabbed the dropnet which helps raise fish from high piers. As soon as they got it up, they had to quickly dehook it and let it go. These tarpon don't fare well out of the water so they were in a hurry to get it back ASAP. Not only that, it's illegal to possess or harvest tarpon without a permit which runs about $50. Here's Big Gene holding the tarpon a few seconds before it's release...



Me and Kyle stuck it out all night at the pier. We were curious to see what the first morning bite would bring. Big Gene was telling us about the exploding jacks and blues running early in the morning around sunrise, so we wanted to get in on the action. He hooked us up with some tips and got our lines ready. The breakfast menu was live mullet and pinfish fished on the bottom. Just after 6:30am it started, and for about 20 minutes the fishing was INSANE! Gene pulled in 3 Crevalle Jacks and 1 Bluefish. I landed 2 Bluefish, one of which was the biggest one at 21" long! The 21" blue is my personal best too. Kyle hooked up with a fish but it ran over to the pilings and broke his line. He got to feel the big strong pull though and said it almost took his rod in the water. The long stay at the pier was exhuasting but I'd say it was worth it. We saw whiting, small catfish, small stingrays, tarpon, some bluefish, and crevalle jacks.