Cameron Wright Park - Dock Fishing Report

Cameron Wright Park is a basic boat launching ramp off of SR 46 in Sanford, near Lake Jesup. During gator season, it's packed with boat hunters since Lake Jesup has more gators than other any body of water. I've fished the dock there several times last year and never had much luck. But then again, I was using hotdog bait and I never tried cut shad at Cameron Wright until this year. Last Sunday night, I used a couple pieces of shad and easily caught a couple Yellow Bullhead catfish pretty quickly. Zack also caught another one with his rod. All three fish were released unharmed.

So Tuesday night, I went back to Cameron Wright for about an hour and caught a little channel catfish using cut shad and a 6/0 circle hook. It was just a baby though, not more than 6-8oz I think. Downsized my hook to a 1/0 circle to target smaller catfish and caught two yellow bullheads. I noticed the hook sets were better with the smaller hook and cuts of bait. Again all three fish were released back in the water.

13 oz Yellow Bullhead @ Mullet Lake Park

Another night by myself at the fishing dock. The frozen shad was thawed by the time I arrived so I baited my hooks and casted 2 rods. As I was preparing a 3rd rod, my Okuma baitfeeder was clicking. It was a large fish hooked but after a few seconds of reeling, it got away. It all came down to a cheap snap swivel that bent straight, letting the hook slide off and costing me the catch. So from now on, I'll tie the hook directly to the leader line without a swivel. It's really not neccessary to have a swivel on anyway because I don't change hooks that much when catfishing.

I caught a little 13 oz bullhead awhile later, but that was it. I had bites but nothing else wanted to run with the bait.

Yellow Bullhead @ Mullet Lake Park

It was a Saturday night with a full moon in a clear sky. For a weekend night, there were no boat trailers parked in the lot. The conditions were right and the weather was nice, a little over 60 degrees. The bait tonight was frozen cut shad. The line setup was carolina rig on both rods I was using, with a 5/0 circle hook.

While tying up a third rod for fishing, I heard the baitfeeder go off on my Okuma/Wild Cat rod. Then nothing. I thought something had tried to take the bait but spit it out. I picked up the rod but didn't feel any tension or shaking, I figured there wasn't anything on the other end. So I reeled in, and about halfway in I felt a slight wiggle and shake. It was a little Yellow Bullhead that had apparently hooked himself and wasn't powerful enough to notice at first. The fish weighed only 12 oz, but these yellow bulls generally average less than a pound anyway.

Species: Yellow Bullhead
Size: 12 oz
Bait: frozen cut shad
Rig: Carolina rig with 5/0 circle hook