Crappie Seminar, New Rod & Reel, Bullhead Catfish

Today from 11AM-2PM was free Crappie Rally seminar held at Boat Tree Marina in the Port of Sanford. Cody and I arrived around 11:30 and each received our raffle ticket for the drawing of prizes at the end. The captains were knowledgeable and gave some basic crappie fishing tips. They explained how crappie tend to feed upwards and keep moving upwards after the bite, so often you don't even feel the initial bite. There were alot of giveaways before the raffle as well. Cody received a free SeaTow whistle, pack of Sufix fishing line, a sample pack of Tru-Turn hooks, and a nice fishing accessory kit full of goodies like twirl tails, weights, jig heads, and more. During the raffle, one of our tickets matched and we won a gift certificate for a free professional reel cleaning. I'd say we were very pleased with all the freebies and plan on going to the next seminar on February 12th, which is the Shad Rally at C.S. Lee Park.



Also today I received a new light action rod and reel combo I ordered from Amazon.com. The rod is a 6' light action Shimano Scimitar. The reel is an Abu Garcia Cardinal 101i. I'm going to spool it with 6 lb test Trilene XL. This setup will help me cast lightweight lures farther, like my shad darts and 1" spoons. This rod will mainly be used for American Shad, Crappie, and other Panfish.

Friday night I set out to Highbanks road to do some catfishing with some frozen mullet and Sudden Impact fiber bait made by Team Catfish. With 3 poles in the water, 2 with cut mullet and 1 with Sudden Impact, I waited for bite activity. At around 10:30PM, I caught my first 1 lb bullhead catfish shown below. This bullhead bit on a small piece of cut mullet using a 3-way rig. That was all the action for the night so I headed home around midnight.

C.S. Lee Park report

This afternoon after picking up Cody, we headed out to C.S. Lee Park to find my first shad. I had made my own rigs earlier in the day and wanted to test them out too. Each rig allows me to use two lures instead of just one, giving me twice the attraction and hopefully more fish.

Here's my homemade rig:

At first my top lure was a Road Runner Crappie Thunder 1/16oz electric chicken color and then below that was a Nungesser Shad Dart pink/white/yellow. I fished that setup for about an hour and got a small Largemouth Bass on the shad dart.
So then I took off the Crappie Thunder and replaced it with a 1.5" gold spoon, and nothing. I called it a day around 5:30 to head back home. Tomorrow I might try Mullet Lake Park with my homemade rigs and see what happens.

Largemouth Bass - Pink/Yellow Grub-tail Jig

Fished the Mullet Lake river bank yesterday afternoon trying to get my first american shad of the derby, but no luck again. I could see them jumping out of the water a few times, but they are not that thick right now. But I did catch my first river largemouth bass on a very small 1/16 oz pink jighead with a 1" yellow grub-tail lure. The bass weighed at 12 oz.

Rig: Carolina rig
Lure: 1/16 oz pink jig head w/ 1" yellow grub-tail
Tackle: 3/4 oz Egg Sinker, 10 lb test line

Registered 2011 Shad & Crappie Derby

The 2nd annual Shad & Crappie Derby is underway, a free event from January 1st to February 28th. Today I registered at Mosquito Creek Outdoors in Apopka and received a free goodie bag full of stuff from their sponsors. They gave me some 12lb fishing line, a couple koozies, some pens, and other misc stuff.

Second Annual Central Florida Shad & Crappie Derby

They're giving away alot of prizes, such as rods, reels, lures, etc. I'm going to be aiming for the American Shad as they start to make their run in the St Johns River to spawn. Some local fishermen are catching them on small gold or silver spoons so thats what I've been trying. I haven't had much luck so far, but hopefully that'll change in the next week or two. I'd like to submit at least one shad for the derby so I'm entered into a drawing.

New Smyrna - Baitfish Roundup

Last night I drove out to New Smyrna Beach at the North Causeway fishing pier. I had one thing on my mind and that was baitfish. The lack of bluegills where I normally fish has left me without bait to go catfishing. However, there's usually always schools of mullet hanging around the North Causeway pier at night, as they are attracted to the lights on the pier. So I brought my 8' castnet and was able to find small schools of black mullet swimming near the pier. With patience and good aim, I was able to castnet a total of 24 mullet in my bucket. Once I got home, the fish were seperated into ziplock freezer bags and immediately put into the freezer. I put 2-3 fish per bag so they can be used only when I need them.

New Smyrna Beach - North Causeway Pier

It was a daytime trip to the North Causeway with Kyle and my son Cody. The mullet were no where to be seen and the waters were clear. With no mullet around, we had no use for the castnet. So I focused on using some 3" Gulp! Saltwater Shrimp I got for Christmas. I used both Carolina rig and Slip Bobber rig, but the only thing biting were the pinfish, also known as bait stealers. I cut up a Gulp! shrimp into little pieces to catch a few of these buggers. These hard biters are not hard to catch with a small hook.

New Smyrna Beach - Hardhead Catfish

Another night trip to the North Causeway with Kyle. We used the castnet to bring in some fresh mullet for bait. Cut a few pieces and casted out on 3-way rigs. We didn't stay very long, but I managed to catch one Hardhead catfish, weighing at 1 lb 7 oz. That weight matches my biggest Hardhead catfish previously caught on October 13th 2010.

Rig: 3-way rig
Bait: cut mullet
Tackle: 1 oz bank sinker, 40 lb test Power Pro braid line

North Causeway - Saltwater Catfish Mania

I spent a couple hours at the North Causeway in New Smyrna Beach last night. I brought along Kyle and a new tub of Sudden Impact fiber bait made by Team Catfish. I caught a total of 4 hardhead catfish using 2 fishing poles throughout the night, one with cut mullet and the other with Sudden Impact fiber bait. The cut mullet attracted the bigger hardheads at 1 lb 4 oz and 1 lb 7 oz. The Sudden Impact got a couple smaller hardheads at 10 oz and 8 oz. At one point, as soon as I landed one, my other rod was getting bites so Kyle had to help me grab the other pole. We both had a catfish as we're sharing the pliers and fish-grips to safely unhook and release. Thats the first time I ever caught two fish at the same time.

Rig: 3-way rig
Bait: cut mullet & Sudden Impact fiber bait
Tackle: 1 oz bank sinkers, 4/0 circle hooks, Mini Furry Thang bait holders

Huge Longnose Gar !

Fished for catfish again last night with Kyle at Mullet Lake Park boat dock. We didn't catch Mr Whiskers but I did reel in a large longnose gar, which weighed at 8 lb 12 oz. It bit down a piece of cut bluegill and had the 3-way rig tangled around his long nose. Sorry for not taking a picture but we kind of had our hands full releasing this beast. The sharp teeth on these fish can put someone in the hospital if your not careful.

Rig: 3-way rig
Bait: cut bluegill
Tackle: 1 oz bank sinker, 4/0 circle hook

Bowfin - 3 lb - Mullet Lake Park

Another night trip to Mullet Lake Park fishing for catfish. I had Kyle and Tara with me this time. Tara was very busy pulling bluegills out of the water, so there wasn't a lack of baitfish. Me and Kyle were using cut bluegills as bait for our catfishing rods. Using a 3-way rig and circle hooks, we casted out and waited. We were about to call it a night, then around 1:30 AM I hooked this 3 lb Bowfin.

Rig: 3-way rig
Bait: cut bluegill
Tackle: 1 oz bank sinker, 4/0 circle hook